Looking ahead to 2026: Live music’s pivotal year; More reunion tours; How influential is the UK record industry now?; And Oasis: Knebworth in 2026 – or 2027?

2026-01-07

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Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And it’s a bumper episode as Steve and Stu take a look ahead into 2026: what will the big stories be in the coming year? Here are their predictions:It’s a year of change for the UK record industry, and where the UK stands in terms of influence in a global context – including acts like Sleep Token who have broken through in the USA.And there’s been a lot of layoffs at UK major labels – why might that be good for indie artists? (BTW - get a free trial of our ...

Your weekly guide to the music biz and how it all works. And it’s a bumper episode as Steve and Stu take a look ahead into 2026: what will the big stories be in the coming year? Here are their predictions:

It’s a year of change for the UK record industry, and where the UK stands in terms of influence in a global context – including acts like Sleep Token who have broken through in the USA.
And there’s been a lot of layoffs at UK major labels – why might that be good for indie artists?
(BTW - get a free trial of our extra content, The Lock In, right here! ⁠https://www.patreon.com/12218634/join⁠)

AI inevitably will be playing a major role (again) – but what are the potentially erosive impacts now that it’s an established technology, what difficult decisions might the streaming platforms need to make, and how might it be used by indie music-makers?
Live music will reach a pivotal point this year: the mega stadium shows will continue – but will people keep paying mega ticket prices? And what about the smaller venues who are under more pressure than ever?
And will Oasis play Knebworth in 2026 – or 2027? The rumour mill is aggregated by Steve.
Those reunion tours will keep coming – but can the bands keep doing it; and what happens when they find they can’t sell any more tickets?

And in the special post-show lock-in section just for our ⁠Patreon Superfans⁠, Steve and Stu prop themselves at the bar to chat about:

Are bigger gigs becoming like Premier League Football - where tickets (and everything else at the show) are expensive, gigs are once-yearly events, and people with less cash are being priced out?
And what do people want from smaller, cheaper gigs these days anyway? Steve has been jostling shoulders with The Kids to find out.
In TPOM fandom news: Steve has already seen Little Grandad in 2026! Stu squeezes in the first Black Crowes mention of the year!
Stu tries to create an AI version of a Dry Cleaning song – how did he do it and what did it sound like? And what if a human band took his song, developed it, and performed it live?

As ever, we welcome your feedback, emails and – in particular – any questions you might have about how the music biz works!

Email us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepriceofmusicpodcast@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

See you next week!

Steve and Stuart

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