Live Music Industry News

The collective of festival organisers and venues will both co-own and co-programme the festival, while cutting costs by "up to 40% after 78 independent festivals closed last year

Top 10 European Booking Agencies by Tour Dates:
Wasserman Music (UK)
ATC Live (UK)
CAA – Creative Artists Agency (UK)
WME (UK)
UTA – United Talent Agency (UK)
Primary Talent International (UK)
Avocado Booking (Germany)
ITB / International Talent Booking (UK)
One Fiinix Live (UK)
Free Trade Agency (UK)

The new capabilities bring TikTok’s messaging experience more in line with that of other popular social apps and services.

Katy Perry has sold 1.1 million tickets for The Lifetimes Tour, grossing more than $80m (£60m/€69m) in sales.

The figures were provided by the American singer’s management to Billboard.

The tour kicked off on April 23 in Mexico City, followed by Monterrey and an eight-stop stint in the US. Perry was also due to perform in Guadalajara, but was forced to cancel the concerts after the venue was not finished in time.

Filip Hiltmann, Head of Marketing at Way Out West, tells us about the importance of keeping major festivals sustainable.

Taking place across three three rooms, Afro Nation United brings Afrobeats and Amapiano music to the UK capital.

Denmark’s Roskilde Festival has selected Tickster to serve as its official ticketing partner in a deal which is said to be of strategic importance for both.

The two companies are due to work together to establish effective and future-proof solutions for ticket sales and audience management.

Genre-bending recording artist Doja Cat dropped out of her scheduled headliningg appearance at the Austin City Limits music festival.

In announcing the decision to drop out of the festival, she cited the need to focus on putting the final touchings on her forthcoming album “Vie” which is slated for release at the end of September.

“Unfortunately, I will not be performing at Austin City Limits this year,” Doja Cat shared on social media, adding, “When I made the commitment, I didn’t know exactly when Vie would be released.”

US star Ariana Grande is set to embark on her first tour in seven years next summer with 27 dates in North America and UK between June and August.  The Eternal Sunshine Tour is named after her most recent album, which was released in 2024. Since then, she has focused on acting, earning an Oscar nomination for her role as Glinda in Wicked.

Independent live event producer Danny Wimmer Presents (DWP) has signed a new agreement with Daytona International Speedway to keep the Welcome to Rockville Festival at the racetrack for the next 10 years.

Welcome to Rockville was founded in Jacksonville, Florida in 2011 and moved to the Daytona track in 2021. Since its debut, the festival has grown into the largest dedicated rock and heavy metal festival in North America, drawing over 230,000 fans from all 50 states and 30 countries in 2025.

Ariana Grande is returning to the stage for her first tour in seven years. After teasing the tour on social media Wednesday, she posted them in her Instagram story less than 24 hours later. The initial dates include nine major North American cities and a five-night run in London, but more will almost certainly be added.

Co-op Live was able to almost halve food-related emissions for Billie Eilish concerts by 47% and conserve 3.5 million litres of water by switching to a 100% plant-based menu.

Eilish brought her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour to Manchester for four nights in July.

Switching to a plant-based menu meant that Co-op Live was able to save emissions equivalent to 45 flights from Manchester to Dublin, according to a case study from GOAL (Green Operations & Advanced Leadership) – the sustainability platform launched by Co-op Live joint developer Oak View Group and initial members Fenway Sports Group, Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena back in 2022.

The UK’s live-industry body Live has published its annual report, including some stats on the economic highlights of 2024 for the sector.

“Remarkably, setlist data from PRS for Music suggests there was one gig every 137 seconds across the UK in 2024 – about the same amount of time it would take to listen to ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ by The Ramones,” noted CEO Jon Collins in his introduction to the report. It estimates a total consumer spend driven by live music of £6.68bn ($8.93bn at current exchange rates) last year, up 9.5% on 2023’s total.

Experiences of booking for big London gigs underscore the opaque practices of some online platforms

UK consumer spending on live music events reached a record-breaking total of £6.68bn in 2024, up 9.5% on the previous year, fuelled in part by Taylor Swift’s blockbuster Eras tour.

The report from Live (Live music Industry Venues and Entertainment), the recently formed body advocating for the British music industry’s interests before government, signals a full-bodied return from the effects of Covid-19. The figures are 28.2% higher than in 2022, when live music more or less resumed after the pandemic, and more than £2bn more than in 2019, the last fully functioning year for live music prior to the shutdown.

Ginger Owl Productions, which offers pro services for live events in accreditation, artist liaison, event management and more, is toasting 12 months of GOAllAreas, a software service for live events.

Since debuting in August 2024, GOAllAreas has supported over 30 events across the UK and Europe, including the BRIT Awards 2025 and British Summertime Festival.

Deutsche Entertainment Aktiengesellschaft (DEAG) announced solid revenue growth in the first half of 2025, significantly reducing the company’s net loss during the reporting period.

According to DEAG, overall revenue rose to €155.4 million – an increase of 17.1% from the same period in 2024. EBITDA grew to €6.6 million, more than doubling the previous first half’s results.

On Friday, Live Nation announced that it has acquired an additional 24% stake in the prominent Latin American concert promoter OCESA. The deal involved a closing cash payment to CIE of approximately 12,118.6 million Mexican pesos, equivalent to roughly $651.5 million USD.

Financing for the transaction included both existing liquidity and additional borrowing from Live Nation’s revolving credit facility.

IFF returns to London, England, Sept. 9-11, in association with OFFLIMITS Festival. The invitation-only event will welcome 1,000 festival bookers and booking agents, offering them a chance to meet in person, do business, and talk shop.

While the meeting aspect is certainly one of the most important benefits of hosting IFF each year, there’s also a packed program of talks and discussions to amplify all the important topics moving the festival world in 2025. ILMC head Greg Parmley breaks it all down.

Independent entertainment, marketing and live events company Loud and Live is set to operate the new Doral Amphitheatre in Doral, close to Miami International Airport.

Loud and Live has partnered with the City of Doral to launch South Florida’s newest outdoor events venue. The amphitheatre will have a capacity of 4,689 and has been designed to host large-scale concerts, cultural festivals and more.

The amphitheatre forms part of a $100m (£74m/€86m) project to redevelop the 78-acre Doral Central Park, which acts as the city’s flagship public space.

Field & Stream Music Fest 2025 has been called off, with organizers citing “circumstances beyond our control” as the cause of the event’s second-consecutive cancellation. The disappointing news surfaced on the festival’s website and Instagram page; the relevant X account looks to have been deleted. Originally expected to take place in Winnsboro, South Carolina, in October, Field & Stream Music Fest had booked talent including Eric Church, Miranda Lambert, ZZ Top, and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to name just a few.

Bandsintown has struck an exclusive deal to provide concert listings across YouTube and YouTube Music, giving artists a new path to reach the platform’s massive audience while boosting ticket sales.

The partnership, announced this week, means live event information published through Bandsintown for Artists will automatically appear on YouTube, including on Official Artist Channels, Shorts, and eventually the YouTube homepage. A similar rollout is planned later this year on YouTube Music, where concerts will be visible on artist and home pages.