Milwaukee is about to be the center of the live music industry — and not just because of Summerfest.

The day after one of America's largest and longest-running music festivals wraps up its first of three weekends, the National Independent Venue Association will kick off its fourth annual conference at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee — led by a conversation with My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James.

Organizers of the 2025 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival are sharing updated refund details following the event’s abrupt cancellation due to severe weather.

In a social media post shared Friday (June 20), organizers announced that all ticket buyers will now receive a 100% refund, reversing an earlier decision to offer only 75%. They also noted that future dates for the Manchester, Tenn., event will not be announced at this time.

Maine’s Democratic Governor Janet Mills signed into law on Wednesday a bill imposing new consumer protections in event ticketing, including a cap on resale prices in the secondary market.

The legislation, titled Maine Public Law Chapter 354, affects both primary and secondary ticketing and aims to make the concert ticket-buying experience more consumer-friendly.

Under the new law, all ticket sellers are required to clearly disclose the total price of tickets, including all mandatory fees, and to display that total price more prominently than any other pricing information.

Consumer protection group Which? has urged government ministers to take decisive action against ticket touting “as soon as possible” by legislating for a clear price cap on resale tickets in the UK. Which? is currently challenging ticket touting through its ‘Stop Fleecing Fans’ campaign and accompanying petition, which is calling for a price cap across resale tickets for events, live music, sports and theatre.

Country singer Hardy announced the cancellation of the entire European leg of his 2025 Jim Bob World Tour, just days before the run was scheduled to get underway.

The singer broke the news to fans on social media, but did not provide a reason for the cancellation.

“It wasn’t an easy decision, but one I had to make for my band, crew and my family,” Hardy said in the post. “Please know that I love you all and I will be back as soon as I can.”

Beyoncé has broken her own records at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after concluding her six-night run in London earlier this week.

The string of Cowboy Carter Tour dates welcomed over 275,000 fans and grossed more than £45m (€53m/$60m), making it the most tickets and highest gross for any artist in the stadium’s history.

True Tickets has announced the a ticket resale feature, giving performing arts venues and cultural institutions the ability to take control of secondary ticketing market sales for their events.

According to True Tickets, the tools available through its PatronSafe Ticket Resale allow venues to define resale policies down to the ticket level—including whether a ticket can be resold at all—along with custom rules for price caps, price floors, timing windows, and authorized resale channels. The system also enables venues to capture valuable buyer data.

International hip-hop festival Rolling Loud is coming to India, in partnership with ticketing app District by Zomato, which will also produce the two-day event that will take place in Mumbai. The festival, the dates and venue for which are yet to be announced, will feature a mix of international and domestic acts across two stages.

Live music and hospitality operator VENU Holding Corporation announced it has broken ground on Sunset Amphitheater powered by EIGHT Elite Light Beer, a brand-new live entertainment venue located in the City of McKinney, Texas.

The 20,000-capacity amphitheater will feature a flexible configuration along with a canopied roof and wind-walls, allowing for year-round performances. Located on 46 acres near I-75 and Highway 121, the amphitheater is expected to open its doors in the third quarter of 2026.

CTS Eventim is establishing a dedicated business unit called Media House, “to unlock new potential in marketing, reach and content experience,” according to the press announcement.

Dr Marc Schumacher will lead the development and operations of the new unit as senior vice president Media House effective July 1, 2025. The experienced brand and media manager will report to CTS Eventim CEO Klaus-Peter Schulenberg.

Estonian ticketing company Piletilevi PLG announced a significant regional expansion with the acquisition of the prominent Czech and Slovak ticket sales platform Ticketportal.

The acquisition strengthens PLG’s position in the international market, expanding its reach across Central and Eastern Europe. Following the close of the deal on June 12, Piletilevi now operates in seven European countries.

Event production and creative media services company Concert Stuff Group (CSG) has announced the acquisition of 7 Cinematics, an award-winning live concert broadcasting and cinematic production company. 7 Cinematics has built a strong reputation for live concert broadcasts, with recent projects including performances by artists such as Tyler Childers, Imagine Dragons, KISS, and Dead & Company. According to CSG, the acquisition will bolster its capabilities, enabling the company to deliver both live events and broadcast-quality content.

John Peters’ MassConcerts announced the acquisition of the longtime Louisville concert venue, Headliners Music Hall.

According to Peters, MassConcerts’ newly hired talent buyer Vickie Gordon will lead booking efforts for the venue, supported by the company’s New England-based talent buying team.

Gorillaz fans that missed out on tickets for four special one-off, limited-capacity live shows at London’s Copper Box Arena will be able to access resale tickets thanks to a partnership with fan-to-fan exchange, Tixel.

Marking the first Gorillaz shows in the UK since 2022, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett will play their self-titled debut album from 2001, Demon Days, Plastic Beach and a mystery show with secret guests. The shows will take place on August 29-30 and September 2-3. Each album will be played in full on each night, followed by the mystery show.

What’s on Noah Assad’s list of things to complete in the weeks leading up to July 11, the opening night of Bad Bunny’s historic 30-date residency at Coliseo de Puerto Rico?

“We’re going to need to open up some more seats,” Assad, 35, tells Variety. “Right now, even if my cousin called me and asked me for a ticket, there’s nothing left. We even considered opening seats in restricted viewing areas to get more people inside because that’s how badly people want in.”

Few major festivals have come from such humble beginnings as Budapest’s Sziget Festival.

What started as a student event in 1993 now, quite literally, takes over an entire island on the Danube river, Hungary. Over the years, they’ve welcomed everyone from R.E.M, Oasis and The Cure to then up-and-coming acts Dua Lipa and Lewis Capaldi. This year’s six day edition sees Charli XCX, Post Malone, Chappell Roan, Shawn Mendes, A$AP Rocky and Anyma as headline acts. It’s a festival line-up that represents changing music tastes for modern, increasingly more demanding music fans.

The Mexican-American band is raising donations for those impacted by the ongoing immigration raids in Los Angeles

John Peters’ MassConcerts announced the hire of Vickie Gordon, who joins the company’s talent buying team. Based in Nashville, Gordon will focus on markets in the Southeast and Midwestern U.S., running point on both non-exclusive rooms, including MassConcerts’ venues in New England and Upstate New York.

Gordon did a stint at Romeo Entertainment Group, where she oversaw talent bookings for concert series, fairs, and other large venues in the region and most recently, she served as Senior Talent Buyer for Clubs at Big Spring Entertainment in Nashville, where she primarily focused on markets in the southeast.

A new survey from research firm EY has offered encouragement to festivals and other live events that are investing in sustainability. Its first ‘Media & Entertainment Pulse Poll’ asked more than 4,000 people in the US, UK, western Europe and Asia-Pacific about their attitudes. It found that when buying entertainment experiences, 69% of the people surveyed would pay extra for locally-sourced food, and 67% for contributions to local communities.

Following a successful expansion of the brand into New York with a successful event in 2024, the team behind the All Things Go festival announced they will be launching in Toronto this year as well.

The fest will make its Toronto debut on October 4 & 5th at the city’s Budweiser stage. While details on the event, including a lineup, have yet to be revealed, organizers promise updates in the coming weeks.

A new platform has launched enabling independent artists to engage with fans and deliver event ticketing, exclusive merchandise, and digital content experiences.

OpenWav is an AI-powered platform for monetisation, fan engagement and creative ownership for independent artists. The model allows independent and rising artists to generate meaningful revenue in the world of streaming.

StubHub International has reportedly threatened to stop operating in the UK should a proposed price cap on resale tickets be implemented.

Speaking to the Financial Times yesterday (Sunday), StubHub International chief executive chief executive Bob Kupbens said that “even at 30%, we feel very strongly that would make it very challenging for us to operate” in the UK.

Just a day after it started, Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival 2025 has been entirely canceled due to extreme weather.

The four-day event, which drew 70,000 attendees last year, began yesterday in Manchester, TN, with artists including Tyler, the Creator, Olivia Rodrigo and Vampire Weekend booked for headlining spots through Sunday night. But organizers nixed the rest of the event after “significant” precipitation produced deteriorating conditions.