When I was 10 years old, I stood up in front of the whole class and warbled my way through Oasis’ 1995 track “She’s Electric.” This was for the school’s talent competition, an opportunity for cocky children to show off their talents or, in my case, lack thereof. I did not progress to the next round.

Even then, I was drawn to Oasis, even though their mid-‘90s heyday was almost a decade in the past. (What’s The Story) Morning Glory was the CD that got the most air-time in my dad’s car, and he’d snappily alter the volume every time in “Hello” Liam sneered the line about “wiping the s–t from your shoe.” It was thrilling, emboldening stuff, and gave me (misplaced) confidence to stand there and sing one of its tracks for my peers. Can I be electric too, I wondered?

Everyone in Cardiff, Wales over the weekend (July 4, 5) no doubt had a similar story about their connection to Oasis, and can pinpoint the moment their world was altered by Liam and Noel Gallagher’s music, their attitude and outlook on life. The city’s 74,000-capacity Principality Stadium was chosen for the opening stand on the 41-show Live ‘25 tour, which hits North America, Asia and South America in the coming months. A mural of one of Liam’s tweets, painted onto the side of the city’s smaller Utilita Arena gave the answer of why Welsh capital was the perfect place to kick things off: “Because Cardiff is the b—-cks.”

In recent years, Cardiff has been chosen by a host of artists to kick off the U.K. legs of massive tours. Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour in 2023 plumped for the same venue, and Lana Del Rey did the same a fortnight ago. Its location on the Bristol Channel makes it well-placed for tours shipping in big productions into the U.K..

Cardiff is a proud city, but not a massive one. Its population of 372,000 makes it just the 11th most-populous in the U.K., and is home to over a tenth of Wales’ entire population (3.1 million). It has ancient roots and has been inhabited since 6000 BC, thousands of years before Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids in Giza were raised. Now it is the beating heart of the Welsh economy and culture, its ideas travelling well beyond the country’s border. A statue of Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, architect of Britain’s National Health Service, stands proudly in the centre of town overlooking the castle.

Like most cities in the U.K., it is full of local character and quirks. A street dedicated to takeaway food (princely fish and chips) can generate fierce debate: most locals call it “Chippy Lane,” but some refer to it as “Chippy Alley.” Which moniker you choose says something about your outlook on life and politics, the locals say.

Perhaps, then, it feels obvious that a band like Oasis who generate such a passionate response would find a perfect home in the city. Fans queued for pictures outside of a mural made of Liam and Noel made of bucket hats, or for the mega pop-up shop inside the St. David’s shopping centre in the heart of the town. They came out clutching armfuls of vinyl and merchandise, with some made specially for the opening dates. 

Cardiff had the feel of a Super Bowl weekend, or a World Cup tournament rolling into town, where the entire city gets swept up in the moment and day. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour exerted similar dominance over happenings in each city she visited, sparking sidequests and local angles on a global phenomenon. There’s a fair chance Oasis will do something similar as they bring the rock’n’roll roadshow to the world.

In the vicinity close to the stadium, the atmosphere grew rowdier but good-natured. A marching band plodded down the high street performing a brassy version of “Roll With It,” and the BBC scuttled around the city for a livestream broadcast of festivities leading up to the commencement of the show. It later showed ticketless fans standing outside the stadium, listening to whatever sound leaks out.

Since Oasis emerged in 1994, fans have felt an ownership over their music and adopted their ethos. Songs like “Don’t Back in Anger,” “Wonderwall” and “Live Forever” have entered the fabric of U.K. society (particularly England) and are yet to budge. The first of those three, in particular, became a rallying cry to overcome adversity for their hometown following the horrific terrorist attack at Ariana Grande’s show at the Manchester Arena in 2017, which claimed the lives of 22 concert-goers. These songs now say little about its authors, but much about its listeners.

The streets were appropriately filled with DIY merchandise, with punters using the brothers’ iconography and claiming it for their own purpose. At a pre-party at beloved haunt Clwb Ifor Bach, a group of lads unfurl a personalized flag that features the band’s logo, their image, and the three shows they’ll be heading to on the Live ‘25 run: Cardiff, London, Dublin. A convenience store prints off a life-size cut-out of Liam, but they’ve plumped for a less-than iconic shot of the frontman. He looks like he’s putting his bins out for collection, rather than posing as the irresistibly cool ringleader of the world’s best band.

Inside the stadium a high percentage of attendees proudly wore their new merchandise. Whether it be homemade or the stylish new line with Adidas, which has created bespoke football shirts for the occasion — one of which comes in sky blue, a nod to their beloved Manchester City F.C.

With the retractable roof closed, eyes around the darkened stadium were pointed towards the stage, which includes a ginormous screen for visuals and a classic Oasis logo atop. The crowd were slightly subdued for the Britpop band Cast who appeared, in truth, somewhat out of their depth in a venue of this size. The same cannot be said for Richard Ashcroft who raced through a number of Verve classics including “Bittersweet Symphony” and “Sonnet.” One fan close by sincerely screamed that Ashcroft “should be headlining” the whole event.

The crowd for Oasis is one of the loudest this writer has ever heard at a concert. Virtually every word in each song – even for 1994 B-Side “Fade Away” – earns a big singalong. For “Cigarettes & Alcohol” Liam asked the crowd to link arms, turn away from the stage and perform the “poznan,” a jumping celebration invented by fans of Polish club Lech Poznan and adopted by Manchester City. It made for a breathtaking and slightly bizarre sight as fans crane their neck to ensure they don’t miss a moment they’d paid a fortune for. Liam quipped at one point, “Was it worth the £40,000 you paid to get in?” The crowd roared back their approval. “Yeah, I thought so…”

Nostalgia has undoubtedly been a key factor in the fevered response, but the reunion has offered an opportunity for a new generation of fans to witness the band live for the first time in their lives. Teenagers and 20-somethings made up a healthy proportion of the crowd and brought the same style, attitude and energy that attracted their parents’ generation in the first place. Some come together for this special moment; others held their head in their hands, still in disbelief in what they’ve witnessed. When Noel introduced the “The Masterplan” towards the show’s close, he dedicated it to the youngsters seeing the band live for the first time, setting the tone for a tour that has no time for gate-keepers.

As the show ends, the pair share a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it embrace. Liam zooms off in a black 4×4 parked up on the pitch, while Noel and the rest of the band soaked up the atmosphere. Fans spilled onto the street into pubs and wobble down to Chippy Lane for some grub. One group of lads took turns trying to launch their Oasis’ branded bucket hats onto the top of Nye Bevin’s statue. Cardiff has set the bar for what is set to be the summer’s biggest party all across the globe. Is your city going to be as mad fer it?

Conversations on songwriting featuring top names like Luciano Luna and Salvador Aponte, as well as panels on artist strategy, investment, social media and artistic development will be the backbone of a new music conference — Unión Musical — taking place July 9 and 10 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The confab, launched as a private, by invitation only event focused on regional Mexican music two years ago, opens its doors to the public for the first time at Expo Guadalajara, with programming that includes broader topics. Although the focus is still heavily on música mexicana, the applications of the conversations and panels apply to the industry at large.

Unión Musical is the brainchild of Ivan Sergey, CEO of monitoring system Scanner Sound and singer/ songwriters Andrea Merodio and Rodrigo Ruiz.

The fact that Ruiz and Merodio are both songwriters incentivized them to create the event.

“We wanted to integrate in a single place valuable conversations that provide teachings on everything having to do with the music industry, integrating several genres with industry leaders willing to connect, listen and share knowledge and experience,” says Merodio, who oversees PR and social media strategy, among others.

This year’s programming, which takes place across two days, beginning at 3 p.m. Guadalajara time, includes panels on AI, artist strategy and social media investment. Speakers include regional Mexican leaders like respected manager and producer Fernando Camacho (Banda MS), Roberto Ruiz (Kartel Records) and Isael Gutiérrez (VIP Entertainment).

The event will also include an award ceremony honoring a “Legendary producer” as well as Lifetime achievement artist winners.

Tickets to Unión Musical can be purchased here.

When Ryan Castro released Sendé, his second studio album, his goal was to share a glimpse into his life and the island that shaped him — Curaçao.

With its Caribbean charm, Curaçao became the foundation that helped mold the Colombian star’s artistic identity for his sophomore LP. From its rhythmic sounds — dancehall, kizomba, Afrobeats and reggae — to its Dutch colonial architecture and stunning ocean views, the island serves as a constant reminder of his formative years and the cultural influences that continue to inspire his music.

“Being on this island is where I made it in Colombia. I think it was the right time to tell and let people know what I experienced here, because my cultural influences also come from here,” he tells Billboard Español. “I love dancehall, and maybe that’s why I’m making this album. The words I use — like ‘awoo’ — have their origin here, on the island, and many things about who I am as an artist are connected to this place. That’s why I believe this is the perfect moment to share this story with the people.”

If Sendé‘s success is any indication — it landed on Billboard‘s 25 Best Latin Albums of 2025 So Far (Staff Picks) list — Castro’s story is proving as impactful as his sound.

In Billboard‘s 24 Hours with Ryan Castro in Curaçao video, the Colombian artist walks us through his life on the island. From working as a waiter at the seafood restaurant Perla del Mar — where we shared an enormous lobster — to taking viewers inside the humble apartment he once lived in, and introducing us to his family — including his mother, who still works as a nurse in Curaçao — he shows us of the place that shaped him. He even revisited his days as a security guard at a nursing home, remembering the sacrifices he made while chasing his dreams of a music career.

“I worked in many jobs, always with the dream of moving forward with music,” Castro says. “The first thing I bought was a sound system to play the tracks, because I needed to listen to them before heading to work, to motivate myself and to set myself on the right path as well.”

From El Cantante del Ghetto to a rising Latin sensation, Castro can appreciate how far he has come. “Being able to rise to fame, travel the world, and take care of my family — honestly, for us, it’s a source of pride, and this little corner is a part of that,” he shares. “It’s a very special and humble place for us, one that we carry in our hearts.”

When the Universal Music Group announced in December that its Virgin Music Group subsidiary was acquiring indie label services company Downtown Music in a $775 million transaction, it ended months of speculation about the future of Downtown — which is comprised of FUGA, CD Baby, Songtrust and more — as its longtime financial backer looked for an exit.

What it started, however, is an increasingly heated back and forth among industry stakeholders about whether the world’s largest music company should be allowed to acquire one of the few remaining standalone services powering distribution for independent companies.

The backlash started right away, with indie music trade organizations like IMPALA, AIM, IMPF and Beggars Group releasing statements the following day referring to the deal as a “land grab”; days later, WIN, A2IM, Secretly Group and others released a joint statement urging regulators to block the deal. Last month, Universal formally notified the European Union of its intention to move forward with the deal, which triggered a standard antitrust review by the European Commission, the entity that has until July 22 to decide to wave the deal through or investigate further, leading to further volleys from the indie community against the proposed deal, which would bring another big indie distro company under UMG’s purview following its acquisition of [PIAS] last fall.

Late last week, Virgin’s co-CEOs Nat Pastor and JT Meyers sent out a memo to staff, obtained by Billboard, pushing back on many of the claims from the indie community, which largely center on anticompetitive grounds and concerns that UMG would gain access to data from the indies that use FUGA as their pipeline to the broader marketplace. 

“The deal with Downtown will strengthen the foundation we’ve built thus far,” Pastor and Meyers wrote. “Our motivation for the merger and our excitement about it are rooted in this singular opportunity: by combining Downtown’s and Virgin’s unique capabilities, the unified company will offer an even more robust and flexible suite of services to independent labels everywhere.” On the data issue, they added, “Virgin will not only uphold Downtown’s data privacy policies, we will also expand and strengthen them. Virgin already handles — with the care and confidentiality they deserve — the sensitive client data of hundreds of partners. Betraying the trust our clients have bestowed on us would be self-destructive: they would quickly, and quite rightly, end the relationship. Which is why we’re proud to say that since the day we entered this business, we have never had a single complaint of misuse of client information of any kind.”

And in terms of the issues raised by many in the indie music community around major-owned consolidation — not just with UMG, but with Sony buying AWAL in 2022 and Warner very publicly in an acquisitive phase as it looks to bolster its own offerings — they pointed to the increase in private equity and entrepreneurial investment in distribution in the past half-decade.

“The more investment that flows into the services businesses, the more independent labels benefit, because more investment means better resources and greater competition among services providers,” the two wrote. “Today, approximately 100 services companies are competing to partner with independent labels and artists. The stronger the provider of services, the greater the chance that the independent label and artist has to succeed in today’s market.”

Now, the indie community is hitting back once again in a new open letter, signed by more than 200 indie music executives, headlined “We must keep music open” that pushes for the European Commission to decide by that July 22 deadline to continue its investigation of the deal by entering a “Phase II” review, writing, “This isn’t just a simple ‘investment’ in one of the world’s most prominent independent companies; it is about control.”

“The implications are profound,” the signatories write, in a letter sent to EC executive vp Teresa Ribera, which raises many of the same points that the individual companies have brought up in past statements. “A concentration of this magnitude would narrow the range of voices, styles and cultures that reach the public,” it continues. “It would give UMG further power to shape digital services, influence monetization thresholds and extract more, at the expense of the independent sector. That would reduce choice for consumers, stifle experimentation, and undermine Europe’s role as a vibrant incubator of musical and artistic expression. Fans will hear less of the new and more of the same. Artists working outside the commercial mainstream will struggle to find traction. And a once-thriving creative economy will begin to stagnate.”

The letter is signed by business owners, association leaders and top execs from companies such as A2IM, 4AD, AIM, Beggars, Better Noise, Chrysalis, Cooking Vinyl, Dead Oceans, Domino, Epitaph, Exceleration Music, Hopeless, Jagjaguwar, Matador, Merge, Rough Trade, Secretly, Sub Pop, The Numero Group, Warp, XL, Young and more. 

“Independent music companies play a vital role in promoting music innovation, fostering diversity and protecting culture,” they wrote. “To fulfill that role, we must have fair and non-discriminatory access to the best  infrastructure in the music economy. And not be forced into structural dependence on our biggest competitor who is also shifting payment models on digital services.”