Live music industry news

Artists and promoters continue to navigate a politically charged festival season

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Live industry news including ticketing, venues, festivals and more • 5 min read

Artists and promoters continue to navigate a politically charged festival season

The 2025 festival season continues to be politically charged. Police are still investigating whether Bob Vylan’s anti-Israel statements at Glastonbury constituted a crime. And one pro-Palestine band is boycotting Boardmasters despite the festival’s statement supporting the Palestinian cause…

Chris Cooke • 06 Aug 2025

Boomtown ups drugs policing as coroner says dealers operated freely at festival

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Boomtown • 3 min read

Boomtown ups drugs policing as coroner says dealers operated freely at festival

A coroner has reported on his inquest into the drug-related death of a festival-goer at last year’s Boomtown, concluding that drugs were “freely available to purchase” at the event. Local police say plans are in place this year to “disrupt” the sale of drugs on site at the festival…

Chris Cooke • 06 Aug 2025

Industry welcomes ten step plan for “rebalancing the licensing regime” of UK festivals and venues

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Live industry news including ticketing, venues, festivals and more • 2 min read

Industry welcomes ten step plan for “rebalancing the licensing regime” of UK festivals and venues

The UK government has published ten recommendations from an industry taskforce that was asked to review how pubs, clubs, venues and events are licensed, 20 years on from the last Licensing Act. The music industry says the recommendations include many “positive, business friendly measures”…

Chris Cooke • 01 Aug 2025

Judge rules against Royal Albert Hall seat owners in dispute over the venue’s slightly bizarre seat ownership system

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Royal Albert Hall • 3 min read

Judge rules against Royal Albert Hall seat owners in dispute over the venue’s slightly bizarre seat ownership system

1250 seats at London’s Royal Albert Hall are owned by third parties who control access to those seats, although the venue can exclude the seat owners from a set number of shows per year. The Hall was sued for doing that too often, but a judge has declined to rule against the venue’s management…

Chris Cooke • 30 Jul 2025

As FTC begins crack down on ticket scalping, scalpers say Ticketmaster endorses their practices

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Secondary Ticketing • 4 min read

As FTC begins crack down on ticket scalping, scalpers say Ticketmaster endorses their practices

The FTC in the US has started to crackdown on ticket scalpers that it reckons have violated the BOTS Act, which prohibits certain practices for sourcing tickets for resale. But one targeted scalping company says its ticket sourcing practices are not only lawful but also authorised by Ticketmaster…

Chris Cooke • 29 Jul 2025

UK government says it will ramp up ‘agent of change’ as it seeks to simplify the licensing of night-time businesses

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Live industry news including ticketing, venues, festivals and more • 3 min read

UK government says it will ramp up ‘agent of change’ as it seeks to simplify the licensing of night-time businesses

The UK government has published a Plan For Change that aims to simplify the licensing of bars, clubs and music venues. It includes ramping up the ‘agent of change’ principle, which was added to planning guidelines in 2018, but the industry says those guidelines have been too open to interpretation…

Chris Cooke • 28 Jul 2025

Hungary Kneecap ban is “fucking outrageous” and has “no legal basis”, says band

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Kneecap • 3 min read

Hungary Kneecap ban is “fucking outrageous” and has “no legal basis”, says band

Hungary has banned Kneecap from entering the country ahead of a planned performance at Sziget Festival next month. The festival says the move by the Hungarian government is “unnecessary and regrettable”, while Kneecap have dubbed it “fucking outrageous”, insisting there is no legal basis for the ban…

Chris Cooke • 25 Jul 2025

Police close investigation into Kneecap’s Glasto set as artists launch syndicate in response to “intimidations” over support for Palestine

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Kneecap • 4 min read

Police close investigation into Kneecap’s Glasto set as artists launch syndicate in response to “intimidations” over support for Palestine

Police are no longer investigating Kneecap’s recent Glastonbury set having concluded that on-stage comments about a possible riot were not an incitement to riot. The band are also backing a new syndicate to support artists who are under pressure after speaking out in support of Palestine…

Chris Cooke • 21 Jul 2025

Slovakian festival Rubicon cancelled after Kanye backlash as rapper heads to Prague instead

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Kanye West • 1 min read

Slovakian festival Rubicon cancelled after Kanye backlash as rapper heads to Prague instead

Slovakian festival Rubicon was heavily criticised when it booked Kanye West to headline. It initially defended the booking but last week announced the whole event had been canceled because of “external pressure and logistical challenges”. West is reportedly planning his own show in Czechia instead…

Chris Cooke • 14 Jul 2025

French mayor pulls Rock En Seine funding after festival confirms Kneecap are still playing

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Kneecap • 2 min read

French mayor pulls Rock En Seine funding after festival confirms Kneecap are still playing

France’s Rock En Seine festival booked Kneecap to play last autumn before controversies surrounding the group and their on-stage support for Palestine went mainstream. The festival says it is standing by the booking, even though that means losing €40,000 in funding from its local council…

Chris Cooke • 14 Jul 2025

Oak View boss stands down after being indicted for allegedly “rigging” the bidding to run Austin’s Moody Center

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Oak View Group • 3 min read

Oak View boss stands down after being indicted for allegedly “rigging” the bidding to run Austin’s Moody Center

Live industry veteran Tim Leiweke has stood down as CEO of the venues company he co-founded, Oak View Group, after being indicted over allegations of anti-competitive conduct when his company was bidding to run the Moody Center arena at the University Of Texas. Leiweke denies any wrongdoing…

Chris Cooke • 10 Jul 2025

“Split Live Nation into four companies”, independent venues tell the US government

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Live Nation • 3 min read

“Split Live Nation into four companies”, independent venues tell the US government

The deadline passed this week for submissions to the US government’s review of the ticketing business. Live Nation has asked for a 20% price cap on secondary ticketing, while NIVA wants even tighter regulation of resale - and for Live Nation to be split up into four separate companies…

Chris Cooke • 09 Jul 2025