23 h. ago Taylor Swift’s Eras tour helps fuel UK consumer spending on live music to record £6.7bn high

Report from Live shows spending £2bn higher than before Covid-19 shutdowns, although grassroots venues are still closing at an increasing rateUK consumer spending on live music events reached a record-breaking total of £6.68bn in 2024, up 9.5% on the previous year, fuelled in part by Taylor Swift’s blockbuster Eras tour.The report from Live (Live music Industry Venues and Entertainment), the recently formed body advocating for the British music industry’s interests before government, signals a full-bodied return from the effects of Covid-19. The figures are 28.2% higher than in 2022, when live music more or less resumed after the pandemic, and more than £2bn more than in 2019, the last fully functioning year for live music prior to the shutdown. Continue reading...

Economics

2 d. ago Kae Tempest to be honoured by Ivors Academy for impactful songwriting

The songwriter and poet will be celebrated for inspiring cultural change.

Politics

3 d. ago The success of AI music creators sparks debate on future of music industry

Oliver McCann, a British AI music creator, uses AI to produce songs across various genres

Politics

6 d. ago Elizabeth Hurley plants a passionate kiss on Billy Ray Cyrus while making a cheeky display in Scotland

The country music singer smooched the British actress on the lips while in a field on the Isle Of Mull in Scotland; it is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides.

Economics

6 d. ago Jerry Mitchell Will Direct London Workshop of New Jukebox Musical British Invasion

Jerry Mitchell Will Direct London Workshop of New Jukebox Musical British Invasion  Playbill

Economics

2 w. ago Idris Elba asked Guy Ritchie to direct Rudimental's London Burning music video

Idris Elba asked Guy Ritchie to direct Rudimental's London Burning music video  Music-News.com

Events

2 w. ago They’re among the best in British indie. So why have Field Music become a Doors cover band?

Faced with ‘catastrophic financial doom’ in a difficult industry, the Sunderland outfit explain why imitating Jim Morrison is their way to surviveFor years, Field Music playfully toyed with the idea of forming a hybrid cover band called AC/BGs, featuring one set of AC/DC songs done in a Saturday Night Fever-style and one set of rock-heavy Bee Gees numbers. “These things are a joke until they stop being a joke,” says David Brewis, one half of the Sunderland art-pop band.Another idea made it beyond a tour bus gag to become their new side hustle: a Doors tribute band called the Fire Doors. When the band announced it on Facebook last month, they received critical questions asking: why? The band’s response was a piercingly honest multi-page statement. Brewis wrote of Field Music’s sincere love of the band, the high levels of skill required to do such a job proficiently – and how doing one tribute gig a month could help their “dire finances”, having accepted that after nine albums, they h...

Events

2 w. ago This beachy English seaside town is getting a new direct train service from London

This beachy English seaside town is getting a new direct train service from London  Time Out Worldwide

Politics

2 w. ago Picturesque seaside town boasting 10 fish and chip shops will have direct train to London

Trains from London are planned to stop in this beautiful seaside town in the north of England, marking the destination's first and only direct rail connection to the capital

Politics

2 w. ago Vera Lynn’s audition records to be released 90 years after they were recorded

What A Difference A Day Makes will be released as a single on Friday to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

Politics

3 w. ago Drake lawyers allege Universal head Lucian Grainge ‘personally involved’ in Kendrick Lamar diss track

Lawyers for Universal Music Group deny that British chief exec had any ‘meaningful involvement’ in the promotion of allegedly defamatory track Not Like UsAs Drake’s lawsuit continues against his record label’s parent company, Universal Music Group (UMG), his lawyers have claimed that UMG’s British chair and chief executive Lucian Grainge had a “role in and knowledge of the scheme to defame and harass” Drake, and have requested that UMG produce texts and emails by Grainge.UMG has previously denied access to those communications, stating that Grainge has “no meaningful involvement in the matters and decisions at issue in this litigation”. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago NFL star Travis Kelce wants to ‘do good’ with fame from dating Taylor Swift

The 35-year-old Kansas City Chiefs player gave an interview to British GQ.

Politics

4 w. ago Do you need cash for Oasis and where are the nearest ATMs to Murrayfield Stadium?

Oasis bring arguably one of the biggest tours in British music history to Edinburgh in just a few days time

Economics

4 w. ago Terry Reid, British musician championed by the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page and more, dies aged 75

Known as ‘Superlungs’, Reid turned down the role of frontman in Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple to focus on solo careerTerry Reid, the British musician whose soaring and soulful voice earned him the nickname “Superlungs”, and whose career intersected with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Jimmy Page, has died aged 75, as confirmed by his UK representative. He had been receiving cancer treatment in recent months.Reid never had a hit on the UK charts, but albums such as 1973’s River remain critically acclaimed, and he was held in such high esteem that he was courted by Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple to be those bands’ lead singer, but turned each of them down. Aretha Franklin stated in 1968: “There are only three things happening in England: the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Terry Reid.” Continue reading...

Events