Known for its glitzy stage costumes and sometimes outlandish performances, the Eurovision Song Contest is now launching its first ever Asia edition.

Broadcasters from 10 countries in the region, including South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines, have confirmed that they will be taking part. According to the contest's website, which lists the participating countries, there are "more to follow".

These countries will first host their own national selections before the grand final in Bangkok which will be broadcast live on 14 November.

Universal Music published its annual report earlier this week. Buried in the 295 page document are a number of startling revelations about the “most successful music company in the world” - the most shocking being that women working for Universal make just half what their male counterparts are paid

AXS has launched a collaborative API integration in the UK with Tickets for Good, a mission-driven ticket distribution platform for live events. 

The integration will enable AXS clients to allocate ticket inventory to Tickets for Good members, including healthcare workers, teachers, charity workers and volunteers. It is now available in the UK following a US rollout, with Germany set to launch later in the year.

It’s the time of year when social-media platforms and streaming services alike unveil their latest ad formats and brand initiatives, as part of the ‘NewFronts’ season. Spotify has some announcements of its own this week.

The company is revamping its ‘Sponsored Playlists’ format, promising to “give brands a bigger spotlight” on key playlists including ‘RapCaviar’, ‘New Music Friday’ and ‘Today’s Top Hits’. The key change is that brands can hog “100% share of voice” with their placements.

TikTok creators in the U.S. can now offer personalized Cameo videos directly to fans without leaving the TikTok app, thanks to a new partnership.

The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) announced the appointment of Maddy Oliver to the role of Interim Executive Director following the departure of President & CEO Erin Benjamin.

Oliver is no stranger to the CLMA ecosystem, having previously held multiple senior roles at the organization, including, most recently, Director, Membership & Industry Relations.

Understanding the music industry means more than just making great music. It requires knowing how to build the right team, navigate contracts, and make informed decisions about your career. The following videos from Berklee Online’s Artist Management course highlight that range, featuring insights from creators, lawyers, producers, and entrepreneurs. While rooted in artist management, these conversations reflect the broader set of decisions artists face—from choosing collaborators to understanding legal and business frameworks that shape their careers.

No, but it’s not in a very good place. It’s deeper than live and local, too many ads, limited choice, dated technology or other common explanations.

I come from a radio background. It’s in my DNA, but nowadays musically, I’m all about Apple Music. The infinite selection, no ads, good sound quality, zero chatter. Track info

Ticketing and live firm CTS Eventim has published its latest financial results, including figures for 2025 as a whole.

The company’s revenues grew by 9.6% last year to €3.08bn ($3.57bn at current exchange rates). It was the first year in its history that its revenues have passed the €3bn mark, just two years after cracking €2bn for the first time.

Bruce Springsteen has said that his 2026 “Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour” with the E Street Band will be political, and he was not exaggerating.

On the tour’s opening night in Minneapolis Tuesday, he made good on that promise by interspersing four pointed topical speeches through the course of the show. If that sounds like a lot, it’s also helpful to point out that the concert was three hours and 27-songs long, so there was exponentially more rock than talk. show. But even with the choice of material it was clear that he wanted to illuminate where he feels the president and his administration are leading the country astray, more than provide escapism from current concerns.

In a move that reflects the record industry’s shift toward serving independent artists, Warner Music Group announced Wednesday morning that it will acquire the B2B music platform Revelator, which plays distribution and artist-services role similar to that of Downtown, which was recently acquired by Universal Music Group.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed; the transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected to close next quarter. Universal acquired Downtown, which is significantly larger than Revelator, for $775 million, but underwent over a year of regulatory scrutiny from the European Union.

After a massive year for pop in 2024, the charts have slowed to a crawl. New releases are struggling to compete with long-running hits and resurgent catalog tracks, leaving 2025 –and early 2026– defined by stagnation.

The Music Sustainability Alliance (MSA) has announced the establishment of the MSA Bobby Weir Sustainability Awards. The annual honors recognize individuals and organizations within the music industry for efforts in environmental responsibility and climate action. The inaugural awards ceremony is scheduled for the 2026 Music Sustainability Summit (MSS26) on April 14 in Los Angeles.

Salt N Pepa have filed an appeal in their termination rights dispute with Universal. Not only was the judge wrong to dismiss their lawsuit seeking to reclaim ownership of 1980s recordings, but - they say - her decision continues a trend of judges overriding artist safeguards put in place by Congress

Spotify’s latest personalised-playlists feature taps in to a so-far unexploited listener emotion: nostalgia for things that haven’t happened yet.

‘Pre-Nostalgia’ uses predictive-AI technology to generate playlists of songs that users are statistically likely to form deep emotional attachments to in the future – and then miss intensely years later.

Marketing concerts continues to be more challenging as old school methods lose their effectiveness. Traditional tools that once powered promotions have largely disappeared. Street posters, alt-weeklies, concert calendars and local newspapers have largely vanished. Terrestrial radio buys continue to rise in price with limited reach and uncertain results.  Increasingly, ticket sales have become dependent upon the social media reach of artists who speak directly to their fans, yet we still live in the era where promoters, venues and primary ticketing companies place barriers on artists connecting fully with their audiences. 

We at the National Independent Talent Organization believe there is a far simpler and more effective solution sitting right in front of us to sell more tickets for everyone’s benefit: sharing ticket buyer data with artists. 

Giggin’ says live concert platforms are looking at attendance demand backwards. But can predictive modeling and better data help venues – and artists – better project their live audiences and boost profits?
Major airlines figured out how to fill their planes using sophisticated forecasting and pricing strategies – with travelers rarely riding half-empty flights these days. So why can’t music venues figure out how to reliably fill their venues?

“Music superfans are on Instagram,” is one of the lead takeaways in a new report commissioned by Instagram from Luminate, which aims to set out the platform’s stall as a fandom giant. Based on analysis and surveys conducted in mid-2025, it offers plenty of stats to bolster its case.

“58% of music super fans use Instagram to engage with music artists and/or music content, making it one of the largest social and video destinations for music engagement,” claims the study, adding that “nearly 1 in 3 (32%) of Instagram’s daily music engagers are qualified as superfans”.

Organizers of the Canadian Blues Music Awards (CBMA) revealed the winners of the inaugural 2026 edition, presented this year by the Toronto Blues Society.

After its launch in 2025, the inaugural CBMAs honored outstanding achievements in 16 categories during its first year of activity, replacing the long-standing Maple Blues Awards.

Knitting Factory Entertainment (KFE) and Baltimore-based promoter and event marketer The Finn Group have announced a new partnership in which KFE will assume oversight of operations and talent buying at Pier Six Pavilion.

Located on Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the 4,600-seat city-owned amphitheater made its debut in 1981. Over the decades, the venue has developed a reputation for hosting legendary artists such as Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Judas Priest, Jackson Browne, and Avicii.

ChatGPT is now accessible from your CarPlay dashboard if you have iOS 26.4 or newer and the latest version of the ChatGPT app, 9to5Mac reports. Apple’s recently launched iOS 26.4 update added support for “voice-based conversational apps” in CarPlay, opening the door to let you use AI chatbots with voice features through Apple’s in-car platform.

Spotify has evolved from a streaming platform to an interactive, multiformat ecosystem where fans come to listen, watch, and engage. As we’ve evolved, so have the ways we help brands connect with audiences.

Today, we’re introducing new ad formats and tools, and we’re sharing new research designed to help advertisers tap into and surround fandom to drive real results.