Live Music Industry News

A new series of stadium concerts called Earth Aid Live is aiming to bring more attention to the climate emergency and sustainability issues.

It’s the work of UMA Entertainment and veteran promoter Harvey Goldsmith, with the first events set to take place in August 2025 in six countries.

Goldsmith is an old hand at this sort of thing, having co-produced Live Aid in 1985 and Live8 in 2005. He was also an advisor for the Live Earth concert in 2007, which was the most relevant precursor to Earth Aid Live.

Barbie is coming to the Bowl.

“Barbie The Movie: In Concert” has been added to the Hollywood Bowl lineup slated for July 27, and features a live-to-film music experience from The Barbie Land Sinfonietta, a special presentation from executive producer and orchestrator Macy Schmidt’s all-women and majority women-of-color orchestra.

Schmidt, a Tony Award-winning producer, recently became the first woman of color orchestrator in Broadway history.

The US Department Of Justice has reportedly sent out a new batch of ‘information requests’ as part of its ongoing investigation into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour against Live Nation and its Ticketmaster business.

According to Bloomberg, officials in the DoJ's Antitrust Division, which enforces US competition law, have become frustrated at how slowly Ticketmaster executives have been in responding to previous requests for information as they proceed with an investigation which could still result in legal action against the live giant later this year. 

James "Disco" Donnie Estopinal, the visionary founder of Disco Productions, has announced major transformations as the entertainment promoter gears up to celebrate its 30th anniversary, including a rebrand as Disco Events. 

JCA Arts Marketing’s latest study into audience trends and loyalty programmes in the US has demonstrated that fixed subscriptions for performing arts organisations were stabilising, but not quite returning to pre-pandemic numbers. 

In a press release, the marketing division of consulting firm JCA said: “The drop in subscriptions for performing arts organisations post-pandemic has been uncomfortable, but not surprising. There has been an ongoing decline in subscriptions sales since the 1990s, and the pandemic only hastened what was inevitable.”

Among the 22 organisations studied for the ‘Trends in Audience Behaviour: Loyalty Programmes’ report, subscription rates even grew slightly compared to last season. JCA Arts Marketing noted that a mixture of loyalty programme types was the most effective way of attracting patrons from different lifestyles to performing arts organisations.

It’s just over three years since the UK officially exited the EU (‘Brexit’) and… let’s just say whether it has been a success is almost as divisive an issue as the original decision to leave.

One area where there have been undoubted problems is in music, from British bands wanting to tour music (and vice versa) to export costs for instrument makers.

Now a new campaign called ‘Face The Music‘ has launched to put pressure on the British government to do more to tackle these and other issues.

Travis Scott brought out Kanye West to play a slew of hits, including “Runaway” and “All of the Lights,” at the Orlando stop on his Circus Maximus tour.

The controversial rapper’s appearances as of late have mainly centered around “Vultures,” his upcoming collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign. And though he did play the project’s title track during Scott’s show, he unexpectedly filled the rest of his time on stage with hits, including “Runaway,” “Fade,” “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “All of the Lights” and “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” as reported by Complex Music. But, of course, West added an unsettling twist to the otherwise “old Kanye” performance by donning a white hockey mask à la “Friday the 13th” killer Jason Voorhees.

British pop star Adele has announced her first European dates in eight years with a residency at a bespoke venue in Munich.

Adele will play four shows at the 80,000-capacity Munich Messe arena in the German city August.

The shows come following the conclusion of her two-year residency at Las Vegas’ The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in June.

Tour dates listed on Bandsintown can now also be seamlessly integrated within the popular Artist Growth Workspace app.

Last year, 600,000 registered artists posted more than than 1.5 million shows on Bandsintown, who then shared 3.7 billion personalized concert recommendation with fans.

Following their successful rebrand last year and the launch of a brand new website, the annual Event & Venue Marketing Conference will return to Denver for 2024. The event, which is the

Today sees the launch of a new service that aims to help artists find providers and services for their tours – from van rentals and merch printing to tour managers and lighting or sound engineers.

It’s called Toury, and is a project being launched by Guillaume Brevers, the founder of booking agency Hometown Talent.

“Toury allows artists and their teams to post requests, connect with professionals worldwide, compare quotes, and make informed decisions, all on one platform,” he told Music Ally.

VenuWorks, the venue management company, announced that longtime team member Michael Silva has been promoted to the role of Chief Operating Officer.

Silva first joined VenuWorks in 2014, and has since held a variety of senior roles, including the Executive Director of the California University of PA Convocation Center, the Topeka Performing Arts Center, and CR Events Live which includes the Alliant Energy PowerHouse, the Paramount Theatre, the McGrath Amphitheatre, and the ImOn Ice Arena.

“The Greatest Night in Pop” is a documentary for anyone who loves “We Are the World” (that would include me), or even for those who look at that legendary charity single with some serious questions but are fascinated by the phenomenon of it (that’s me as well). In a sense, “We Are the World” always was a documentary — the famous music video that captures the song as it was being recorded, in an into-the-night session that took place at A&M Recording Studios in Los Angeles immediately after the American Music Awards on January 28, 1985. (The organizers of USA for Africa realized that only by pinning the recording session to that night could they be sure all the stars they needed for the song would be in one place at the same time.)

Jon Bon Jovi and his band are joining the growing list of stars opening new bars in downtown Nashville, as they prepare to open JBJ’s Nashville this spring.

In perhaps the year’s least surprising awards development, Taylor Swift was awarded the honor for major tour of the year at the Pollstar Awards, in a ceremony held Wednesday night at L.A.’s Wiltern Theatre amid the annual Pollstar Live! conference.

Swift was not on hand to pick up her trophy, but among those who were were Dave Chappelle, who won for comedy tour of the year, and Lars Uhlrich of Metallica, the winner in the rock tour category.

“I used to take this shit for granted, but this last tour was hard as fuck,” said Chappelle (per a report in Pollstar). “I want to thank everyone at Live Nation, everybody on that team (and) everybody at Netflix. This was a real special tour. It was a hard one, but man, this shit is great.”

CTS Eventim “significantly exceeded” financial forecasts for 2023 as a strong end to the year delivered double-digit growth in revenue and earnings.

CTS Eventim said its impressive preliminary results for the year to December 31, 2023 were aided by dynamic growth across all business segments. Indeed, the Bremen-headquartered group outperformed forecasts that had already been raised in November.

The Theatres at Risk Register has identified 39 theatres across the UK that are in danger of permanent closure, redevelopment, or demolition.

Theatres Trust, the charity behind the register, has added two buildings to the list in the form of Sheffield’s Abbeydale Picture House and the Epstein Theatre in Liverpool.

Pinnacle Financial Partners has signed an agreement with Southwest Value Partners and AEG, joint venture partners and co-developers of the Nashville Yards mixed-use district, to become the naming rights partner for the project’s 4,500-capacity music venue.

The live entertainment venue is slated to open in 2025 and will be known as The Pinnacle with immediate effect. 

Secondary ticketing website StubHub has been accused of misleading customers by consistently underestimating its own fees on its US website. That allegation has been made in a lawsuit that seeks to hold the resale site liable for fraud and unjust enrichment

Resale platform StubHub Inc has been accused of consistently including a $3 (£2/€3) charge for Beyoncé (pictured) shows and other hot concerts, according to a lawsuit.

Bloomberg has reported that the customers bringing the case argue StubHub consistently underestimates fees for tickets that cost $20 or more by $3 per purchase, and by $2-$3 for lower-priced passes. 

The suit has been filed by Lisa Alcaraz and Brian Hong in the United States District Court, Northern District of California. 

When it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) there are three main tasks. First: reporting on the problems. Second: identifying the remedies and putting them into practice. And third: reporting on the progress made.

Two organisations on either side of the Atlantic that have been important voices in the first two tasks – the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and Women in CTRL – have published reports this week with some encouragement on the third: the progress.

The USC Annenberg Initiative’s study is its latest annual report tracking women’s representation in the US Billboard Hot 100 year-end charts: as artists, songwriters and producers.

Independent festival and concert promoter Danny Wimmer Presents announced the promotion of Joe Moallempour to the role of Senior National Casino Talent Buyer for the company’s Talent Services division.

Moallempour first joined DWP in 2021 following the company’s acquisition of Billy Alan Productions. Before his promotion, he served DWP as the company’s national casino coordinator.

Nashville’s newest independent concert venue, Cannery Hall, officially opened its doors on January 17th and announced that Andrew Hall has joined the team as a Senior Talent Buyer.

In his new role, Hall joins Cannery’s current talent buyer, Tyler Key, and will take point on bookings and partnerships with artists for the venue’s three stages: The Mainstage, The Mil, and Row One Stage.

A veteran of the live events industry in the region, Hall joins The Cannery after five years at the True Grit Talent Agency, following its acquisition by William Morris Endeavor. His past talent buying roles include serving as the inhouse buyer at 3rd and Lindsley Nashville for the last few years.