Bad Bunny has announced a new 23-date world tour following his Puerto Rico residency in the summer.

Kicking off on November 21 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the tour will travel through Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, Japan, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, France, Sweden, Poland and Italy before concluding in Belgium on July 22, 2026.

Legendary singer Andrea Bocelli has signed a landmark global exclusive agreement for the creation and management of his live performances for the next five years with AEG Presents, in collaboration with his management team and WME. The agreement, which is described as “the most significant ever for a classical artist,” takes effect January 1, 2026, spans all five continents and covers all ticketed live events.

The boutique agency Dynamic Talent International announced its expansion with the opening of a new office in the heart of Downtown Nashville.

Located at 401 Commerce Street, the new Music City office joins Dynamic’s existing offices in Sacramento, New York, Los Angeles, and Poland.

Along with the new office, Dynamic announced the hiring of Nashville-based agent Robert Baugh, who will collaborate with the agency’s existing agent team, including Jamie Leslie, Jordan Cocklin, Jake Hawkins, Adam Easterling, and Jordyn Rothman.

Lady Gaga has performed the biggest concert of her career. The “Abracadrabra” singer held a free concert on Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Copacabana Beach, and drew a record-breaking crowd of 2.5 million people.

According to concert organizers, Gaga now holds the record for the highest-attended concert by a female artist in history – a record previously held by Madonna, who drew 1.6 million. During her performance, Gaga acknowledged the crowd and said, “Your spirit may be heard around the world tonight. Two and a half million people.”

Beyoncé was sent a cease-and-desist letter from James Dolan’s lawyers over a video at her new show depicting her picking up the Las Vegas Sphere. Madison Square Garden and Las Vegas Sphere boss James Dolan is not interested in sharing his toys. That was made clear when his lawyers hit Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment with a cease-and-desist letter over a video shown at her Cowboy Carter concert. The video depicts a giant Beyoncé striding through the Las Vegas skyline before leaning over and picking up the Sphere.

From grassroots gigs to stadium shows, there’s no escaping the ticketing giant, making billions from hiking up prices (and whacking on fees)

Since its opening in May last year, Manchester UK’s 23,500-capacity Co-op Live arena has sold 1,102,104 tickets, totalling $115,557,164 (£87m/€102.5m) in revenue. The stats form part of Pollstar Boxoffice Reports, which details ticket sales and related revenue from the venue’s 105 events in its first year, 12 of which were exclusive arena runs.

Artificial intelligence, data, and accessibility were among the discussion topics during TheTicketingBusiness Forum 2025 at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester. The event saw a diverse array of delegates representing sports, entertainment, arts bodies and venues, while major ticketing operators and suppliers participated in panel sessions, keynotes, and presentations.

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) has unveiled the lineup for this year’s IBMA Bluegrass Live! in partnership with Chattanooga Tourism Co. and Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. The festival, set for Sept. 19-20, will be headlined by Sierra Ferrell, The Wood Brothers, Sierra Hull, Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, Alison Brown, Sister Sadie and Jim Lauderdale & The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, among others.

The Goose and Kenny Loggins worlds will collide on the first day of this year’s Newport Folk Festival. The Connecticut-based jam quartet and the Yacht Rock legend whose songs they’ve frequently covered are among the latest artists confirmed to perform at the famed festival at Rhode Island’s Fort Adams State Park.

Newport Folk Festival 2025 runs from Friday, July 25 through Sunday, July 27. The 25th will also be the first time Goose and fellow bird band Geese share a bill. Goose, Geese and Kenny Loggins are joined on the Friday lineup by MJ Lenderman, Maren Morris, Big Freedia, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Alex G, Kim Deal, The Deslondes, Hannah Cohen, Jessica Pratt, Kevin Morby, Maggie Rose, S.G. Goodman, Tyler-James Kelly and SNACKTIME.

Politicians and pundits laying into Kneecap over controversial on-stage remarks is now resulting in shows being cancelled. Seeing that as an attack on free speech, a stack of artists have signed an open letter supporting the rap group and criticising a “concerted attempt to censor” the band

Live Nation reported $3.3 billion in revenue for the first financial quarter of 2025, an 11 percent drop from the particularly strong first quarter the live music giant had posted a year ago.

Adjusted operating income fell 6 percent to $341 million from 362.5 million year over year. In the concerts division, revenue fell 14 percent to $2.84 billion, and ticketing revenue fell 4 percent to $694.7 million. Sponsorship and advertising, however, grew slightly, up 2 percent to $216.1 million.

While the year has started out slower, in its report, Live Nation points to $5.4 billion in deferred revenue for concerts and another $270 million in deferred revenue on tickets — a 24 percent and 13 percent bump for each category — which the company said suggests stronger figures in the months ahead as the concert season gets more into full swing.

Music Glue, a London-based e-commerce platform for the music industry, has unveiled a newly enhanced direct-to-fan ticketing solution.  The upgraded platform will offer a seamless and transparent way for artists to sell tickets directly to fans from a single, integrated store. The service will continue to offer a straightforward 10% booking fee and no hidden charges. 

Vivid Seats has witnessed quite the dip during the first quarter of 2025, with a 14% drop in revenue to $164m (£123m/€145m).

The online ticketing marketplace also reported a net loss of $9.8m, down 191% from a net income of $10.7m during the first quarter in 2024.

Reliant Talent Agency has expanded its talent division with four new agents. Veteran talent agent Scott Simpson joins Reliant as Head of Talent, leading the agency’s efforts in Talent, Comedy, Unscripted Television and beyond. Joining him in the division is agent Jonathan Perry, who will lead West Coast Talent alongside agent Katie Edwards. Melanie Moreau will lead the Unscripted Department.

Deutsche Entertainment AG (DEAG) just released its 2024 earnings, which showed record revenues: €370 million ($420 million), a year-on-year sales increase of around 18 percent compared to 2023. It marks significant growth in what is a transformative year for the company – the first full business year with Detlef Kornett as sole CEO.

DEAG has been significantly expanding business in its core markets Germany and UK, but also in other European territories, including Italy, and Spain, over the past couple of years. Pollstar reached out to Kornett to talk about his first year since officially taking over from Peter Schwenkow; the state of play at DEAG; the challenges and opportunities he identifies, and more.

The official Summerfest App fueled by Pepsi is now available for FREE download on the Apple or Google Play stores and is a must-have for all fans.

The first 15,000 fans who download the Summerfest App can claim a free one-day admission ticket to Summerfest presented by American Family Insurance valid for the first weekend of the festival on either June 19, June 20, or June 21, from 12:00 – 4:00 p.m., while supplies last, courtesy of Pepsi. (limit of one admission ticket per device, not valid for admission to American Family Insurance Amphitheater concerts).

Brazilian Police said Sunday that two people were arrested who were involved in a plot to set off a bomb at Lady Gaga‘s free concert in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Copacabana Beach, according to AP.

The concert was attended by a record-breaking 2.5 million fans, which is the highest number of attendees ever achieved by a female artist, according to concert organizers.

After canceling the first show of its summer season yesterday (May 1), the Brooklyn Mirage has canceled all shows through its scheduled opening weekend, the venue announced on social media. Dates by Sara Landry (May 1 and May 2), City Fox (May 3) and Black Coffee (May 4) are affected. The Brooklyn Mirage is owned by New York City-based promotion company Avant Gardner.

Artist management company Shelter Music Group bolstered its roster by signing five rock acts. The company, founded in 2019, announced today that they will be managing Cheap Trick, Boys Like Girls, Chiodos, American Hi-Fi and Dead Poet Society.

Led by CEO Carl Stubner, COO/CSO Brian Harris Frank and President Dino Paredes, Shelter Music Group now manages over 75 acts with a team of 17 managers. The company’s extensive and diverse roster includes Fleetwood Mac, Creed and lead singer Scott Stapp, ZZ Top, Godsmack, Joe Perry, Dance Gavin Dance, Barenaked Ladies and Sugar Ray.

The prominent New England concert promoter MassConcerts has signed with the digital live events commerce platform Tixr.

The deal will see Tixr providing digital ticketing services at three large-scale amphitheaters Outer Harbor (Buffalo, NY), Snow Pond Center for the Arts – Bowl in the Pines (Sidney, Maine), and the newly established Asheville Yards (Asheville, North Carolina), in addition to MassConcert’s promoter business.

The Weeknd has returned to WME for representation in all areas after leaving the company for CAA in 2021.

The move back to WME, which also reps his film production company Manic Phase, comes amid a busy year for the singer, who released his sixth studio album “Hurry Up Tomorrow” in January. He was slated to commemorate the project with a performance at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, but subsequently canceled the show “out of respect and concern” for those affected by the wildfires.

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Live Nation is facing a slow start to the year with its Q1 2025 earnings report, with drops in total revenue and adjusted operating income compared to the same period last year. Overall revenue came in at $3.38 billion, an 11 percent decrease from last year’s $3.8 billion during the same time frame, while adjusted operating income dipped six percent from $362 million to $341 million. The news comes months after Live Nation reported moderate year-over-year growth in its 2024 earnings, with a small increase in total revenue over the previous year and a slower growth rate in adjusted operating income.

Some 85% of festival-goers have experienced what they perceived to be extreme weather at a live music event in Australia over the last 12 months.  Commissioned by Green Music Australia and co-authored by associate professor Catherine Strong, Dr Ben Green and Dr Todd Denham of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), and Dr Lauren Rickards of La Trobe University, the ‘Rain, Heat, Repeat’ report also found that 13% of festival-goers were attending fewer events because of extreme weather.

Additionally, some 34% said they were more cautious about buying tickets for festivals.