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Ticketing platform Seated is being re-acquired by its founders, David McKay and John Griffin, four years after it was acquired by intimate live experience producer Sofar Sounds. McKay will lead the company’s return to independence as CEO.
Seated — dubbed an artist-first ticketing platform — was launched in 2017 to empower artists to take more control of their ticketing by enhancing tour listings for artist websites; it has since evolved into a central pillar of many major tours’ marketing and ticketing efforts. The platform’s offerings have now expanded to include SMS-based presale registration, audience-building and pixeling for ad strategy, official waitlists for sold-out shows, and direct-to-fan ticketing. Seated has come to work with big-name artists including Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Olivia Rodrigo, Lizzo, Eric Church, John Mayer, Morgan Wallen, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Gracie Abrams in recent years.
“When we sold the company in February 2021, it was a very different time [for live events], and our vision of what a combined Seated and Sofar would become drastically changed once the vaccines came out. Our business was clearly moving in a different direction than Sofar,” says McKay. “To their credit, [Sofar] continued to support us and we stayed a fully independent operating team inside of Sofar for those four years, which actually made this a very clean split.”
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The two entities began discussing a split when former Sofar Sounds CEO Jim Lucchese departed the company in 2024 to become the president of Berklee College of Music. Lucchese was replaced by former Atlas Obscura CEO Warren Webster, who McKay says is a “breath of fresh air for Sofar” but diverges from Seated’s goals of working with arena and stadium touring artists.
“Seated has achieved remarkable growth under Sofar Sounds’ ownership these last four years, becoming a vital partner to some of the biggest artists in the world,” Webster said in a statement. “We’re proud to have been part of that story, and as Sofar focuses on the increasing demand in our communities for live experiences, we’re thrilled that Seated will continue to grow with its founders at the helm.”
For the founders, the reacquisition is about doubling down on building tools for artists to sell tickets directly and develop stronger connections with their fans. The platform has recently done direct-to-fan ticketing for Noah Kahan, Shawn Mendes and Goose, while artists like Brandi Carlile, John Legend and Nathaniel Rateliff have used Seated to sell their own presale tickets, giving them more control over the ticketing experience and fan data. Seated has also helped artists use identity verification for resale and waitlist ticketing, reducing the number of tickets that end up with brokers.
Over the past year, the biggest residencies at Sphere in Las Vegas — including Eagles, Dead & Company and Kenny Chesney — also used Seated for data capture, demand insights and SMS presale registrations.
With ticketing being a hot-button issue in the last few years, McKay says he is excited to be independent again so that Seated can focus more on helping artists capture their fan data. Rather than spending all of their tour marketing on directing fans to ticketing platforms where they have to wait for a specific time for an onsale, McKay wants artists to be able to give their fans actionable items that get them closer to securing tickets.
“When tickets are not on sale yet, fans can sign up for reminders to get tickets, and when tickets sell out, we open up the fan waitlist,” McKay says, and all that fan data goes back to the artist.
“All the ticketing companies that you know and love — or don’t — are built with the tools to service their customers, which are the venues,” McKay says, adding that major ticketing companies are investing in box office computers, scanners and season ticket technology for sports teams. “Ticketing companies as a whole, the artist isn’t their customer.”
After playing Fenway Park in Boston, Kahan was set to perform at a local Vermont venue with only 5,00 tickets available. Instead of making fans rush to an onsale (where bots are the quickest to the tickets), the company had fans sign up with their information and their price range, and Seated was able to sort through to make sure all buyers were authentic fans. If fans needed a refund, they could click a button to return the ticket, and it would go to another fan on the waitlist. Fans who did not want a refund for their ticket could donate the money they spent to Kahan’s charity, with McKay stating that 15% of those who wanted a refund did so.
“That’s the biggest difference between an artist-led ticketing platform and a venue-led ticketing platform,” says McKay.
Sir Rod Stewart called off his planned residency show at the Colosseum in Las Vegas on Sunday night (June 1) just hours before set time due to an unspecified illness. The 80-year-old singer pulled out of the show around 6 p.m. local time, with less than four hours to go, according to the Las Vegas […]
Eminem and Post Malone have appeared in cameos in the full trailer for Happy Gilmore 2, which dropped over the weekend ahead of the film’s July 25 release on Netflix.
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The sequel follows Adam Sandler’s iconic character returning to the green nearly 30 years after the original to raise $300,000 for his daughter’s ballet tuition.
Sandler previously announced the Detroit rapper’s inclusion in the highly anticipated sequel during a recent appearance on The Dan Patrick Show.
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“Eminem was cool, he came by, he was great,” Sandler raved of Em, adding, “I’ve known Eminem for a long time, he’s a great guy and he came in and was funny as hell,” he said. “I think we just hung out a day with Eminem and he just shot and shot and he was insane. [He] said a million things we can use and a million that we’re glad we have him on tape.”
The cameo-filled trailer features a slew of other big names, including Bad Bunny, Travis Kelce, Eric André, Margaret Qualley, and Martin Herlihy.
Bad Bunny plays Gilmore’s chaotic new caddie, while Ben Stiller, Julie Bowen, and Christopher McDonald reprise their roles from the 1996 classic. The movie also stars Sandler’s real-life daughter, Sunny Sandler, who plays Gilmore’s daughter.
Back in August, Sandler also discussed Travis Kelce’s cameo in the comedy flick. During a Tonight Show appearance, the comedian shared of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, “He’s a very nice guy. You guys would love him in real life. What a big, handsome guy. Funny and cool as hell. He’s a stud and he’s so funny.”
Directed by Kyle Newacheck and co-written by Sandler and longtime collaborator Tim Herlihy, the film blends nostalgia with a new twist, bringing back fan-favorite characters while introducing fresh faces. Of course, Gilmore’s fiery temper and unconventional golf skills are on full display once again.
Eminem’s appearance comes during a prolific era for the rapper. His 2024 album The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce) debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, moving 281,000 equivalent album units in its first week and marking his 11th No. 1 album.
The album’s lead single, “Houdini,” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, earning Eminem his 23rd career top 10 single and his highest chart debut since “The Monster,” featuring Rihanna, which logged four weeks at No. 1 in December 2013-January 2014.
Menawhile, Post Malone is co-headlining the Big Ass Stadium Tour with Jelly Roll, which kicked off in April 2025 and runs through July in North America, before heading to Europe in August and September. The tour supports Post Malone’s country-inspired album F-1 Trillion, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Happy Gilmore 2 swings onto Netflix July 25. Watch the film’s latest trailer below.
Linkin Park delivered a four-song set ahead of the UEFA Champions League final in Munich on Saturday night (June 1), continuing their return to the live stage with performances of “The Emptiness Machine,” “In the End,” “Numb,” and “Heavy Is the Crown.”
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Taking the stage at Munich Football Arena just before kickoff between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan, the band’s appearance served as a high-profile preview of their upcoming world tour, which supports their latest album, From Zero, released last year.
The set marked another major step in the band’s evolution following the addition of vocalist Emily Armstrong, who officially joined the lineup last September. Armstrong’s debut sparked conversation online, including public commentary from the late Chester Bennington’s family and discussion around her past professional affiliations.
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From Zero is Linkin Park’s first studio album since 2017’s One More Light, released just months before Bennington’s death.
At the band’s first show with their new lineup last year, co-founder Mike Shinoda addressed the crowd, saying, “We are thrilled to be back out here. It is not about erasing the past. It is about starting this new chapter into the future and coming out here for each and every one of you.”
Shinoda expanded on that sentiment during a guest appearance on The Tonight Show, explaining, “I think the important thing for us is that we never set out to, like, ‘Let’s bring the band back’ or ‘Let’s find a singer.’ That was never our intention or our goal.”
The album debuted at No. 1 on all of the above charts last November, except for the Billboard 200 and Top Album Sales, where it arrived at No. 2. Following its deluxe reissue with additional tracks on May 16, From Zero recently returned to Top Album Sales (at No. 5), Top Hard Rock Albums (No. 4), Vinyl Albums (No. 8), Top Alternative Albums (No. 9), Top Rock Albums (No. 15), Top Rock & Alternative Albums (No. 17), Indie Store Album Sales (No. 17) and the Billboard 200 (No. 71) charts dated May 31.
The North American leg of Linkin Park’s upcoming tour is set to kick off July 29 at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The run will include stops across the U.S. through August and September, including a major date at Dodger Stadium with Queens of the Stone Age, before it wraps Sept. 24 in Seattle.
Duran Duran are officially back in the lab with one of their most legendary collaborators.
On Saturday (June 1), the iconic U.K. band teased new material via Instagram, sharing a snapshot from Abbey Road Studios with the caption, “Working with our good friend Nile at Abbey Road Studios this weekend. Stay tuned…”
Nile Rodgers, who’s been behind some of the band’s biggest hits, also shared the moment on his socials, writing, “We had as much fun working yesterday as ever!” The reunion marks the first time Rodgers and Duran Duran have worked together in nearly a decade, following their last collaboration on 2015’s Paper Gods, which featured the funk-infused single “Pressure Off” with Janelle Monáe and cracked the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Rodgers’ relationship with the band stretches back more than 40 years. He remixed their first Billboard No. 1 single “The Reflex” in 1984, produced the fan-favorite “The Wild Boys,” and went on to helm their fourth studio album Notorious (1986). His signature grooves helped shape Duran Duran’s post-new wave sound during a critical period of their evolution.
The super-producer later reunited with them for 2004’s Astronaut, marking the return of the original five-piece lineup.
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The news arrives just days before Duran Duran kick off their European and U.K. tour with Rodgers and CHIC joining as special guests. The tour begins June 3 in Finland and includes major stops in Amsterdam, Rome, Dublin and the U.K., wrapping in early July.
While the band hasn’t confirmed whether the Abbey Road sessions are for a new album or standalone release, this marks the first major studio move since their Halloween-themed album Danse Macabre, released in 2023.
Duran Duran have sold over 100 million records worldwide and earned two Grammy Awards. Their latest chart appearance came with Future Past in 2021, which debuted at No. 28 on the Billboard 200. Rodgers, meanwhile, remains one of music’s most decorated producers, with credits spanning David Bowie, Madonna, Daft Punk and more.
Following the launch of Iron Maiden‘s Run for Your Lives World Tour, manager Rod Smallwood has shared a new plea for fans to put their phones away at the band’s shows.
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The British heavy metal veterans’ recently-launched tour takes place as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations, with the group kicking things off with a pair of sold-out dates in Budapest, Hungary last week.
Prior to the tour’s launch, Smallwood took to Iron Maiden’s website to request that fans put their phones back into their pockets and witness the show as it’s supposed to be seen.
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“We really want fans to enjoy the shows first hand, rather than on their small screens,” Smallwood wrote. “The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are on stage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers.
“We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting especially to the band. I hope fans understand this and will be sensible in severely limiting the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans.”
In the wake of the band’s first few shows of their latest tour, Smallwood shared a reflective post on social media over the weekend, thanking fans for their support of new drummer Simon Dawson, and applauding those who heeded his request for limited phone usage during the gigs.
“A huge thank you to every one of you who kept your phones down, respected the band and your fellow fans, and embraced the show the way it’s meant to be experienced – in the room with us,” Smallwood said. “That was a great boost for us and the band appreciated it greatly. It is so much better when they can see you unencumbered and that drives them on without that distraction. For the selfish few that didn’t and just had to keep videoing… I wish you nothing but a very sore arm!
“But they were few, and we do hope this support from fans, especially in the floor area in front of the sound desk, continues in Prague tomorrow and beyond,” he added. “As I said before, by all means take the odd quick pic as a memento of a great night, but otherwise please keep your phone in your pocket.”
Iron Maiden’s current Run for Your Lives World Tour marks their performances since wrapping the The Future Past Tour in São Paulo, Brazil in December. That tour was the last to feature drummer Nicko McBrain, who announced his “decision to take a step back from the grind of the extensive touring lifestyle.”
Daniel Seavey has been forced to postpone more tour dates, axing his performances in Australia and New Zealand as he continues to recover from ongoing vocal issues.
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Seavey, whose global tour in support of debut album Second Wind launched in March, alerted fans to his troubles last month when he postponed the final six dates of his European run.
“My doctors made it clear that my vocal cords are completely unusable right now, and that any attempt at forcing them to work will result in permanent and irreversible damage,” he told fans on social media on May 13.
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However, despite “taking the next few weeks to get to the bottom of these issues and resolve them” ahead of his shows in Australia and New Zealand, Seavey’s vocal issues have persisted, necessitating the postponement of these dates as well.
“Hey guys I got some pretty tough news yesterday,” Seavey wrote on social media over the weekend. “My doctor has ordered me to go on another 3 weeks of vocal rest to ensure that this problem completely resolves and never returns, which means I have to push back my shows in Australia a couple weeks.
“I am so beyond devastated by the outcome of all of this and am so terribly sorry to everyone I am letting down.”
Seavey’s Australian trek was scheduled to begin in Perth on Saturday (June 7), before visiting Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane, and then venturing over to New Zealand for a single date in Auckland.
New dates have already been announced, with Seavey set to instead visit Auckland on Aug. 2, and Australian dates to occur in the following days. His European dates are currently in the works, with Seavey telling fans “My team and I are working as fast as we can to get those to you.”
Seavey rose to fame in 2015 after placing in the top nine of the 14th season of American Idol. He later served as a member of Why Don’t We, whose two studio albums both charted in the top ten of the Billboard 200.
Why Don’t We went on hiatus amidst a lengthy legal battle in 2022, and eventually disbanded officially in February 2025, with Seavey releasing his debut album on March 7.
Daniel Seavey – 2025 Tour Dates
Aug. 2 – The Powerstation, Auckland, New ZealandAug. 5 – The Forum, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaAug. 6 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney, NSW, AustraliaAug. 8 – Eatons Hill Hotel, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaAug. 10 – AEC Theatre, Adelaide, SA, AustraliaAug. 12 – Rechabite, Perth, WA, Australia
Patti LuPone has issued an apology after hundreds of members of the Broadway community condemned her recent remarks disparaging fellow actresses Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald.
“For as long as I have worked in the theatre, I have spoken my mind and never apologized. That is changing today,” LuPone wrote in the opening of a statement released via Instagram on Saturday (May 31).
“I am deeply sorry for the words I used during The New Yorker interview, particularly about Kecia Lewis, which were demeaning and disrespectful. I regret my flippant and emotional responses during this interview, which were inappropriate, and I am devastated that my behavior has offended others and has run counter to what we hold dear in this community. I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies,” said LuPone.
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LuPone’s response arrived the day after after an open letter directed at her — and signed by more than 500 individuals in the Broadway world — was published in outcry to comments from the actress perceived to be “degrading and misogynistic,” as well as a “blatant act of racialized disrespect.” The letter was also aimed at “a culture, a pattern” in the Broadway industry: “a persistent failure to hold people accountable for violent, disrespectful, or harmful behavior — especially when they are powerful or well-known.”
In Saturday’s statement, LuPone acknowledged the message of the letter and expressed regret over what she said about her peers.
“I wholeheartedly agree with everything that was written in the open letter shared yesterday,” she wrote. “From middle school drama clubs to professional stages, theatre has always been about lifting each other up and welcoming those who feel they don’t belong anywhere else. I made a mistake, I take full responsibility for it, and I am committed to making this right. Our entire theatre community deserves better.”
The New Yorker ran a profile on LuPone earlier this week that quoted hercalling Lewis — who’s in the Alicia Keys-created Broadway musical Hell’s Kitchen, which was performed next door to the LuPone-starring The Roommate in 2024 — a “b—-” for considering herself a stage “veteran.”
The piece had LuPone recounting complaints she’d made to Shubert Organization head Robert Wankel that sound from Lewis’ Hell’s Kitchen could be heard during her stage time in The Roommate. (Lewis had responded to LuPone’s complaints on Instagram at the time, and deemed them “bullying,” “racially microaggressive” and “rooted in privilege” for calling “a Black show loud.”)
“She calls herself a veteran?” LuPone said in The New Yorker article dated May 26. “Let’s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn’t know what the f— she’s talking about. Don’t call yourself a vet, b—-.”
LuPone also remarked that she had a “rift” with McDonald, who’d shown support for Lewis: “That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a friend,” LuPone told The New Yorker; McDonald later said she was unaware of the rift.
LuPone, a three-time Tony Award and two-time Grammy Award winner, in 2024 starred as Robyn opposite Mia Farrow’s Sharon in The Roommate for the dark comedy’s four-month engagement on Broadway at the Booth Theatre. She just wrapped a series of concert dates that ran across select U.S. cities from late January through late May, with a couple festival appearances slated for this summer.
Lewis won her first Tony, for best featured actress in a musical, for her work as Miss Liza Jane in Hell’s Kitchen, the Broadway production whose performers were also awarded the Grammy for best musical theater album in 2024. Hell’s Kitchen is presently still on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre.
Ava Max‘s “Lovin Myself” tops this week’s new music poll. In a poll published Friday (May 30) on Billboard, music fans chose the pop singer’s latest single as their favorite new release of the past week. “Lovin Myself” brought in 57% of the vote, beating out new releases from artists like Tate McRae (“Just Keep […]
Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem notches a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated June 7), after debuting in the pole position a week ago with the year’s biggest week for an album. In its second week, I’m the Problem earned 286,000 equivalent album units (in the tracking week ending May 29) in the United States according to Luminate. A week ago, the set arrived at No. 1 with 493,000 units.
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With a relatively scant 42% second-week decline in units earned, I’m the Problem tallies the smallest second-week percentage drop for a No. 1-debuting album in more than a year. The last No. 1-debuting set to see a smaller sophomore frame fall, by percentage decline, was 21 Savage’s American Dream on the March 3, 2024-dated chart. It fell 41% in its second week (from 133,000 to 78,000).
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Plus, Wallen has three albums in the top 10 at the same time for the first time ever, as I’m the Problem is joined by his former No. 1s One Thing at a Time (No. 4) and Dangerous: The Double Album (No. 10).
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new June 7, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on June 3. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Of I’m the Problem’s 286,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending May 29, SEA units comprise 256,000 (down 28%, equaling 332.89 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs — it leads Top Streaming Albums for a second week), album sales comprise 28,000 (down 79% — it’s No. 1 on Top Album Sales for a second week) and TEA units comprise 2,000 (down 39%).
Nos. 2-8 on the Billboard 200 are all former No. 1s. SZA’s SOS is a non-mover at No. 2 (47,000 equivalent album units earned; up 2%); Kendrick Lamar’s GNX climbs 5-3 (42,000; up 1%); Wallen’s One Thing at a Time is steady at No. 4 (nearly 42,000; down 1%); Playboi Carti’s MUSIC motors 18-5 (41,000; up 57% after a range of deluxe boxed set editions, sold through his webstore, were fulfilled to customers); Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet steps 7-6 (36,000; down 3%); PARTYNEXTDOOR and Drake’s $ome $exy $ongs 4 U is up 8-7 (nearly 36,000; down 4%); and Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos rises 9-8 (35,000; down 3%).
Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft is back in the top 10, moving 11-9, with 31,000 equivalent album units earned (though down 2%).
Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album rises 12-10 with 30,000 equivalent album units earned (down less than 1%). Wallen has three albums in the top 10 concurrently for the first time ever, as Dangerous joins I’m the Problem (No. 1) and One Thing at a Time (No. 4). Wallen is the second act to log at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time in 2025, following Lamar after his Super Bowl LIX halftime show performance on Feb. 9. On the Feb. 22-dated chart, Lamar was at Nos. 1, 9 and 10 with GNX, DAMN. and good kid, m.A.A.d city, respectively.
Wallen and Lamar are the only living male artists to have had at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time since Herb Alpert on the Dec. 24, 1966-dated chart (when he, along with the Tijuana Brass, had three titles in the top 10). The most recent act, overall, with at least three albums in the top 10 was Taylor Swift on the March 2, 2024, chart, when she had three in the region — she has held at least three albums concurrently in the top 10 of the chart 22 times.
Before Lamar, the last male artist — or anyone aside from Swift — to have at least three albums in the top 10 at the same time was Prince, following his death, in 2016. That year, on the May 14 chart, he logged five titles in the region; and on the May 7 chart, he had three in the top 10. Prince died on April 21, 2016.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.