Live Music Industry News

The Federal Communications Commission has issued an enforcement advisory, reminding radio stations that covert manipulation of airplay based on an artist’s participation in promotions or events violates payola rules.

“Neither broadcast licensees nor their personnel can compel or accept unreported free or unreported reduced fee performances by musicians in exchange for more favorable airplay,” the Enforcement Bureau said in its advisory.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn in a Facebook profile photo.
This action comes a week after Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., wrote to Chairman Brendan Carr.

The UK music industry has been warned that it risks the imposition of a mandatory government levy after major tours that do not include the voluntary charge were announced.

TheTicketingBusiness understands that stadium and arena dates featuring Beyoncé, AC/DC and Kendrick Lamar are among those that have been announced without reference to the £1 voluntary charge that is earmarked for grassroots music venues. Other tours that do not reference the levy include Black Sabbath, Morrissey, Tom Grennan and Smashing Pumpkins.

Failure to collect the levy could put the music business on a collision course with the UK government, which said in December that a working levy must be in place by the end of March 2025. Culture Minister Chris Bryant instructed the live music industry to initiate a voluntary levy on all stadium and arena tickets or risk the imposition of a mandatory levy.

CAA’s Matt Schultz, WME’s Brett Schaffer, UTA’s Eddie Clemens, 313 Presents’ Sarah Zawalski and Harris Blitzer Sports And Entertainment’s Sean Saadeh have been confirmed as speakers for the Pollstar Live! panel How Venues Can Partner in Booking, Marketing and Taking Risk.

During this panel, skilled pros on both sides of the deal will discuss today’s show/venue dynamic. The days of venues waiting for the phone to ring and handing over the keys when the show gets to town are long ago in the industry rear view. Today, venues from club to stadium level are involved in every facet of the live entertainment event, including finding a place in the routing, shaping the manifest, input in pricing strategy and onsales, premium, contracts, multi-faceted marketing, and, when necessary, taking risk and partnering. 

Isle of Wight Festival supremo,  John Giddings, was named ‘Festival Promoter of the Year’ last night at the  FestForums awards in Santa Barbara. The award comes shortly after the Isle of Wight Festival was named ‘Best Large Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards in December last year.

FestForums recognised Giddings as a pivotal figure in the industry, celebrating his role as the driving force behind the legendary Isle of Wight Festival. Since its revival in 2002, Giddings has transformed the festival into a cornerstone of the global music scene, securing iconic performances from some of the world’s most prominent artists including Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Amy Winehouse. The festival recently announced part of its 2025 lineup, which includes headline performances by Sting, Stereophonics and Justin Timberlake, who was nominated for ‘Best Song Written for Visual Media’ at the 67th Grammy Awards on Sunday.

TheatreDNA, a Los Angeles-based full-service theatre consulting firm, has acquired Victor Gotesman Performing Arts Planning (VGPAP). 

The company is a research and consulting firm, specialising in feasibility studies and business planning in the cultural arts market. The acquisition means TheatreDNA will now be able to better provide a full-service experience for venue owners and operators, pairing feasibility research and strategic business development alongside performance space planning and design.

Service capabilities will now include market analysis, utilisation planning, community engagement, operational reviews, financial forecasting and more.

Reading and Leeds Festival have announced a huge update to their camping facilities, adding a ton of features that will excited festivalgoers. The update sees a long list of changes being rolled out that are designed to provide a more positive experience for every camper at the festival, not just VIPs.

The first of the changes sees the dual festival adding vacuum toilets to every campsite, with fresh water handwash basins, liquid soap and mirrors. These toilets will not only provide a better experience, but will also use 75% less water than flushing toilets and lower the festival’s carbon footprint with less vehicle movements. The Meadow goes the extra mile for sustainability, with that campsite in particular using sawdust toilets that require no water or chemicals and produce usable compost.

The new documentary “Sly Lives, aka the Burden of Black Genius,” which focuses on the life and career of the brilliant but troubled musician Sly Stone and his group Sly and the Family Stone, is both a conventional documentary and an extremely unconventional one.

Like its predecessor, the Oscar and Grammy-winning “Summer of Soul” — which was also directed by the Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and produced by Joseph Patel — “Sly Lives” works to incorporate the main story with a larger theme, in this case, as the subtitle indicates, the pressures that come with being both Black and a genius — pressures that have brought down more than one such genius and have led many of them toward self-destruction. That subtitle isn’t saying that geniuses aren’t created equally — but what happens after that genius manifests itself can be very different for minorities, particularly Black people.

Stefanie May is the new Marketing Director for Port Chester, New York’s Capitol Theatre, Peter Shapiro and the venue announced Feb. 12.

May returns to The Cap where she’d previously served from 2014 to 2022. She joined Alyssa Kitchen, the venue’s first-ever female General Manager, and 2024 Pollstar Impact: Next Gen honoree.

POLLSTAR: Tyler, the Creator makes his debut in the top 10 on the Artist Power Index following the launch of “Chromakopia: The World Tour” in support of his eighth studio album that was released in October. The tour’s opening trek, featuring 33 performances in North American cities, began on Feb. 4 at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota, and will continue until early April. But, with Europe and Oceania also on the itinerary in 2025, a total of 88 arena shows are booked worldwide through Sept. 5.

Among the highlights of the tour’s opening North American leg, a six-night run is scheduled in Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena Feb. 14-21, while two-show engagements are planned in Seattle, San Diego and Austin, Texas. The rapper’s final stop before heading to Europe will be in Mexico City where he will headline the second day of the “AXE Ceremonia” festival on April 6.

A new study from JCA Performing Arts found that ticket sales for the final quarter of 2024 was up on the same period in 2019, just before the Covid pandemic. However, the figure was down slightly on the same period in 2023.

Within ticket sales in fall 2024, some 61% of purchasers were new. This compared to 60% in the same period in 2023.

While ticket sales are up, income from sales was at just 92% of the fall 2019 figure. The figure has risen each year since the pandemic.

Average start price for tickets has increased significantly since fall 2019, and in fall 2024, it caught up to the pace of inflation. However, although average yield, or the average amount that people paid for a ticket, increased over the study period, it is still behind the overall pace of inflation since Fall 201

The list of 14 performer nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s class of 2025 includes eight candidates who appear on the institution’s ballot for the first time — including some surprises that range from the previously overlooked “Twist” popularizer Chubby Checker to the Latin rock group Maná to the jam band Phish.

The other artists who are being put up for election for the first time are Outkast, Billy Idol, Bad Company, Joe Cocker and the Black Crowes.

The remaining six nominees announced Wednesday morning are making a repeat appearance on the ballot. Those are Mariah Carey, Oasis, the White Stripes, Cyndi Lauper, Joy Division/New Order and Soundgarden.

Kanye West is no longer represented by the Los Angeles-based talent agency 33&West, a representative for the company has confirmed.

West has been removed from agency’s music roster and the representative did not disclose how long he had been their client. Daniel McCartney of 33&West was tasked as West’s agent and posted to Instagram on Feb. 10 that he and the agency would stop working with the rapper “effective immediately… due to his harmful and hateful remarks that myself nor 33&West can stand for.”

Dolly Parton has revealed the seven vocalists who will perform her songs at the world premiere of her new symphonic concert, “Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony.”

The world premiere is set for March 20 in Nashville with the Nashville Symphony, led by Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez. The featured vocalists for the show will be Katelyn Drye, Hollie Hammel, Julie Williams, Blair Lamb, Denitia, Ally Jackson and Katie Basden.

The groundbreaking multimedia symphonic experience will offer fresh interpretations of Parton’s iconic hits, taking audiences on a journey through her music and life as she shares personal stories and leads the evening on screen. “Dolly Parton’s Threads: My Songs in Symphony” will showcase new, innovative orchestrations of Parton’s beloved songs by David Hamilton, seamlessly integrated into a full-length multimedia symphonic storytelling experience.

In celebration of their 20th anniversary as a band, Jonas Brothers have announced “Jonascon,” a special one-day event taking place in their home state of New Jersey on March 23 at the American Dream shopping mall. Attendees can expect live performances, DJ sets, Q&A panels, fan activations, special guest appearances and other surprises.

On Feb. 12, Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas posted an emotional video and penned a long letter addressed to fans via social media. The posts teased Friday’s Jonascon announcement, adding that they’d be “celebrating this wild 20-year journey by doing what we love, and we can’t wait to share it with you.”

All Good Presents announced the “All Good Trifesta,” a trio of unique, multi-day music festivals united by a shared ethos of celebration, kindness and community: Dark Star Jubilee, All Good Now and 4848 Festival.

The series of fests begins Memorial Day weekend with Dark Star Jubilee (May 23-26), hosted at Legend Valley in Thornville, Ohio. The Jubilee combines the vibe of a classic campout with three nights of Dark Star Orchestra plus first-time Jubilee appearances by moe., Warren Haynes Band and others.
 
On June 14–15, the reimagined All Good Now takes over the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. The return of the All Good moniker through All Good Now marks a milestone. Originally launched in 1997, the All Good Music Festival & Campout became one of the East Coast’s most popular jam festivals. Its revival is a nod to the community that defined All Good Presents for decades, connecting legacy with a new generation of live music fans. In 2025, All Good Now brings together returning favorites like The String Cheese Incident, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead and The Disco Biscuits, alongside current performers Goose and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway.

The season concludes July 17-19 with 4848 Festival at Snowshoe Mountain Resort in West Virginia. This “festivacation” event combines live music and a mountaintop resort. Headliners include the Lake Street Dive, Greensky Bluegrass and the Dark Star Orchestra.

Isle of Wight Festival supremo,  John Giddings, was named ‘Festival Promoter of the Year’ last night at the  FestForums awards in Santa Barbara. The award comes shortly after the Isle of Wight Festival was named ‘Best Large Festival’ at the UK Festival Awards in December last year.

FestForums recognised Giddings as a pivotal figure in the industry, celebrating his role as the driving force behind the legendary Isle of Wight Festival. Since its revival in 2002, Giddings has transformed the festival into a cornerstone of the global music scene, securing iconic performances from some of the world’s most prominent artists including Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Amy Winehouse. The festival recently announced part of its 2025 lineup, which includes headline performances by Sting, Stereophonics and Justin Timberlake, who was nominated for ‘Best Song Written for Visual Media’ at the 67th Grammy Awards on Sunday.

Although the UK’s cultural nightlife economy has shown a growth rate of 3.2 per cent, the value across all sectors has slowed down since 2023.

The figures come from the Night Time Industries Association’s (NTIA) first edition of the quarterly Night Time Economy Market Monitor.

A total of four sectors were included in the report: out of home culture and leisure economy, day time economy, night time economy, and night time cultural economy.

Rick Springfield has announced his 2025 “I Want My ’80s Tour.” He will be joined by John Waite and Wang Chung for the entirety of the late spring and summer run, with Paul Young and John Cafferty appearing on select dates.

Megan Thee Stallion, Lainey Wilson, Benson Boone, Hozier, The Killers, Def Leppard, James Taylor and the Lumineers are all headlining Summerfest 2025 in Milwaukee.

But that just scratches the surface. As it does each year, Summerfest, one of America’s oldest and largest music festivals, again will host around 600 acts, June 19 to 21, June 26 to 28 and July 3 to 5.

Kendrick Lamar’s half-time musical showcase at the weekend’s Super Bowl could aid ticket sales for the rapper’s upcoming tour with SZA this summer.

Data from ticket place TickPick demonstrated that last year’s Super Bowl performance from Usher helped to boost ticket sales and increase prices. Some 38% of tickets sold for his Past Present Future – which began in August last year in Washington DC and will conclude in London in May – were sold following his performance.

Tickets for the ‘Grand National’ tour originally went on sale in December. Shows will take place across 19 stadiums in the US and Canada between April and June, with stops in Minneapolis, Houston, Charlotte, East Rutherford, Foxborough, Inglewood, Las Vegas, Detroit, Toronto and more.

What’s happening at this year’s Forum? Too much to share in a single post so we’ve put together an 18-page Preview for the 13th annual TheTicketingBusiness Forum.

Highlighting some of the sessions, speakers, partners, panels and participants for this year’s event – the publication showcases a smorgasbord of eCommerce ideas and inspiration for the entertainment and experiences sector.

And it all happens in Manchester from 28-30 April at the world-famous Emirates Old Trafford.

But for the lucky people in the room, it was a night worth screaming over: Seeing Paul McCartney and his ace band play a 575-capacity venue that later in the month is hosting shows by such artists as Bartees Strange, Willow Avalon and Jesse Welles. The show was announced suddenly at noon, with no advance warning:

Tickets for the North American dates of the Beyoncé: COWBOY CARTER TOUR go on sale starting Tuesday, February 11. Updates on today’s ticket sales can be found here in real time.

The North American leg of the tour will see Beyoncé play stadiums in Chicago, East Rutherford, Los Angeles, Houston and more.

Follow all updates below for Beyoncé: COWBOY CARTER TOUR in the U.S. You can also find out more in our FAQ.

California’s country music festival, Stagecoach, has announced the lineup for its Palomino Stage. Headliners this year include Lana Del Rey, Nelly, and Sammy Hagar.

Anticipation is building for this year’s Stagecoach Festival, California’s country music festival. The lineup for the event’s iconic Palomino Stage has officially been announced, filled with genre-diverse acts like headliners Lana Del Rey, Nelly, and Sammy Hagar. Other acts include Whiskey Myers, Sierra Ferrell, Koe Wetzel, Dylan Gossett, Goo Goo Dolls, and Tracy Lawrence.