Fairness in ticket resales ‘is neither expected nor delivered’"The manipulation of inventory, unchecked speculative listings, and aggressive affiliate networks have created a system where fairness (in ticket resales) is neither expected nor delivered," says artist manager and ticketing crusader Randy Nichols on fairness in ticket resales.
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Meta, TikTok, Spotify & New Rules of Soft Power [Mark Mulligan]Soft power hasn’t disappeared - it’s just moved online, where tech companies now shape what we watch, share, and care about. Behind the screens, writes Mark Mulligan of MIDiA. algorithms are quietly rewriting the rules of culture.
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James Taylor at the Santa Barbara BowlJames Taylor played the Santa Barbara Bowl (SBB) on May 13th and 14th. Taylor most recently performed at the SBB on May 31st, 2023. Last year, Taylor played the Hollywood Bowl and every time Taylor tours, you can expect a new show and different setlist from the previous one. Last year's show was broken into two sets, though this time around his performance was just one set. Not only were there a few changes to the setlist, but the first two songs of the encore had changed. Taylor played an incredible show of hits, covers, and rarities with his band. Opening the show at 7 p.m. was the trio Tiny Habits. Taylor took the stage at 8:20 p.m. and played an hour and 40 minutes.His “All Star Band” really is elite with session greats Michael Landau (Guitar), Chad Wackerman (Drums), Jimmy Johnson (Bass), ‘Blue’ Lou Marini (Sax), Larry Goldings (Keys), and Luis Conte (Percussion). There were also four backing vocalists including Taylor’s son Henry, Kate Markowitz, Andrew McCuller, Dorian Holley, and Andrea Zonn. Wackerman is filling in for Steve Gadd while out with Paul Simon. The 21-song setlist included many hits like “Carolina On My Mind,” “Mexico,” and “Sweet Baby James.” "Steamroller" featured Landau on one unforgettable guitar solo and Goldings on an organ solo. The visuals were spectacular with the screen above the stage changing for each song. This was also a night of storytelling, including a bit about how a contract Troubadour founder Doug Weston had artists sign to come back and play there even once becoming famous and working with Carole King.On top of "Steamroller," during the encore, Taylor performed "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)” and “You Can Close Your Eyes.” From Taylor’s self-titled debut in 1969 to his latest album American Standard released in 2020, all have made the charts—with the highest being 2015’s “Before This World” at number one. Of all those albums, 15 went between Gold and Platinum in the U.S.Taylor has been nominated for 19 GRAMMYs (and won six) on top of being a Kennedy Center honoree, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, MusiCares Honoree, an honorary doctorate from Berklee School of Music in his hometown of Boston, MA, and is even an Emmy winner. Taylor is also a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame. SetlistWandering

I’m A Roadrunner-J.R. Walker & The All Stars

Walking Man

Stretch of the Highway

My Traveling Star

Jump Up Behind Me

Mexico

Carolina in My Mind

Only A Dream In Rio

Up on the Roof- Carole King

The Frozen Man

You’ve Got a Friend- Carole King

Sweet Baby James

Fire and Rain

(I've Got to) Stop Thinkin' 'Bout That

 Shed a Little Light

Shower the People

Your Smiling FaceEncoreSteamroller

How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)- Marvin Gaye

You Can Close Your Eyes Photos by Alex KluftThe post James Taylor at the Santa Barbara Bowl first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

Spotify has reached 100m paying subscribers in Europe, Daniel Ek confirmsSpotify reported on April 29 that it grew its global Premium Subscriber base to 268m paying users in Q1
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Live Nation is devouring live music, says Wall Street JournalLive Nation is devouring live music and the live music industry, according to the Wall Street Journal. The company's "flywheel" approach fueled its rise and could lead to its breakup as the Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit continues.
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What does ‘I’ll take your band to the next level’ mean?We've all heard the pitch: “I'll take your band to the next level.” What does that even mean? Should you be concerned if someone says that to you?
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Artifacts and Oddities from the Jim Irsay CollectionWe're certainly not a sports website, but the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay, had a passion for collecting guitars, artifacts, and objects of pop culture fascination. Irsay died on May 21, 2025, but left behind a collection of pretty incredible pieces of history. AllMusic looks at some notable items in the collection.

Live Music News Roundup: Touring Costs, Ticket Resale & MoreThis live music news roundup includes topics like musicians turning down touring, a revealing NITO resale study, a UK solution to the indie venue struggle, and much more...
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Your Morning Coffee Podcast: Ticketing, Live Nation & TouringEpisode 251 of the Jay Gilbert and Mike Etchart Your Morning Coffee Podcast: Weekly News for the New Music Business is available now. LISTEN HERE:
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Hit the Decks! It's Gojnea76Braila, Romania-born DJ and producer Gojnea76 started going to electronic music parties around 2005."By 2008 I got curious about DJing but I kept it lowkey, just for myself at first," he says. "Production came around 2010, and I naturally gravitated more toward that than DJing. Things started to get serious around 2018. I had been active before that and played at big clubs and festivals but I never saw it as a full-time thing. It was just something I loved doing. Since 2018 though, it all shifted, now it’s my fulltime job and focus."The artist describes his sound as "powerhouse.""I like blending the best of techno and house, they’re totally different moods, but together they just hit right,” he says.His latest release is "I

Music Business News Last Week: Spotify, Mental Health, MoreA busy week by any definition, and music business news last week was no exception, with Spotify stock sales, a ticket resale survey, radio stats, quantum computing meets music and more.
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Independent Musician News Last Week: Bandcamp, Playlists, MoreLast week, our tips, advice and independent musician news last week covered a Bandcamp upgrade, how website improvements increase revenue, 2025 playlist marketing updates, and more...
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It's a Cruel World After AllDevo (above)All photos by Kevin Estrada PhotographyGolden Voice’s premiere go-to for goth and new wave nostalgia, Cruel World festival, returned to Brookside at the Rose Bowl for its fourth year on May 17th, this time bringing with it a gloomy rainy atmosphere that finally fit the music. In true summer festival fashion, a yearly staple for Cruel World attendees has been the inner struggle between an appropriately gothic outfit that inflicts suffering in the heat and a more minimal choice of look in exchange for comfort. As clouds and rain washed over Pasadena, there was an evident shift in ambiance compared to the previous years. In many ways, there was a new level of connection felt to all of those baritone vocals and sultry synths, but on the other hand, there was a noticeable emptiness of the grounds in comparison to past years.BlancmangeRegardless of corporate details like ticket sales and attendance numbers, Cruel World offers fans of alternative music a festival catered solely towards them, unlike many of the competing festivals right now that pepper in eighties nostalgia acts in between mainstream pop artists. Walking up to the festival at any time immediately bombards you with a mixture of sounds from the three stages. One second, your ears can be picking up Blancmange’s signature synth from “Living On The Ceiling,” and another second, Mareux can be entrancing you with his iconic cover of The Cure’s “The Perfect Girl.” Cruel World is not only a masterclass in fulfilling a niche need but also in integrating old and new artists into the same project, despite its audience being known to be stubborn about change in the subculture.Alison Moyet

Stereo MCsThis year, headlining acts like New Order, Devo, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, OMD, and The Go-Gos were selected to delight elder goths who miss their youth and younger goths with a “born in the wrong generation complex.” Earlier acts like The Buzzcocks and Stereo MC’s set the scene to show you don’t need to be making goth music to be part of the culture. Both displaying their reggae-influenced British styles of punk and rap with infectious fun and fire. Following the flame, the stages transitioned into more sultry sounds as She Wants Revenge and Alison Moyet hypnotized audiences into feeling like the golf course grass was tiles in a club. For those who prefer black and white checkers to black and white stripes, Madness offered a jazzy, cheery alternative to all the gloom. With hits like “Our House” and “It Must Be Love” allowing for a moment or two to skank around before resuming brooding.As the night went on and the rain stopped, Shirley Manson of Garbage emerged like a punk rock peacock to blow the roof off the place. The band was tight and their energy even tighter, with grunge beats taking on an almost industrial nature when performed live. Devo went on at the same time as Garbage, highlighting one of the major pitfalls of festivals: you're always going to miss someone you want to see. Shirley herself even humorously echoed this statement, saying, “We are sorry, Devo, we love you!”Later on, in a moment of sonically contrasting irony, The Go-Gos' set overlapped with that of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Both acts are trailblazers of their respective times and genres, both with killer performances, and if you're like us, you ran frantically between the stages to catch a bit of both. Nick Cave has always been and will always be a haunting, satanic preacher of a performer; the minimalist nature of his look, compounded with his draconian piano playing, is never not mesmerizing. Despite the lack of energy brought on by his music, fans still thoroughly enjoyed tracks like “Joy” and “Wild God.” Across the field, over at the “Sad Girls” stage, The Go-Gos were serving up 80’s Southern California summer fun. We screamed along to classics like “Our Lips Are Sealed,” “Lust to Love,” and “How Much More," with the band even referring to their early punk days at the iconic venue The Masque.New OrderThe day was also not over without addressing the rain jokes as The Buzzcocks smirked before singing “Manchester Rain”, fans chanted along to Garbage’s “I’m Only Happy When It Rains”, and The Go-Go's made sure to have us sing along to “Automatic Rainy Day”. At the end of the night, always comes the pilgrimage to the main stage along with the entire crowd, all clawing away at each other to get as close as possible. New Order, in their reign as the King of overplayed club songs, was sure to entice the crowd to be as impatient as possible. At the end of the day, the band aren’t what they used to be, but that's okay. Tracks like “Bizarre Love Triangle” and “Age of Consent” will always evoke a feeling of melancholic, fleeting youth, no matter how well they are sung. The band also displayed an impressive rave-like lighting setup reminiscent of the “Hacienda” era clubbing scene in Manchester.All in all, as the state of the music industry becomes increasingly unstable, festivals will always be important to foster community. Cruel World 2025 found itself in the middle of several hits and misses, but we all still hope we get to attend Cruel World 2026 next year anyway.The post It's a Cruel World After All first appeared on Music Connection Magazine.

From HYBE’s reported expansion plans to Martin Lorentzon’s Spotify stock cash-outs… it’s MBW’s Weekly Round-UpThe biggest stories from the past week – all in one place…
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Michael Brandvold on a life in music from behind the scenesMichael Brandvold recently spoke ablut the struggles of those that work behind the scenes in music. Organized by Support Life And Music (SLAM), the panel discussed a life in music. Continue reading
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