#256

Author

Back of House
June 03, 2025

Issue #256

Airbnb makes its live music debut with exclusive fan perks at Lollapalooza, while Dierks Bentley launches a mental health fund for the touring community. Live Nation expands into the Dominican Republic, and AEG invests in the next generation of industry leaders. On the tech side, XP raises $6.2M to shake up ticket resale, Seated returns to its founding team, and TicketManager locks in $110M. Meanwhile, a sustainability report urges festivals to cut their footprint, and Hartford’s XL Center gets a new name: PeoplesBank Arena.

Credit: Airbnb

Airbnb partners with Lolla for exclusive access, lounges

Airbnb has announced its first global live music partnership with Lollapalooza, offering exclusive fan experiences at events in Berlin, Chicago, São Paulo, and Mumbai. At the festivals fans can book daily Airbnb experiences and access the Airbnb Lounge. This is part of Airbnb’s new, curated Airbnb Experiences, allowing guests to book “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences designed to enhance travelers' connections to live music and local culture. The partnership kicks off at Lollapalooza Berlin on July 12 - 13, featuring an exclusive post-show experience with artist BUNT.

Dierks Bentley provides mental health resources for touring community

Dierks Bentley launched the Broken Branches Fund in partnership with Music Health Alliance to “provide mental health resources to the music industry’s creative and touring communities.” The fund will provide grants to candidates and their families for outpatient counciling and follow-up care. According to Bentley, “This just felt like the right opportunity to make a bigger commitment on my part to supporting those folks and their families in a more direct and intentional way.”

Live Nation is expanding into the Dominican Republic with its recent acquisition of SD Concerts, a leading promoter in the country. SD Concerts also supports shows in Aruba, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, and Puerto Rico, reinforcing Live Nation’s commitment to the Central and South American region.

TicketManager, a software company that streamlines ticket and guest management, has received a $110 million investment from private equity firm Valeas Capital Partners to fuel its future growth. Co-founder and CEO Tony Knopp and COO Ken Hanscom will both retain a minority ownership in the company.

AEG and Goldenvoice recently hosted two AEG Futures career exploration events, offering high school and college students an insider's view of the live music industry during Just Like Heaven and Head in the Clouds. The events featured remarks from local leaders, including Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo and The Asian American Foundation's Terry Park, providing students with insights into festival production and operations.

Web3 resale ticketing platform XP has secured a $6.2 million funding round led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from L1D and Reflexive Capital. Founded by former Grubhub executive Michael Saunders, XP aims to revolutionize ticket resale by offering transparent, fair-market pricing and leveraging blockchain technology. Positioning itself as a fan-first alternative in a competitive industry, XP emphasizes rewarding fan loyalty and passion while navigating a landscape of increasing regulatory scrutiny.

Seated, a ticketing platform focused on artist empowerment co-founded by David McKay and John Griffin in 2017, has been reacquired by its original founders from Sofar Sounds. This move comes after Seated's acquisition by Sofar in 2021. Under the founders' renewed leadership, Seated aims to further its mission of giving artists control over their ticketing data and enhancing direct fan engagement through innovative technologies.

A recent Greener Ideal analysis highlights the significant environmental impact of large-scale music festivals like Coachella and Stagecoach and calls for more concerted efforts to mitigate these impacts and promote sustainability in the live music industry. The analysis reports findings similar to other such studies, including that audience travel accounts for up to 80% of festivals’ carbon footprint and that festivals generate substantial waste, including single-use plastics, abandoned camping gear, and food waste, much of which ends up in landfills due to inadequate sorting infrastructure.

PeoplesBank has secured naming rights to Hartford, CT’s Arena, formerly known as the XL Center. The deal, worth $20 million per year for the next 10 years, was done by OVG Global Partnerships and announced on Monday. The arena is home to American Hockey League’s Hartford Wolf Pack and also hosts games for the UConn men’s and women’s basketball and ice hockey games as well as various concerts and entertainment events.

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Lineups, Festival & Tour Announcements 

  • The June 14 and 15 Vans Warped Tour in Washington, DC will be streamed live on Amazon Prime Video and the Amazon Music Twitch channel. 

  • Philadelphia, PA’s One Fine Day Festival will feature Sting, Shaggy, O.A.R., and The Original Wailers, September 6 at The Mann Center in Fairmont Park.

  • Lost Lands Festival announced Rezz, Illenium, Slander, Crankdat as part of its 200+ artist lineup, September 19 - 21 in Legend Valley, OH. The festival also announced a bevy of updates to the fest including the return of pyro and "Dino Divas," a campground just for women.

  • Pavement, TV On The Radio, and Mastodon will headline Levitation Festival, September 25 - 28 at the Palmer Arts Center in Austin, TX. 

  • Grizzly Bear is heading out on a brief tour - their first in 7 years - starting in Brooklyn, NY on October 13 and ending in Oakland, CA on November 19.

  • Sigur Rós is wrapping up their world orchestra tour with a string of dates in North America beginning November 2 in San Diego, CA and ending November 26 in Mexico City, MX.

Cancelations, Changes

  • Mexican artist Julión Álvarez had to postpone his scheduled sold-out show in Arlington, TX due to his US visa being “canceled.” The show was originally planned for May 24, his team is working on a new date.

  • UK’s Wannasee Limited has ceased operations, shutting down 10+ festivals, including plugging the plug on the May 26 Wannasee South festival last minute. 

  • Fenway Park “abruptly” cancelled the May 29 Shakira concert just hours before its scheduled start due to “structural elements [that] were identified as not being up to standard.” Her show the following day and the Jason Aldean and Brooks & Dunn show scheduled the day after were also cancelled. 

  • The situation snowballed for Shakira as her May 31 show in Washington, DC was also cancelled because “Due to complications with the previous show in Boston, Shakira’s full tour production cannot be transported to Washington, DC in time for her scheduled performance at Nationals Park.”

  • Grupo Firme canceled their set at La Onda Fest in Napa Valley, CA over the weekend due to their visas being under “administrative review by the US Embassy” prohibiting their entry into the country.

  • Kings of Leon have canceled their European tour dates after frontman Caleb Followill broke his foot in a “freak accident” while playing with his kids.

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