Touring

1. 'We Knew It'd Be Tough': Nick Farkas, Co-Founder of Montreal's Osheaga Fest, Celebrating 10 Years

   July 30, 2015 2:45 PM EDT Osheaga Music and Arts Festival wasn’t always the big draw it is today in Montreal. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this weekend (July 31-Aug. 2) with a sellout of 135,000 tickets, the festival at Parc-Jean Drapeau will welcome about 100 bands, i ...

2. Garth Brooks Tops Forbes' Country Earners List

   July 30, 2015 12:50 PM EDT Garth Brooks has been crowned the king of  Forbes ’ annual “Country Cash Kings” list, following the icon’s first tour in over a decade. According to their calculations, Brooks has earned $90 million since last June, a record tally for a country ac ...

3. U2 Concert Special, Documentary Coming to HBO

   July 30, 2015 12:14 PM EDT HBO is getting a taste of U2 's current Innocence + Experience world tour. The premium cable network has scored a pair of specials from Bono and company, both set to air in November. The Time Warner-owned cabler, ahead of its time at the Tele ...

4. Wisin & Ha*Ash Will Be Special Guests on Ricky Martin's One World Tour: Exclusive

   July 30, 2015 7:00 AM EDT Ricky Martin will launch the U.S. leg of his One World Tour on Sept. 15 and will play 25 dates Stateside. With a bonus: 20 of those dates will feature either reggaeton star Wisin or Mexican pop duo Ha*Ash as guest acts. Ricky Martin Extends Latin ...

5. Scott Weiland Cancels European Tour Due to 'Administration and Production Issues'

   July 29, 2015 7:54 PM EDT Scott Weiland has cancelled nearly all of his upcoming European tour, it was announced Wednesday.  Scott Weiland Redeems Himself at BottleRock Festival After Viral 'Vasoline' Video The former Stone Temple Pilots frontman's team issu ...

6. Lollapalooza Colombia Slated for Fall 2016

   July 29, 2015 2:36 PM EDT Following launches in Chile, Brazil and most recently, Argentina, Lollapalooza is expanding its Latin American reach with the launch of Lollapalooza Colombia. The fest will take place at Parque Simón Bolivar, a huge urban park in the middle of Col ...

7. Nashville Notes: Nitty Gritty Tribute Planned; BMG Signs 'Drinkin'' Buddies; Taylor Swift Mashup Artist Gets Warner/Chappell Deal

   July 29, 2015 10:56 AM EDT Here is your weekly roundup of goings on -- artist signings, staffing moves, good news and more -- in the wide world of country music. NEWS & NOTES News from the road: Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean sold a reported 54,000 tickets as the Rose B ...

8. Paradigm Announces Partnership With The Windish Agency

   July 29, 2015 10:00 AM EDT The Windish Agency, one of the most successful independent booking agencies in the music industry with acts including alt-J, Diplo, The War On Drugs, and Lorde, has entered the Paradigm fold in a deal described as a “partnership,” Billboard has ex ...

9. Proposed SFX Sale Fails to Draw Competing Offers

   July 28, 2015 8:44 AM EDT Electronic dance music promoter SFX Entertainment Inc. said Monday that it hasn't received any formal competing offers, putting the $490 million sale of the company to its CEO one step closer to closing. SFX shares fell 54 cents, or 14 percen ...

10. Imagine Dragons to Join Willie Nelson & Friends for 30th Farm Aid Concert in Chicago

    July 28, 2015 1:00 AM EDT The guiding foursome of Farm Aid -- Willie Nelson , Neil Young , John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews -- will celebrate a milestone for the organization that supports America's family farmers with a 30th-anniversary concert in Chicago on Sept 19 ...

11. Little Big Town Cancels More Tour Dates

    July 27, 2015 4:54 PM EDT Little Big Town has canceled more dates of their  Pain Killer  tour spanning over three weeks in order to give band member Jimi Westbrook time to recover from surgery. Westbrook had surgery in late June to remove a polyp on his vocal cords, but ac ...

12. Taylor Swift Concert Moved Up for Possible Houston Astros Playoff Run

    July 27, 2015 3:23 PM EDT The Houston Astros have shaken off Taylor Swift 's original tour date at Minute Maid Park in case of a playoff run. The Astros announced on Monday (July 27) that they'd moved up the date of the Grammy Award-winning singer's show in ...

13. Letters to Cleo's Kay Hanley Bids Farewell to Iconic Boston Rock Club TT the Bear's Place

    July 24, 2015 1:52 PM EDT My quintessential TT the Bear's Place memory? Maybe it was the big black X marks that Jeanne drew on each of my hands with that big, stinky magic marker between every soundcheck and show I played in the late 80's before I turned 21. Or t ...

14. Millennials Stare at Their Phones for 30 Percent of Live Shows, and Other Revenue Opportunities: Op-Ed

    July 23, 2015 4:30 PM EDT Donnie Dinch is GM of Consumer for Ticketfly . Donnie was named one of Forbes' 30 Under 30, and was the CEO and co-founder of WillCall, a music discovery app that Ticketfly acquired. Last week, I walked into Walgreens just like I have hundred ...

15. Bette Midler's Divine Intervention Tour Wraps With $32 Million Grossed

    July 23, 2015 3:38 PM EDT Bette Midler ’s recently ended Divine Intervention tour grossed $36 million from 32 performances, according to Billboard Boxscore. The pop diva’s latest trek -- her first touring production since 2004 -- wrapped with two shows in London on July 18 ...

16. Grateful Dead Concerts Made $52 Million, Set Record for Biggest Music PPV Event Ever

    July 23, 2015 2:14 PM EDT Numbers coming in on the  Grateful Dead 's Fare Thee Well concerts at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., and Soldier Field in Chicago support the notion that the 50th anniversary/farewell run was one of the most successful events in live mu ...

17. Midyear Touring Report: One Direction, Foo Fighters Top the List

    July 23, 2015 2:00 PM EDT As the opening riffs of "Jumpin’ Jack Flash" sliced through the Midwest summer air, the fans at The Rolling Stones concert at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4 roared at a volume that would rival the postshow fireworks on this ho ...

18. Doubts Swirl Around Sillerman's Buyback of SFX Entertainment

    July 21, 2015 4:51 PM EDT SFX Entertainment's short tenure on the NASDAQ stock exchange has been expected to end this year. But investors are showing skepticism about the current plan to take private the owner of such EDM brands as TommorowLand, Mysteryland and Beatpo ...

19. Rihanna's Success Crosses Over Onto Cropover, Barbados' 300-Year-Old Seasonal Music Festival

    July 21, 2015 1:05 PM EDT From her initial hit "Pon De Replay," which peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 , to her recent designation as the first artist to surpass the RIAA’s 100 million cumulative singles award threshold, Rihanna ’s phenomenal success over the pas ...

20. You'll Never Guess How Much the Grateful Dead Earned During Their Fare Thee Well Shows

    July 17, 2015 1:00 PM EDT When it comes to hot shows, the Grateful Dead ’s Fare Thee Well to fans, capping a remarkable 50-year touring career in Santa Clara, Calif., and Chicago, tops them all. Produced by Peter Shapiro in partnership with AEG subsidiary Madison House, Fa ...

21. Billy Joel's Summer of 'Nuggets': The Piano Man Is in the Midst of a Record-Breaking Tour

    July 17, 2015 12:42 PM EDT Billy Joel is notching milestone dates and breaking records in what his longtime agent Dennis Arfa calls Joel’s “summer of nuggets.” Through June 6, Joel has grossed $22.5 million from just 12 shows, not counting a headlining gig at Bonnaroo in Ma ...

22. Summer Concert Tours: Who's Hot, Who's Not (Hint: Taylor Swift Is Unstoppable)

    July 17, 2015 11:30 AM EDT As the battle to become summer's biggest touring artist rages on, the live music industry is reaping the benefits with a robust season so far in 2015. "We're operating in a healthy, continually growing market," says Marc Geiger ...

23. Shania Twain's Farewell Tour Launches With Sell-Out Shows

    July 16, 2015 9:22 PM EDT Shania Twain leads the pack on the weekly tally of Hot Tours (see list, below) with the first box office stats reported from her third major tour – and her first in 11 years - dubbed Rock This Country, set to visit 60 North American cities through ...

24. One Direction & Justin Bieber's Managers, Live Nation Invest in $20 Million Artist-to-Fan App

    July 16, 2015 5:42 PM EDT 76 4.808 k 44 4 Two former AOL executives are convinced music artists relationships with their fans can be much more focused, direct and improved, and, with the investment of Justin Bieber , One Direction and Calvin Harris ' management firms, they ...

25. Momentum & AEG Live Study Details Millennials' Brand Reception at Music Festivals: Exclusive

    July 16, 2015 3:38 PM EDT More than 14.7 million millennials (18-to-34-year-olds) attend at least one music festival ever year. And with $1.34 billion spent on live music and festival sponsorships in 2014 alone , they’re more receptive than ever to marketing -- albeit ...

26. MGM Resorts Makes Progress on $100 Million Arena in Las Vegas

    July 16, 2015 2:10 AM EDT MGM Resorts International plans to build a $100 million, 5,300-seat theater at its Monte Carlo casino-hotel to attract top musicians for weeks at a time. The project will be built next to a larger, 20,000-seat arena now under construction. MGM als ...

27. Ticketfly Raises $50 Million

    July 15, 2015 3:02 PM EDT Standing still is not an option in the cutthroat ticketing business. Ticket purchasing platform Ticketfly announced Wednesday it closed a $50 million Series D funding led by private equity firm Riverwood Capital. In addition to product developmen ...

28. Coachella Earns Over $84 Million, Breaks Attendance Records

    July 15, 2015 2:57 PM EDT The final numbers on the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., are in, and it’s another Boxscore record for the world’s highest-grossing festival, produced by Goldenvoice, a division of AEG Live.   With a lineup that include ...

29. Concerts and Festivals Create Passionate Fans (Who Spend), Says Study

    July 15, 2015 1:02 PM EDT Many surveys have shown that people most commonly discover music through radio and YouTube, but a new study aims to highlight not only the role concerts play in music discovery, but the high-value fans they draw in as well. Commissioned by Even ...

30. Moogfest Announces Move to Durham, Sets Date for 2016 Return

    July 14, 2015 4:30 PM EDT Moogfest is on the move. The acclaimed festival blending art, music and technology will take place May 19-22, 2016 in Durham, North Carolina. The biennial festival was last held in 2014 across the state in Asheville, where parent company Moog Musi ...

31. Kenny Chesney's Big Revival Tour Has Already Grossed Over $50 Million

    July 09, 2015 9:43 PM EDT Kenny Chesney ’s ongoing stadium and arena trek, the Big Revival tour, lands in the No. 1 slot on the latest Hot Tours (see list, below) tally with $15.8 million in sales reported from six North American performances. Three of the shows were stadi ...

32. Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well Run Estimated to Earn Over $55 Million

    July 07, 2015 1:05 PM EDT Fare Thee Well, the Grateful Dead 50th anniversary shows that also puts a cap on one of the most remarkable live music careers in music history, wrapped Sunday night at Soldier Field in record-setting fashion.   Produced by Peter Shapiro in partne ...

33. Pennzoil Expands Music Strategy With 8-Amphitheater Live Nation Deal

    July 07, 2015 12:01 PM EDT Douglas Kooyman, global brand director for Pennzoil, knows how inherently un-sexy the marketing of motor oil can be. “There’s a time place to talk about chemistry and molecules, and there’s a time and place to have fun,” he concedes. But for the l ...

34. Japan Amends Restrictive Dance Laws After 67 Years

    July 07, 2015 8:20 AM EDT In mid-June, Japanese politicians amended a controversial law on the books for 67 years. The statute, officially termed "the Entertainment Business Control Law," forbade dancing after midnight in clubs, bars and most venues. The arcane a ...

35. Touring

    Daddy Yankee to Perform at Madison Square Garden After 10-Year Absence

    July 06, 2015 2:00 PM EDT After a 10-year absence from the venue, reggaeton star Daddy Yankee will play a show at Madison Square Garden Sept. 19. The show, titled King Daddy: El Concierto, will feature Yankee along with a string of yet to be announced guests. Yankee is als ...

36. Sally Wiliams, VP and GM of Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, on Keeping the Ryman Vibrant

    July 02, 2015 5:02 PM EDT When the Source Awards are handed out Sept. 29 in Nashville, Sally Williams, who is one of this year’s seven honorees, will be recognized for her role with one of the nation’s iconic live venues. A graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, ...

37. Wantickets Strikes Partnership With Nightlife App Discotech: Exclusive

    July 02, 2015 4:58 PM EDT Online ticketing provider Wantickets has announced an exclusive partnership with nightlife app Discotech that will allow users to purchase tickets directly in the mobile app on their Android or iPhone devices. Founded in 2012 by three UC Berkeley ...

38. Major Country in Major Cities: Behind New York's FarmBorough and Chicago's Lake Shake

    June 30, 2015 6:08 PM EDT Live Nation’s country music division barnstormed the major markets of Chicago and New York on consecutive weekends, launching Lake Shake in the former and FarmBorough in the latter, each drawing about 40,000 in attendance. The statement-making eve ...

39. Festival Headliners Average Age Continues to Rise -- Are The Youngs Replacing Them With DJs?

    June 29, 2015 5:14 PM EDT What do Paul McCartney , Billy Joel and Lionel Richie have in common? They are all recent music festival performers, and part of a trend toward aging festival headliners. Data in an article at The Economist , provided by Will Page of Spotify, show ...

40. 'We're Off and Running': Producer of Grateful Dead's Fare Thee Well Shows Addresses That Rainbow

    June 29, 2015 1:59 PM EDT "We’re off and running," says Fare Thee Well co-producer Peter Shapiro, the day after the two-night opening salvo of The Grateful Dead's 50th anniversary reunion came off -- exceedingly well, by most accounts -- at Levi’s Stadium in ...

41. The Rolling Stones Have Grossed $360 Million on Tour Since 2012

    June 26, 2015 1:53 PM EDT The Rolling Stones takes the top slot on the weekly Hot Tours recap (see list, below) for the first time since launching its Zip Code tour in late May. The iconic rock band’s No. 1 ranking comes from $52 million in box office sales earned at six s ...

42. Will Dave Grohl's Injury Break the Bank for the Foo Fighters?

    June 26, 2015 12:00 PM EDT When Foo Fighters ' Dave Grohl too a spill two songs into a Foo Fighters show on June 12 at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden, dislocating his angle and “snapping my fibula like an old pair of take out chopsticks” in the process (as he put ...

43. Peter Shapiro, Co-Producer of the Grateful Dead's Reunion Concerts, Reveals How He Got the Band Back Together

    June 26, 2015 10:00 AM EDT Peter Shapiro -- co-producer of The Grateful Dead’s Fare Thee Well shows in Chicago and California, owner of the Brooklyn Bowl franchise and more -- isn’t just a Deadhead. He dates the beginning of his career to a 1993 show in Chicago that inspire ...

44. 'I Had Never Seen Anything Like That': Fare Thee Well Producer Pete Shapiro's Journey to Deadheadism

    June 26, 2015 9:55 AM EDT Pete Shapiro, 42, is a rock 'n roll renaissance man, with a broad, diverse portfolio of music biz endeavors that includes venues (Capitol Theatre, Brooklyn Bowl), festivals (Lokn'), publishing (Relix), rock docs (U23D), and, in his highe ...

45. How Much Do the Booking Agents Who Send Artists on Tour Make?

    June 23, 2015 3:45 PM EDT WHO MAKES WHAT: Journalists |   Booking Agents | Artist Managers | Music Publishing | Top Earners | Label Execs | Artists, Big & Small  |  Radio & TV  |  Digital/Streaming  |  Touring * RESPONSIBLE AGENT:  Booking agents find, route and ne ...

46. Is It Time for EDM's Ghost Producers to Come Out From Behind the Curtain?

    June 22, 2015 11:12 AM EDT Illustration by Diego Patino "Electronic music has rotten teeth that need to be pulled." So declared a recent Twitter rant from Grammy-nominated British producer Matan Zohar , known as DJ Mat Zo , taking shots at some of EDM's most ...

47. Electric Daisy Carnival Coming to Brazil

    June 21, 2015 9:55 PM EDT Today, Insomniac Events announced Electric Daisy Carnival's expansion to Brazil through a partnership with South American entertainment company Time For Fun.  Electric Daisy Carnival 2015: One Death Confirmed Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Bra ...

48. Firefly 2015 Arrest: Man Cuffed After Climbing Speaker Rig During Snoop's Set

    June 21, 2015 9:51 PM EDT UPDATE: Mark Hoffman of the Dover PD informed Billboard the suspect in the "tower climb arrest" is a 22-year-old male from Glen Burnie, Maryland. After he was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, he was released on a &qu; ...

49. How Much Does the Guy Who Rolls Blunts on Tour Earn? A Breakdown of Touring Biz Jobs

    June 19, 2015 5:19 PM EDT WHO MAKES WHAT: Journalists |   Booking Agents | Artist Managers | Music Publishing | Top Earners | Label Execs | Artists, Big & Small  |  Radio & TV  |  Digital/Streaming  |  Touring * PRODUCTION MANAGER -- As the person responsible for ...

50. Maná's Fher Compares Donald Trump to Hitler During L.A. Concert, Blasts Him for Anti-Immigrant Comments

    June 19, 2015 1:07 PM EDT It was all love in the beginning of Maná ’s Cama Incendiada tour stop in Los Angeles’s Staples Center on June 18, one of two sold-out nights at the venue. “Los Angeles, we missed you!” shouted the band’s lead singer Fher Olvera, after opening with ...

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