State Champ Radio UK Business
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Independent U.K. live music company Electric Group has announced the launch of Electric Studios at the former site of The Leadmill in Sheffield.
Set to open its doors in spring 2026, a £2 million ($2.6 million) transformation is set to take place, with upgraded interiors and increasing capacity to 1,050 for live gigs and 1,450 for club events. It joins an established Electric Group portfolio of live music venues across the U.K., including the Electric Brixton in London, Electric Bristol (formerly known as SWX), and NX Newcastle.
A specific opening date has not yet been revealed, but Electric Group has launched a new web page where fans can sign up for updates and make booking enquiries via email.
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The refurbished venue will also operate a subsidised creative hub across its second and third floors, housing a workspace, rehearsal room, communal area and kitchen for use by emerging artists from the local area.
A new PA system, paired with advanced lighting and production installations, has also recently been installed in the space. Other upgrades include a redesigned venue layout with all-new bars and improved stage sightline. There are also new customer staircases, as well as new toilets and a cloakroom on the first floor with full DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) compliance.
In collaboration with national promoters, bookings will be helmed by Mike Weller, head of music at Electric Group. The independent music venue operator became freeholder of the Sheffield Leadmill building in 2017, and as of August 2025 owns and operates Electric Studios Sheffield.
“This is one of the most exciting projects I’ve been involved in, bolstered by the positivity and support from local bands, DJs, and promoters,” Weller said in a statement.
“The Electric Studios Sheffield music programme is built on our demonstrable passion and success in delivering an eclectic mix of live music, club, and wider events across our venues. I hope to collaborate with the best in the business, from local and up-and-coming future stars, to established and international teams and artists, in the mission to make this venue a must-book and must-attend destination for promoters, producers, performers and music fans.”
The Leadmill first opened in 1980, serving as a multi-arts co-operative that was rooted in social and political issues, while also helping to lower youth unemployment in the city. It later became a charity before operating as a live music venue, welcoming local legends Arctic Monkeys and Pulp to its stage, as well as huge acts including Oasis, Coldplay, and The Killers over the years.
Dominic Madden, co-founder of Electric Group, added: “Sheffield is a special city, and with the plans for Electric Studios, we are committed to a programme of substantial investment, refurbishment and curation for it to thrive – with a modern vision that respects the cultural significance of the building and history of the existing venue while putting the artist and fan experience front and centre of our plans.
“Work here so far is creating over 100 jobs, as it is being finalised for opening next spring, when we look forward to welcoming music lovers to the latest addition to the Electric circuit of special music venues.”
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Paul McCartney will contribute a ‘silent’ track to a compilation album that is protesting the U.K. government’s recent changes to copyright law.
The LP Is This What We Want? was first released digitally in February and was co-signed by over a thousand U.K. artists. The LP runs for 47 minutes, and features the silence of an empty recording studio in order to highlight the need for human musicians in the age of artificial intelligence. The album’s track listing spells out the message: “The British government must not legalize music theft to benefit AI companies.”
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Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn, Billy Ocean, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, and more were all credited as ‘co-writers’ of the LP. Upon release, it reached No. 38 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart.
McCartney’s contribution will appear as a bonus track to the physical edition of the LP, which will be released on Dec. 8 via record label The state51 Conspiracy. The vinyl is available for pre-order here, with all profits from sales to be donated to the musicians’ charity Help Musicians.
It’s not the first time that McCartney has protested against the U.K. government’s controversial approach to copyright law in the era of artificial intelligence. In May, McCartney was among 400 British musicians alongside Elton John, Dua Lipa, and Coldplay, to sign an open letter calling on U.K. prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to update copyright laws to protect their work from AI training models. They were backed by industry heavyweights Sir Lucian Grainge (Universal Music Group CEO), Jason Iley MBE (Sony Music UK CEO), and Dickon Stainer (Universal Music UK CEO) who also signed the letter.
The U.K. government proposed an ‘opt out’ approach for rightsholders in relation to their work being used to train artificial intelligence models. Critics say that the burden should not fall on artists to approve or deny tech companies the use their material, and that ‘opt out’ models are unenforceable.
During the summer, the U.K. government was involved in a ‘ping pong’ debacle whereby amendments to the Data (Use and Access) Bill proposed by the House of Lords were rejected five times. The amendments would have given rightsholders visibility over when their work was being used against their wishes by AI companies. The bill eventually passed and received Royal Assent in late June, and is expected to be be phased into law by mid-2026.
Ed Newton-Rex, the organizer of the album, said: “The government must commit to not handing the life’s work of the country’s musicians to AI companies for free. Doing so would be hugely damaging to our world-leading creative industries, and is totally unnecessary, only benefiting overseas tech giants. It should listen to Paul McCartney and the 1,000 other musicians who took part in this album, and resist calls to legalize music theft from the big tech lobby.”
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Four of the U.K.’s leading artists are among those coming together to call on the British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to honour a pledge to protect fans from online ticket scalpers, also known as touts.
Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Radiohead and Sam Fender are all signatories to a joint statement published Thursday (Nov. 13), in which artists, managers and fan groups are asking Starmer to commit to resale price cap legislation in the U.K.
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In its manifesto for the 2024 general election, the Labour Party proposed policies for new consumer protections on ticket resales. This evolved into an industry consultation in January, which invited views from venues, promoters, fans and other parties on a resale price cap, considering options from face value to a 30% uplift.
On Oct. 5, seven months after the consultation closed, the U.K.’s culture minister, Ian Murray, confirmed that the current Labour government would press ahead with plans for a price cap on resale tickets — but the specifics of these plans have yet to be revealed.
Now, dozens of industry figures are calling for the Prime Minister to make the commitment to price cap legislation in the next King’s Speech, which is set to take place next spring.
In the statement, the coalition says new protections are needed to “help fix elements of the extortionate and pernicious secondary ticketing market that serve the interests of touts, whose exploitative practices are preventing genuine fans from accessing the music, theatre and sports they love.”
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It adds: “For too long certain resale platforms have allowed touts to bulk buy and then resell tickets at inflated prices, forcing fans to either pay above the odds or miss out entirely. This erodes trust in the live events sector and undermines the efforts of artists and organisers to make shows accessible and affordable. Introducing a cap will restore faith in the ticketing system, help democratise public access to the arts in line with the Government’s agenda and make it easier for fans to spot illegal behaviour, such as ticketing fraud.”
Alongside the aforementioned names, the list of signatories includes The Cure’s Robert Smith, New Order, Mark Knopfler, Iron Maiden, PJ Harvey, alt-J, Aluna Francis, Bastille, Ben Howard, Brix Smith, Mogwai, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Nubiyan Twist. (View the full list below.)
With the statement on Thursday, the group of signatories joins consumer choice organisation Which?, the FanFair Alliance, O2 and the Football Supporters’ Association, along with organisations representing the music and theatre industries, venues, managers and ticket retailers, among others.
The statement arrives alongside a new investigation from Which?, which outlines the global touting operations targeting the U.K.’s ticketing industry. The group identified prolific scalpers in locations including Brazil, Dubai, Singapore, Spain and the United States, all of whom were bulk-buying tickets for live music and sporting events in the U.K. before relisting them at inflated prices on platforms such as StubHub and Viagogo.
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Examples of this practice included tickets for Oasis’ Wembley Stadium shows, which were listed for prices as high as £3,498.85 ($4,594.04) on StubHub and £4,442 ($5832.41) on Viagogo. Another finding showed that a seat for the recent Minnesota Vikings vs. Cleveland Browns NFL clash at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was listed for £3,568.39 ($4685.35) on StubHub.
Elsewhere, Which? also found multiple cases of speculative selling, which is when tickets are listed on secondary sites for double the price — even though the seller has not bought them yet.
In a press release, Lisa Webb, a consumer law expert at Which?, said: “Today’s joint statement makes clear that artists, fan organisations and consumers reject the broken ticketing market that has allowed touts to thrive for too long. The Prime Minister pledged to protect fans and a price cap on resold tickets will be a critical step towards fixing this industry, but he must commit to this legislation by including it in the next King’s Speech.”
Webb concluded: “Further reforms are also needed to ensure sellers actually own the tickets they advertise before listing them, that resale platforms ensure the identities of sellers and key information about a ticket are verified and that the new rules are effectively enforced.”
Artist signatories: Alfa Mist, alt-J, Aluna Francis, Amy Macdonald, Andro, Bastille, Ben Howard, Brix Smith, Charlotte OC, Coldplay, Dana Margolin (Porridge Radio), Dua Lipa, Graeme Park, Howard Jones, Idlewild, Iron Maiden, Johnny Marr, Keane, Kelli-Leigh, Low Island, Mark Knopfler, Mogwai, New Order, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nick Mason, Nubiyan Twist, Orlando Higginbottom, PJ Harvey, Quantic, Radiohead, Revenge of Calculon, Robert Mitchell, Robert Smith (The Cure), Sam Fender, SNAYX, Sweetie Irie, The New Eves, Travis.
Organisations: Fan Fair Alliance, Featured Artists Coalition, Football Supporters Association, LIVE, Music Managers’ Forum, Music Venue Trust, Musicians’ Union, O2, Society of London Theatre & UK Theatre, Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR), UK Music, Which?.
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LONDON — Blockbuster tours by the likes of Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, Take That and Liam Gallagher contributed a record total of 8 billion pounds ($10.5 billion) to the United Kingdom’s economy in 2024.
The figure is up 5% from the previous year, according to the newly released This Is Music study from UK Music, the umbrella organization encompassing a range of bodies including the BPI and collection society PRS For Music.
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The results are being heralded as a huge success, with 2025 likely to bring a bumper uptick in the trend, thanks in part to headline-dominating stadium tours from the likes of Oasis, Coldplay, and Dua Lipa, plus U.K. arena residencies from pop heavyweights Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and more.
Published annually, the latest edition of This is Music takes a deep dive into how the U.K. music business fared both at home and on the world stage. It outlines employment stats, international music sales, plus gross revenue through ticket sales, tourism and more in order to paint a full picture of the industry’s contribution to the country’s overall GDP.
A strong appetite for British artists and songs helped push a notable increase in export figures in 2024. Charli XCX’s Brat LP – which saw her enjoy a global breakthrough and scoop eight Grammy nominations – thrived overseas, while Lola Young landed a chart smash in “Messy,” both contributing to a 5% rise to 4.8 billion pounds ($6.3 billion).
Employment also lifted by 2%, with a net total of 4,000 new jobs in the U.K. taking the number of people working in the music industry to 220,000 (full-time equivalent posts), reports UK Music. The breakdown of that figure, however, shows that a significant portion of these people are vulnerable to the cost of living. 43% of respondents earned less than 14,000 pounds ($18,400) from music, forcing them to turn to other jobs in order to make a stable income.
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Elsewhere, U.K. artist royalties surpassed a billion for the first time, with PRS for Music paying out a record 1.02 billion pounds ($1.3 billion) to its members – an 8.1% increase on last year.
“The UK music industry remains one of our greatest international success stories,” said the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper MP, in a statement. “Every year, we see more new artists from Britain becoming global stars, and our existing world-famous musicians reaching new heights, all of them adding to the incredible heritage of creativity, talent and genius that has defined UK music throughout our history.”
Despite these fiscal wins, however, the report warned that the U.K. music industry still faces a number of tough challenges. There are potential risks posed by generative AI on music creation, which could erode employability across the sector, as more sophisticated tools emerge and pose a new rival for listener attention.
Another area where UK Music said urgent action was needed was further government support for the grassroots touring sector. In a survey conducted between March 20 and June 12, 2025, UK Music spoke to 1306 music creators, including songwriters, musicians, DJs and producers, and found that many emerging artists were finding it increasingly difficult to play live at this level, with income from touring not keeping pace with costs.
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95% of these respondents reported decreased earnings as a direct consequence of Brexit, up 8% from 2023, due to increasing touring costs and a subsequent impact on royalties as their music is performed less in Europe. As a result, UK Music called for an agreement between the UK and EU to lift visa and work permit requirements across EU borders.
“The status quo on these two big issues is currently tilted against music’s interests, with new survey data on both AI and EU touring evidencing why we need the balance to swing back in our favour,” said Tom Kiehl, chief executive of UK Music. He also urged the government to take “urgent action” in the key areas addressed in a bid to boost growth, exports and jobs in the U.K. music industry.
Elsewhere, the rate of economic growth in the music industry slowed, with Gross Value Added up by five per cent in 2024. This is lower than the double-digit growth seen over the past few years as the industry recovered from the pandemic.
The report cited ongoing threats to grassroots venues and a lack of big-ticket releases by British artists in 2024 as contributing factors to this figure.
“In recent years UK Music has reported that the music industry has enjoyed double-digit annual growth. That growth has now halved indicates a levelling off of the immediate post-pandemic boost that we experienced, as well as other underlying issues set out in this report,” said Kiehl.
He went on to describe how he remains hopeful that the U.K. music industry can overcome the challenges it faces during this “pivotal moment.” He added: “Let’s come together to make sure we realise our full potential.”
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Atlantic Music Group (AMG) has tapped A&R veteran Jeremy Vuernick as its next executive vice president.In the new role, Vuernick will report jointly to AMG CEO Elliot Grainge and Atlantic U.K. co-presidents Ed Howard and Briony Turner, overseeing the AMG roster to sign and develop new artists with global potential. He will be based in London.
The announcement follows the recent promotion of Howard and Turner to AMG’s global leadership team, a move the label has said was “designed to create tighter collaboration across the two territories, and to generate greater global impact for Atlantic’s world-class roster”.
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In the past year, Atlantic has enjoyed transatlantic success for U.S. breakthrough artists such as Alex Warren, Teddy Swims, and Benson Boone, as well as British firebrand Charli XCX.
Vuernick brings with him two decades of experience in the music industry, largely in the A&R sector. He joined Capitol’s Astralwerks imprint in 2013, serving in senior capacities at the label before being promoted to executive president of A&R at Capitol Music Group (CMG) in 2019, where he oversaw the company’s portfolio of labels.
Prior to his tenure with Astralwerks, Vuernick held senior roles at independent label Ultra Music, overseeing A&R, marketing, and sales. More recently, in 2024, Vuernick founded the Los Angeles-based independent company Queens Road Music in partnership with Atlantic.
The U.K. has long been one of the most influential markets in the world and a cultural leader in developing and exporting exceptional global talent,” said Vuernick in a press release.
“With Elliot cementing the natural relationship between the U.K. and US, and Ed and Briony leading the charge as two of the best creative leaders in the business, our combined force will take Atlantic and its artists to a new level of recognition and success.”
Grainge added: “I have worked with Jeremy for a number of years and I’m excited to officially welcome him into the AMG family. He comes to us with outstanding experience, instincts, and passion for artists, so he’ll be an ace addition to our newly aligned teams.
“Under the expert leadership of Ed and Briony, Atlantic UK has been a formidable source of chart-topping, game-changing artistry. With Jeremy now based in London, we are continuing to build our bridge across the ocean, ramping up our collective A&R and cultural firepower.”
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Beyond the critical acclaim and handy sales boost, the U.K.’s Mercury Prize comes with an added bonus: a £25,000 ($32,000) cash prize for the chosen artist. For some previous winners – like Alt-J (2012) and Antony and The Johnsons (2015) – the money has covered the expenses of being a touring act, while Badly Drawn Boy (2000) infamously threw the cheque away in the heat of the winning moment (his cash prize was ultimately honored).
Now Sam Fender has joined a number of past winners by making a statement and donating the entirety of the cash prize to charity. The Music Venue Trust, a charity that supports grassroots music spaces and the scene as a whole, will be the beneficiary of Fender’s generosity. Fender joins previous winners such as Ms. Dynamite (2002) and M People (1994) who have made public that they donated their cash winnings to causes close to their hearts.
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Fender was awarded the Mercury Prize, an annual prize for an outstanding LP by a British or Irish artist, in his hometown Newcastle upon Tyne, England (Oct. 16). His third studio album People Watching saw off competition from Fontaines D.C., Pulp, FKA twigs, PinkPantheress and more at the ceremony which was held outside of London for the first time in its history.
People Watching remains the fastest-selling British album of 2025, and on Saturday (Nov. 15) a live concert film shot at his 80,000-capacity London Stadium show will be broadcast on YouTube. A deluxe edition of the album features collaborations with Olivia Dean and Elton John, and is set for release on Dec. 5.
The Music Venue Trust works to protect and secure the future of grassroots venues across the country. In 2024 a report by the charity shared that grassroots music venues operated on a profit margin of just 0.48%, with 43.8% of them reporting a loss. In 2024 alone, 25 music venues closed in the U.K. due to rising costs for venues and changing consumer habits.
“I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today if it wasn’t for all the gigs I played around the North East, and beyond, when I was starting out,” Fender said about the reasons for the donation. “These venues are legendary, but they are struggling.”
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Fender has worked previously with the MVT, most recently donating £100,000 from his 2024 U.K. arena tour via a voluntary £1 ticket levy. He joins acts such as Katy Perry, The Last Dinner Party and Enter Shikari in making the commitment; Coldplay pledged 10% of all revenue from the U.K. leg of the Music of The Spheres tour to the MVT.
Mark Davyd, chief executive and founder of the Music Venue Trust, said, “This is an incredible gesture by Sam, demonstrating once again that artists absolutely understand how vital grassroots music venues are to their careers and to their communities. We are honored to accept this donation and will ensure every penny of it makes a direct difference to the campaign to keep live music at the heart of our towns and cities.”
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Iceland Airwaves managing director Ísleifur Thorhallsson, beaming in a festival-branded baseball cap, radiates enthusiasm as you enter NASA, a postcard-pretty conference hall in downtown Reykjavík, Iceland. “You can already feel the energy everywhere in the city,” he says on the eve of the festival’s 2025 edition. “This festival is built purely off passion.”
For four bustling days (Nov. 5-8), that sentiment rings true across nearly every corner of the city. Step inside the lobby of Center Hotels Laugavegur – where dozens of international industry figures congregate for the week – and you’re greeted by a 4K TV screen, playing music videos from Icelandic artists on loop. Festival posters transform Nordic-style buildings with bold splashes of colour. “Reykjavík Music City” tote bags swing on the shoulders of conference attendees, who exchange ideas over black coffee and thick slabs of hjónabandssaela – or “happy marriage cake,” a traditional rhubarb jam tart.
Launching in 1999 as a one-off weekender in an airplane hangar, Iceland Airwaves is now recognised as a premier event in the European festival calendar. Its guiding philosophy stems from how Reykjavík makes a lot of noise on the global stage, despite having a population of only 139,000; it’s a city that, through government grants and a cluster of marketing agencies focused on promoting music abroad, invests deeply in culture and empowers its artists.
Over the years, Iceland Airwaves has played host to acts that have gone on to become global stars, including Fontaines D.C. and Florence + The Machine, while also consistently showcasing a wide array of Icelandic talent. As with any new music festival, the trick is to come with an open mind and get ready to uncover acts ready to make a name for themselves.
Homegrown success stories that have come up through the festival in recent years include jazz-pop maestro Laufey, who played two sold-out nights at Madison Square Garden in October, and Grammy-nominated pianist Ólafur Arnalds. The international profile of Iceland’s music shows that locals already know that a prominent slot can be a key next step for a local artist’s success, but as has become the norm with this festival, delegates from across the U.K., US and Europe were invited to listen in and watch the magic unfold, too.
To that end, Iceland Airwaves holds its place as a tastemaker event, platforming breakthrough acts from both sides of the Atlantic as well as giving a boost to the future stars of its country. These were the biggest takeaways from 2025’s edition.
Gen Z Is Redefining the Festival Experience…
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Ed Sheeran has celebrated a major victory for his music education campaign as the U.K. government confirmed on Wednesday (Nov. 5) that music lessons will be taught more widely in schools.
Earlier today a major review of the National Curriculum – which dictates what subjects and topics are taught in non-fee-paying state schools – was published by the Labour government. The changes are the first in over a decade, and will see a number of modern topics (such as artificial intelligence) enter the classroom.
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The report says that arts subjects will also be “revitalised” and will see the scrapping of the English baccalaureate (EBacc), which critics – including Sheeran – said limited subject choice for students at a GCSE level (ages 14-16). Under the program, introduced in 2010 by then-education secretary Micahel Gove, pupils were required to study a minimum of seven GCSEs, including maths and a language, but the options did not include any arts subjects.
In March, Sheeran called on U.K. prime minister Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the Ebacc, deliver £250 million in spending towards music in a classroom environment and enlist more teachers for music subjects. His letter was backed by over 600 signatories, including Sir Elton John, Harry Styles, Coldplay and more. He also launched the Ed Sheeran Foundation in January to help support careers in music.
“We are at a critical point: a future of no music in state schools, no music teachers to teach, broken instruments and no grassroots venues,” he wrote in his letter. “As a young music student and aspiring artist, I benefited from opportunities in and out of school to learn and grow. Unfortunately, after decades of defunding and de-prioritising, music is no longer a right for all children – it’s a luxury for only a few.”
Sheeran’s efforts have now been recognized both by Starmer and Bridget Phillippson, secretary for education. The former sent a direct response to Sheeran saying that his “voice had been heard”. During her speech in parliament on Wednesday, Philippson credited Sheeran for speaking “so powerfully” on the subject. The final curriculum will be published in spring 2027, and schools will begin teaching it from September 2028.
Sheeran has responded to the news and the success of his letter, writing “With the help of the letter and everyone who signed it, I’m happy to say that some of the key points we raised have been recognized by the government today, marking the first change to the music curriculum in over 10 years. This involves diversifying the music genres taught in schools and removing outdated systems that stop kids from studying music and the arts as part of their school day. These changes give young people hope and the opportunity to study music.” See his full statement below.
The topic of music education was raised by a number of British artists at the BRIT Awards 2025, when winners Myles Smith and Ezra Collective called on action to help foster creativity among young people in education.
Ed Sheeran’s full statement
I set up the Ed Sheeran Foundation because every child deserves to have access to a meaningful music education, and the chance to experience the joy and confidence that musical expression can bring.
Shortly after setting up my foundation, I wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister about the critical state of music education in the UK and the fact it was slipping through the cracks. The letter was backed by so many incredible people across the music industry and education who all said the same thing: music education matters. The Prime Minister replied, recognising the challenges and expressing his commitment to change.
With the help of the letter and everyone who signed it, I’m happy to say that some of the key points we raised have been recognised by the government today, marking the first change to the music curriculum in over 10 years. This involves diversifying the music genres taught in schools and removing outdated systems that stop kids from studying music and the arts as part of their school day. These changes give young people hope and the opportunity to study music.
Without the encouragement I received in school, especially from my music teacher, I wouldn’t be a musician today, and I know so many of my peers feel the same. My music education went beyond learning and playing. It helped me find confidence in myself, and music itself was – and still is – so important for my mental health.
There’s a lot more to do to support music education, especially our music teachers, but this is a step in the right direction.
Thank you so much to everyone who signed and supported the letter.
Today is a good day.
Ed x
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A coalition of top independent labels has joined forces to launch Catalog, a curated music licensing marketplace designed to let artists sync their music and receive real-time compensation.
Beggars Group, Domino, Ninja Tune, Warp, Partisan Records and Erased Tapes are among the early supporters of the platform, which launches Wednesday (Nov. 5) via music supervision company Too Young Ltd.
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Created by Frederic Schindler, AIM’s music supervisor of the Year 2025, the platform will debut with more than 30,000 sync-ready tracks from over 1,800 artists, with the aim of serving as an antidote to the royalty-free stock music economy.
Catalog arrives with the intention of helping to put more money into artists’ pockets. Creatives are able to set sync offers via its Sync Smart Pricing technology, which analyzes data points on an artist and song history to generate market-rate fees. The process thus allows for approvals faster, bypassing the traditional exchange of documents and any subsequent red-lines by auto-generating a final license once the terms have been agreed upon between stakeholders.
While searching for music on Catalog, creatives can use advanced filters such as audio similarity, and audio-to-picture auditioning, as well as being guided by a human-led “editorial search” mode to find relevant tracks. Artists signed up to the platform include Kurt Vile, Yves Tumor, Ela Minus, Marie Davidson and Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Ólafur Arnalds.
By providing this technology, Catalog is seeking to reduce the number of sync exchanges with “ghost artist libraries” – stock music attributed to anonymous musicians, presumably in an effort to reduce sync payouts for advertisements, video content and so forth.
“Catalog is the result of a deep collaboration with the most forward-thinking rights holders in the industry,” Schindler explained to Billboard U.K. “This is what happens when artists, labels, publishers, managers, and supervisors come together to address a problem. We’re not ‘disrupting’ them; we’re building this new era together.”
Ahead of its launch, Catalog music director Thierry Planelle worked with Veronique Nichanian, creative director of Hermès, to replace a key track for the fashion house’s Men’s Ready to Wear 2026 runway prior to the show. The feat prompted an endorsement from Christof Ellinghaus, founder and CEO of revered indie City Slang.
“This placement very quickly demonstrated Catalog’s ease of process and powerful usability,” Ellinghaus said in a press release. “We are excited about the prospects ahead with this great new platform. And trust us, we usually hate platforms!”
Membership applications for Catalog are now open in the U.K., Europe, US, Canada and Mexico. Further access information can be found on its official website.
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The Oasis Live ‘25 Tour kicked off its Australian leg last week (Oct. 31), and it continues to dominate music headlines as the shows roll along.
In a landmark move for Australia’s live music sector, Victoria’s government shut down bulk ticket scalping for Oasis’ recent Melbourne shows (Oct. 31, Nov. 1-4) at the Marvel Stadium by designating them under the Major Events Act 2009. The act allows the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events to formally declare events that then become subject to anti-scalping protections.Under this special declaration, it became illegal to advertise or resell tickets on platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub for more than 10% above the original face value; if they flouted these restrictions, scalpers could be fined between $908 and $545,000 (AUD). A subsequent report from the Herald Sun states that 180,000 tickets for the sold-out shows went to fans as a result of the government effectively shutting out scalpers.
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Oasis’ management applauded the news, saying it could set a new benchmark for fairness in the live music market. “It’s great to see Victoria’s Major Events Declaration doing exactly what it’s meant to — Viagogo can’t list our Melbourne shows — and that’s a huge win for real fans,” they told the Herald Sun.
“When the government and the live industry work together, we can stop large-scale scalping in its tracks,” they added. “We’d love to see other states follow Victoria’s lead so fans everywhere get a fair go.”
Before last week, Oasis had not performed in Australia in nearly two decades. After tonight’s (Nov. 4) final Melbourne gig, they’ll head to Sydney (Nov. 7 and 8), before performing across Argentina, Chile and Brazil, wrapping up proceedings in São Paulo on Nov. 23.
Earlier this month in the U.K., the country’s culture minister, Ian Murray, confirmed that the current Labour government will press ahead with plans for a price cap on resale tickets.
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An industry consultation that took place in January invited views from venues, promoters, fans and other parties on the proposed price, which ranged from no profit being permitted on any ticket to a mark-up of up to 30% of face value.
Writing in the Daily Record last month (Oct. 5), Murray said: “We asked a direct question — should the UK follow countries like Ireland, where resale profiteering is capped in law? The response from fans could not have been a clearer — ‘yes.’”
“So let me tell you what we’re doing,” Murray continued. “First, we will cap resale prices. No more outrageous mark-ups of 500% or 1,000%. We are examining a range of options, from face value to a reasonable uplift.”
UK Finance, which represents 300 financial services outfits including Lloyds, NatWest, HSBC and Barclay, has lobbied against the decision for fear of customers losing out in an unregulated market. Adam Webb of the Fan Fair Alliance, however, disputed these claims in an interview with The Times. “I would advise UK Finance actually speak to experts in those countries, rather than rely on the self-interested research of unregulated offshore websites who promote industrial-scale ticket touting and exploit British audiences,” he said.
