https://wearethemusicmakers.co/latest Music tech and AI in music: the news that matters, what we think about it, and a directory of the tools. en-us Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/booking-gigs-in-india https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/booking-gigs-in-india How an independent Indian act can go from a few local shows to a five-city run: building a venue list, pitching promoters, agreeing a deal in writing, getting paid with tax handled correctly and routing a short tour. It complements our touring budget worksheet and GST guide. Laws and official pages checked on 25 Oct 2026; this is a starting point, not legal or tax advice. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers live-musictouringindiabusiness https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/touring-budget-basics https://wearethemusicmakers.co/learn/touring-budget-basics A short run of shows is a small business with a start and an end date. This guide sets out a simple budget worksheet: fixed costs, per-show costs, per-day costs, income lines and a contingency. Mileage and record-keeping points come from the IRS, read on 24 Oct 2026; everything else is a method, not a fact claim. Sun, 25 Oct 2026 03:30:00 GMT We are the music makers touringmoneylive-musicbusiness https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/live-nation-after-the-verdict https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/live-nation-after-the-verdict Six months after a jury found Live Nation and Ticketmaster liable for monopolisation, the judge had not ruled, as far as we could find, on throwing out the verdict, and the federal settlement is still under review. A new filing says President Trump briefly appeared at the March meeting where it was agreed. For working artists, ticket fees matter less than whether Live Nation can keep tying its promotion to the venues it controls. Sat, 17 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrylive-musicantitrustticketmaster https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/apple-music-live-london-venue-concerts-new-release-insights https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/apple-music-live-london-venue-concerts-new-release-insights Apple Music opened a 600-capacity venue in London, streamed its first festival on video and sells DJ mixes that pay the producers whose tracks appear in them. It has also put concert dates on artist pages and same-day release data in Apple Music for Artists. The venue is for stars. The ticketing and data plumbing is where independent artists can get value, as long as they set it up before release day. Fri, 16 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers apple-musiclive-musicdj-mixesartist-analyticsstreaming https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/uk-festival-cancellations-2026-independent-squeeze https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/uk-festival-cancellations-2026-independent-squeeze The Association of Independent Festivals' tracker lists 41 UK festivals cancelled, postponed, paused or closed in 2026, against 43 in all of 2025. Big events sold out fast this summer while the losses fell mostly on smaller festivals, the tier where emerging artists get their festival slots. AIF's main ask, extending a VAT cut on family tickets, would do little for most of them. Tue, 13 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryfestivalslive-musicuk https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-songkick-controller-live-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/suno-songkick-controller-live-music Suno has hired Ticketmaster's Michael Chua to run a new "Live Experiences" team that includes Songkick, whose user data Suno now controls. An AI company that is still being sued by two major labels now owns a map of which human artists fans want to see live, and where those fans are. Artists should know what that data can be used for. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 05:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrysunosongkicklive-musicfan-dataai-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/brexit-eu-touring-2026-visas-cabotage-carnets-checklist https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/10/brexit-eu-touring-2026-visas-cabotage-carnets-checklist Ten months into 2026, the core rules for a UK band playing the EU are the ones that applied in 2021. Brussels has floated longer short stays for touring artists, MPs have asked for a deal, and a youth scheme is still being negotiated, but none of it changes the 90/180-day clock, the van limits or the carnet. Here is where things stand, and a checklist built only from official guidance. Mon, 05 Oct 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrytouringbrexitlive-music https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/music-venue-properties-pipeline-tenth-venue-freehold https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/08/music-venue-properties-pipeline-tenth-venue-freehold Music Venue Properties, the charitable community benefit society set up by Music Venue Trust, has bought The Pipeline in Brighton, the tenth grassroots venue secured through its Own Our Venues campaign. The model swaps a commercial landlord for a charitable one. That removes the property risk behind more than a third of venue closures, but it does nothing for the thin margins behind most of the rest. Tue, 04 Aug 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrylive-musicvenuesuk https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/india-concert-boom-indie-musicians https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/india-concert-boom-indie-musicians EY puts India's live events growth at 44% in 2025, and a new EY-IMI report expects paid music subscriptions to roughly double by 2028. A small survey of non-film musicians suggests most of that money is skipping the independent circuit. Fri, 24 Jul 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industryindialive-musicindependent-artists https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/uk-grassroots-venues-mvt-2025-report-ticket-levy https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/07/uk-grassroots-venues-mvt-2025-report-ticket-levy Music Venue Trust's 2025 annual report counts 801 UK grassroots venues trading, down from 810, the smallest fall since 2018, but more than half made no profit and jobs fell by almost a fifth. The voluntary £1 levy on shows over 5,000 capacity covered 8.8% of arena and stadium tickets in 2025, and its first payouts (£500,000 on 28 January 2026, £1m more in July) are small against a £76.6m live-music loss. Fri, 24 Jul 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrylive-musicgrassroots-venuesuk https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/blue-dot-fever-arena-tour-cancellations https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/05/blue-dot-fever-arena-tour-cancellations Pussycat Dolls, Meghan Trainor, Zayn and Post Malone with Jelly Roll all cut US dates this spring as unsold seats showed up as blue dots on Ticketmaster maps. Live Nation says demand is at record levels, so the real story is which tours were sized and priced past their audience, and who absorbs the loss when they fold. Thu, 07 May 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrytouringlive-musicticket-prices https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/04/ftc-junk-fee-rule-stubhub-10m-ticket-act-stalled https://wearethemusicmakers.co/news/2026/04/ftc-junk-fee-rule-stubhub-10m-ticket-act-stalled StubHub has agreed to pay $10 million to settle FTC charges that it hid mandatory fees in the three days after the FTC's fee rule took effect on 12 May 2025. That rule already makes all-in pricing the law for US live-event tickets. The TICKET Act, which would add a ban on speculative tickets and refund rights, passed the House 409-15 almost a year ago and still has no Senate vote. For artists, the rule changes what fans see, not what they pay or who gets the money. Fri, 10 Apr 2026 04:30:00 GMT We are the music makers industrylive-musicticketingftc