Big name artists including Oasis with their highly anticipated reunion tour, Coldplay and Beyoncé helped to attract a record number of fans to travel to watch live music last year, helped by a surge in overseas visitors at UK gigs.

A report from the industry body UK Music estimated that 24.7 million “music tourists” attended concerts and festivals last year, up 4.8% on 2024, leading to an unprecedented £11.2bn of spending across the UK economy.

Conceptualised by founder Meher Sachdeva with the aim of “solving the information gap” in India’s creative industries, Unfair Advantage is an initiative through which people considering or establishing a career in music, dance, art, design, film, photography and writing can book one-on-one advisory sessions with experienced leaders with expertise in those fields.

Jay-Z did appear to promise far in advance that his “Reasonable Doubt” 30th anniversary show would, in fact, be a celebration of the debut album that he dropped back in June 1996. That didn’t stop him from pulling out all the stops — well, most of them, at least — during the first of his three headlining shows at Yankee Stadium on Friday night, setting off a string of performances to commemorate a pair of milestones (the other being the 25th anniversary of “The Blueprint”) plus a bonus show billed as “Extra Innings” that, as of now, has a stadium-sized question mark hanging over what it will actually be.

Justin Bieber has been added as a performer to the FIFA World Cup Final Halftime Show, joining the lineup as a co-headliner alongside Madonna, Shakira and BTS.

Suno may still be locked in litigation with two major labels, but it continues to expand its music team, ahead of its planned launch of a new, licensed AI-music model later this year.

Former Atlantic Records marketing executive Grace James has joined as VP and head of artist marketing and editorial, while former YouTube biz-dev exec Christian Bowne is taking a role as director and head of music business development.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday ruled against the arts institution’s motion to stay a lower court’s decision that Trump’s name be removed from the Kennedy Center pending its appeal.

A US federal judge has ruled that only a jury can decide whether the production duo Steely & Clevie created the “dembow” rhythm used across reggaeton.

Judge André Birotte Jr. issued the decision on Wednesday (July 1), keeping alive a copyright lawsuit that names Bad Bunny, Karol G and more than 150 other artists over nearly 2,000 tracks. You can read the order in full here.

Josh Pulgarin and Scott Lee from SL Management are teaming up with Jackie Andersen and Ryan ‘Dog’ Nelson from Good Fight Management for the new venture.

The founders also have chops in other areas of the industry: Lee and Nelson in merch and ticketing, for example, while Andersen runs independent label SharpTone Records.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS (GWR), the global authority on record-breaking achievements, has confirmed that Harry Styles and the Together, Together tour has officially achieved a new world record title for the Longest residency by a musician at Wembley Stadium during a single run, after completing 12 shows at the iconic London venue.

1. Artist exhibitions. Promoter Semmel Concerts recently chatted to Pollstar about the growth of this latest non-concert format, calling it “one of the most exciting developments in live”. Udoversum is […]

It reports 24.7 million ‘music tourists’ attending concerts and festivals in the UK last year, up 4.8% on 2024. This includes 22.6 million ‘domestic music tourists’ – people who travelled a certain distance within the UK to events – and 2.1 million from overseas.

iHeartMedia, the largest owner of radio stations in the U.S., agreed to enter into a consent decree with FCC to settle a probe the agency launched last year into iHeartMedia’s compliance with federal rules prohibiting a specific form of payola dubbed “showola” — which involves radio stations pressuring artists to perform at station-hosted music shows or festivals for free or for reduced payment “in exchange for more favorable airtime for their songs,” per the FCC.

Luminate’s latest data-drop focuses on live music, and specifically on spending patterns in the US. It found that Gen-Z concertgoers spent an average of $101 a month on live music in the first quarter of this year.

That’s more than the $94 averaged by millennials – “historically the highest-spending demographic for live music” as Luminate noted. One thing driving this trend is Gen-Z attitudes to the price of concert tickets.

The Country Music Association announced Wednesday that Brittany Schaffer will be its next CEO. Schaffer, presently a dean at Belmont University and formerly a top exec in Spotify’s country operations, will succeed current CMA head Sarah Trahern as of Jan. 1, 2027

Primary Wave has scored a partnership deal with Foreigner founder Mick Jones, who’s sold a piece of his IP and teed up a collaboration covering touring, NIL, and more.

Produced by C3 Presents and Live Nation, the new For You Fest looks to turn the social feed into a live festival experience, billing itself as the first large-scale festival built around creator culture and touching Comedy, Music, Beauty, Fashion, Culinary and podcasts.

The milestone tenth edition of the Mumbai-based All About Music conference—widely regarded as the largest of its kind in India—will be held from 25 to 27 August.

“We’re thinking less about the last decade and more about the next one”, says Chandni Soni, the business head of the music conference. The discussions, for instance, will feature “dedicated conversations around AI, music technology and future business models”. 

The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) revealed its 2026-2027 Board of Directors on Tuesday (July 7), alongside its new Executive Committee and Advisory Board members.

Glen Barros, Managing Partner of Exceleration Music, will chair A2IM‘s Executive Committee.

Louis Posen, Founder and President of Hopeless Records, will serve as Treasurer, while David Barnes, COO of Rhymesayers Entertainment, takes the role of Secretary.

Jermaine Dupri has filed an $18 million lawsuit against Sony Music Entertainment, alleging that the company failed to properly pay royalties for releases from Mariah Carey, Usher, Xscape, Kris Kross and more.

Indian “AI-native” and “discovery-first” ticketing platform thumpN has launched. The platform’s key feature is an AI agent named Shadow, which people can use to find live events “through natural conversation rather than traditional search”.

For example, “fans can ask Shadow for anything from ‘a stand-up show this weekend under Rs1,500’ to ‘something fun for the family on Sunday’, and the platform understands context, intent, and taste,” says CEO Varun Khare.

Just days after marrying NFL star Travis Kelce in a star-studded New York City wedding, Taylor Swift is celebrating another major milestone. The singer-songwriter has secured a legal victory after a federal judge dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit alleging she copied lyrics from a self-published poet.