Amazon Music’s performance and livestream series City Sessions is to be rolled out across Europe.

The series features big name acts performing on intimate stages in unique venues. Concerts have previously been held under the banner in the US and Latin America, starring acts such as Kings of Leon, Nelly Furtado, Omah Lay, Sofi Tukker, Mau y Ricky, Andra Day, The Black Crowes, Glass Animals and Wallows.

City Sessions will now expand to the UK, Germany, Spain and Italy, kicking off in Manchester and Madrid on 15 October.

Bastille will perform at new Manchester arts, music and culture venue Aviva Studios, the home of Factory International. The one-off gig will be livestreamed on Prime Video and the Amazon Music UK channel on Twitch.

Phoebe Barter, group brand & sponsorship director of UK insurance wealth and retirement business Aviva, says the series will feature “exclusive performances from some of the biggest names in music”.

“We are excited to team up with Amazon Music to bring City Sessions to Manchester and to Aviva Studios”

“We are excited to team up with Amazon Music to bring City Sessions to Manchester and to Aviva Studios,” adds Barter.

The Bastille performance will be the first of four City Sessions shows across Europe in 2024 and 2025.

Also taking place in Spain on 15 October at Madrid’s Matadero Space will be concerts by RVFV and Soge Culebra, the latter of whom was inducted into the Amazon Music Breakthrough programme for emerging talent in 2023. Their performances will be broadcast live on the Amazon Music En Vivo channel on Twitch.

Later in the autumn, the series will launch in Berlin with German singer-songwriter LEA on a date and location to be confirmed. A further spin-off: City Sessions, Italy, is also in the pipeline.

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YouTube is to livestream the 20th anniversary edition of Belgium’s Tomorrowland to a global audience.

The electronic music spectacular will take place across two weekends in Boom, Antwerp, from 19-21 and 26-28 July. Tickets to the 70,000-cap festival sold out in less than a day back in February.

The livestream for its first weekend will feature performances by the likes of Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike, Afrojack, Amelie Lens, Timmy Trumpet, James Hype, Swedish House Mafia, Oliver Heldens and John Newman, while sets by Solomun, Steve Aoki, Tale Of Us, Tiesto and David Guetta, among others, will be broadcast during weekend two.

As well as Tomorrowland, YouTube also previously struck a similar partnership with Coachella.

“We’re continuing our tradition of bringing the biggest music festivals to a global audience with this livestream of Tomorrowland’s 20th anniversary,” says Sam Vergauwen, head of YouTube for the Benelux region.

People will be able to experience four concurrent livestreams, starting with the Main Stage livestream which will run 24/7 between 19-28, with live performances during the festival and highlights of sets between the two weekends.

Fuji Rock Festival in Japan will also be livestreamed via a link-up with Amazon

In addition, there will be a Main Stage livestream on YouTube Shorts, while a livestream of the Freedom Stage will run 24/7 for the duration of both weekends. In addition, One World Radio studio will feature video interviews with artists at the festival and live audio sets.

To celebrate the DJ community, YouTube will run a Yoodle (an alternate logo on the YouTube main page) in the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Japan, and Australia, which will also link to the Tomorrowland livestreams.

“The livestream will also be part of a YouTube Yoodle celebrating the DJ livestreaming community, bringing the festival’s magic to even more people than ever before to allow fans who cannot attend the festival in person to experience its electrifying performances,” adds Vergauwen. “We’re thrilled to see this partnership grow and evolve over the years.”

Upon the conclusion of the festival, Tomorrowland will upload each artist’s set on its YouTube channel as a permanent video on 29 July.

Elsewhere, this month’s Fuji Rock Festival in Japan will also be livestreamed via a link-up with Amazon. Performances from the Green Stage, White Stage, Red Marquee and Field of Heaven, as well as video interviews with the artists and footage from around the festival, will be available worldwide on Prime Video and Twitch free of charge.

The 26-28 July festival at Naeba Ski Resort will feature acts including The Killers, Kraftwerk, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Peggy Gou, Girl in Red, Turnstile and Raye.

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TikTok has revealed its “first-of-its-kind” live global experience In The Mix was the biggest ever live event ever to take place on the platform.

Held in front of a sold-out 17,000 crowd at Sloan Park in Mesa, AZ on Sunday 10 December, In The Mix starred headliners Cardi B, Niall Horan, Anitta, Charlie Puth, Offset and Peso Pluma.

The five-hour music event pulled in more than 33.5 million unique viewers for the original broadcast and subsequent rebroadcasts of the show, with 9.6m tuning in to watch the show live.

The experience was streamed globally via TikTok LIVE, with video and event production designed specifically for its unique vertical format by award-winning director Hamish Hamilton and Done+Dusted.

“In The Mix was an awe-inspiring event where fans and artists came together to celebrate what we love about TikTok”

“In The Mix was an awe-inspiring event where fans and artists came together to celebrate what we love about TikTok, where the power of the platform’s music discovery played out on stage,” says TikTok’s global head of music partnerships & programming Paul Hourican. “An event of this magnitude truly takes a village, thank you to the amazing line-up of incredible artists, our partners, the sold out crowd in Arizona, and the record breaking audience who watched around the world in their millions on TikTok.”

In The Mix, which was co-produced by TikTok and GroupM Motion Entertainment, and sponsored by Paramount and Coca Cola, also showcased special performances by Reneé Rapp, as well as emerging artists from TikTok’s Elevate programme, Isabel LaRosa, Kaliii, LU KALA, and Sam Barber.

A one-hour special featuring highlights from the event is available to watch now on Disney+ and Hulu.

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Amazon Music has announced its first-ever Black Friday Amazon Music Live concert, headlined by American country star Garth Brooks.

Brooks’s performance will be livestreamed from the grand opening of his new downtown Nashville bar, Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk, giving fans around the world a front-row seat for one of his well-known ‘Dive Bar’ concerts.

The sold-out show has already earned over three million ticket requests from Brooks’ fans.

For those unable to attend, Prime Video and Twitch will air the 24 November concert from 19:00 ET. Viewers will have free access to Amazon Music Live, including viewers without an Amazon account or a Prime membership.

“Not only will the people see the Friends bar for the first time, but they will also hear new music live for the first time”

“We’ve already seen over three million entries to win a chance to attend, and thanks to our friends at Amazon, this episode will ensure that everybody who wants to see this show can,” said Brooks in a statement.

“Not only will the people see the Friends bar for the first time, but they will also hear new music live for the first time…and if you know us, we will be playing the old stuff, as well.”

Sponsored by Verizon, the AML Black Friday special will air after Black Friday Football—the first-ever NFL game played on Black Friday in history, streaming on Prime Video.

Previous episodes of Season Two of AML included Ed Sheeran, Feid, Lil Durk, Trippie Red, Machine Gun Kelly, Metro Boomin with Post Malone, Nav and Offset. Meanwhile, Peso Pluma became the first musical Mexicana artist to perform on AML.

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Foo Fighters have announced a free global livestream event this weekend, which will include debut performances of songs from the band’s new album But Here We Are.

Beamed from the group’s own 606 studios, Foo Fighters: Preparing Music For Concerts will also feature exclusive behind the scenes footage and other surprises.

The event is being broadcast via Veeps, the Live Nation-owned streaming platform developed by Good Charlotte’s Joel and Benji Madden. It will premiere on Sunday 21 May at 8pm BST exclusively at foofighters.veeps.com, with on-demand repeat viewing enabled through 24 May. Fans can access their free ticket here.

“Having a place to make these moments accessible is why we built Veeps”

“Shows like this don’t happen every day,” says Veeps CEO and founder Joel Madden. “To take this moment to gather fans worldwide, to give people an opportunity to share in the experience no matter where they are, is a gift. Having a place to make these moments accessible is why we built Veeps and we’re honoured to be trusted with delivering this incredible show for Foo Fighters and all of their fans.”

Since launching in 2018, Veeps has livestreamed performances from more than 2,000 artists including Bob Dylan, Brandi Carlile, Louis Tomlinson, Patti Smith, Metallica and an Emmy-nominated Kings of Leon show from London’s The O2.

Notable recent Veeps livestreams have included Louis Tomlinson’s All of Those Voices global film premiere in LA last week and January’s iHeart ALTerEGo, with shows by Trixie & Katya and Def Leppard still to come.

Out 2 June, But Here We Are is the Foo Fighters’ 11th studio album and first since the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins. Hawkins died aged 50 in March 2022 in Bogota, Colombia. The Foos’ upcoming tour kicks off on 24 May at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Gilford, NH.

“Ethara is committed to delivering thrilling experiences for our fans and creating memorable moments that matter”

The group have also confirmed their first concert in the UAE, with a headline performance at the Yasalam After-Race Concerts lined up for F1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend at Etihad Park on 26 November. The event, which will also feature Tiësto and Ava Max, will be presented by new Middle East-based live entertainment powerhouse Ethara.

Ethara was officially launched this week following the merger of Abu Dhabi promoter Flash Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Motorsports Management (ADMM).

“It is a privilege to announce our first artists for this year’s Yasalam After-Race Concerts and we look forward to welcoming rock and roll legends Foo Fighters, international icon Tiësto and pop powerhouse Ava Max at Yas Island in November to celebrate the 15th edition of the Abu Dhabi GP weekend,” says Ethara CEO Saif Rashid Al Noaimi.

“As our new name suggests, Ethara is committed to delivering thrilling experiences for our fans and creating memorable moments that matter.”

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Amazon Music will exclusively livestream select performances from the Barcelona and Madrid editions of Primavera Sound 2023.

Fans from around the world will be able to enjoy a variety of performances, as well as interviews and behind-the-scenes content, live from Parc del Forum (Barcelona) from 1-3 June, and from Ciudad del Rock (Arganda del Rey – Madrid) from 8–10 June.

Blur, Halsey, New Order, Kendrick Lamar, Depeche Mode, Rosalía and Calvin Harris are set to headline the two 2023 editions.

This is the first weekend-long festival streaming event from Amazon Music in Europe, which also recently broadcast Dreamville festival from Raleigh, North Carolina, and will stream Stagecoach Festival live from Indio, California this weekend (28-30 April).

The free-to-watch livestream experience will be available on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch across both festivals starting from 7:30 pm CET each day.

This is the first weekend-long festival streaming event from Amazon Music in Europe

For the first weekend, live from Barcelona, viewers will have the opportunity to pick from two different channels covering a wide selection of artists from the festival, allowing those watching at home to tune in to a variety of performances across the weekend.

Commentary will be available in English, with Spanish subtitles, across both Twitch channels. All content broadcast from Primavera Sound will be free to watch across Twitch and Prime Video.

For the second weekend, live from Madrid, music fans will have the chance to tune in to more behind-the-scenes content, interviews and select performances on the Amazon Music channel on Twitch. The live show will be broadcast in Spanish, with English subtitles provided.

For those attending the festival in person, Amazon Music will also give music fans the chance to create their own Primavera Sound content. A specially-created experiential space will allow festivalgoers the opportunity to create bespoke content for their social media channels, and give them the chance to win prizes ranging from exclusive merchandise to instant VIP ticket upgrades.

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For the first time ever, YouTube will livestream performances from all six stages at Coachella, on both weekends of the festival.

Bad Bunny, Blackpink and Frank Ocean are to headline the Goldenvoice-promoted festival, which returns to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in a fortnight.

The 11th exclusive #CoachellaOnYouTube global livestream event sees the platform double the number of live stream feeds in action last year.

YouTube will again be selling exclusive Coachella and artist merchandise during the livestreams

For those who can’t watch live, the festival sets will be on repeat after the night’s final performance until the live show starts again at 16:00 PT/19:00 PM ET the next day. Highlights from many of the weekend’s performances will be made available on demand.

In addition, YouTube will again be selling exclusive Coachella and artist merchandise during the livestreams of this year’s festival.

YouTube Shopping will offer virtual viewers a chance to purchase exclusive merchandise without leaving the feed.

Custom merch from artists including Bad Bunny, Calvin Harris, Gorillaz, Ethel Cain, Fisher, Porter Robinson and YUNGBLUD will be available.

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Bicep’s upcoming sold-out headline show at London’s Alexandra Palace is to be broadcast live and in full on TikTok.

The electronic duo will deliver their biggest-ever headline shows at the 10,400-capacity venue on 2 and 3 December, with the first night aired on their official TikTok channel (@bicepmusic) from 9 pm GMT.

The stream will be produced by PIXL and will include both on and off-stage footage, as well as four new songs.

The broadcast is part of TikTok’s #ElectronicMusic Presents series, capitalising on the popularity of the platform’s #electronicmusic hashtag which has amassed more than 3.4 billion views.

“Bicep are one of the most revered electronic acts to emerge from the UK in the last 10 years”

Bicep will become the face of the #ElectronicMusic campaign during December, following artists including Nia Archives, piri & tommy, and Shygirl.

TikTok this year partnered with festivals including Parookaville and Amsterdam Dance Event as part of its mission to support electronic and dance music on the platform.

“This LIVE is a huge moment for our #ElectronicMusic campaign on TikTok,” says Kira Ashwin, UK label partnerships at TikTok. “Bicep are one of the most revered electronic acts to emerge from the UK in the last 10 years and are an inspiration to aspiring producers and DJs up and down the country.

“This is set to be one of their biggest productions ever, and it’s an absolute pleasure to work with Bicep and their team to reach fans around the world who missed out on tickets to the sold-out show.”

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Amazon Music and Prime Video is to livestream Kendrick Lamar’s sold-out 22 October show at the Accor Arena in Paris.

Fans will be able to watch the livestream for free exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide, the Amazon Music channel on Twitch, and on the Amazon Music app. The concert marks the 10-year anniversary of the release of Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city LP.

Lamar’s performance, which will provide a special look at Lamar’s 65-date The Big Steppers world tour, will be available to view on-demand on Prime Video following the event, which will also feature sets from PGLang’s Tanna Leone and Baby Keem.

Produced by Live Nation and presented by Rotation, Amazon Music’s hip-hop and R&B brand, Lamar’s tour is currently making stops in Europe, UK and Australia before wrapping up at New Zealand at Auckland’s Spark Arena on 16-17 December.

“We are thrilled to be working with Kendrick Lamar, one of the most influential and groundbreaking artists of my generation, and PGLang to collaborate across Amazon for this epic entertainment event,” says Alaina Bartels, Amazon Studios’ head of talent synergy & specials. “We continue to be the home for talent and creating special opportunities for our global customers to experience their awe-inspiring creativity.”

“For artists, this show represents a massive new stage to share their music with fans”

Amazon Music has also announced details of new livestream concert series Amazon Music Live.

Hosted by American rapper 2 Chainz, the series will be streamed live from Los Angeles, featuring “the biggest artists performing their latest hits live”.

It will air on Prime Video following Thursday Night Football in the US and premieres 27 October with Lil Baby, followed by Megan Thee Stallion (3 November) and Kane Brown (10 November), with further performers to be revealed in the coming weeks.

“With Amazon Music Live, we’ve created a new, can’t-miss series for fans to experience the most exciting new music together,” says Kirdis Postelle, global head of artist marketing of Amazon Music. “For artists, this show represents a massive new stage to share their music with fans after Thursday Night Football – the biggest game of the week, airing live on Prime Video.”

As well as hosting Amazon Music Live, 2 Chainz will interview each night’s performing artist during Thursday Night Football shoulder programming. Each concert will be available for fans to stream live around the world on Prime Video and will also be available to stream on-demand for a limited time.

“Every Thursday night, I’m bringing the biggest and the brightest stars in music to the Amazon Music Live stage in Los Angeles,” said 2 Chainz. “We have the people that are influencing the culture and have carved their own unique path in music, like Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion and Kane Brown. Amazon Music Live is the only place to be for the official Thursday turn up!”

Each week’s performance will be filmed in front of a live audience. Attendance to the show is by invitation only and will be facilitated through ticketing and event discovery platform Dice.

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A free livestream performance by the Backstreet Boys attracted a record-breaking 45 million viewers in China via Tencent’s WeChat app.

Broadcast last Friday (24 June), the two-hour show was recorded at Rock Lititz Studio, Pennsylvania, US. Sponsored by Lincoln and produced by 24/7 Productions, it reached 10m viewers within its first half hour and was the highest-attended livestream concert on the platform by an international artist.

The show incorporated a special guest appearance from Westlife, broadcast from Smock Alley in Dublin. Directed by Chris Howe and produced by online event promoter Driift, it enabled the two bands to duet on the Backstreet Boys’ hit I Want It That Way and Westlife’s My Love.

“Achieving this level of engagement in China is unprecedented for international artists”

It marked the second time Howe and Driift have collaborated with Westlife and their management for a WeChat livestream. The Irish group’s previous show, which took place in December 2021, attracted 28m viewers. On both occasions, the performances were filmed specifically for viewing and consumption on mobile devices.

“It’s been a real joy to work with Westlife again as part of such an extraordinarily successful collaboration,” says Sasha Duncan, Driift’s head of production. “Achieving this level of engagement in China is unprecedented for international artists, and also highlights the versatility of the livestream format.

“Whether it’s a high-end cinematic production or a performance like this, tailored for viewing on mobile devices, we’re proving it’s possible to forge a genuine connection with online audiences.”

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