From Ticketing To Vocals, The ‘Mind-Blowing’ Ways Concerts Are Using AI
Categoria: Musica
Whether aiding in concert discovery or simply making shows sound a lot better, new AI tools are helping live thrive.
Por Billboard | 05/11/2026
As Trent Reznor performed a dramatic piano rendition of Nine Inch Nails’ “Something I Can Never Have,” his voice resounded throughout the arena, crystal clear. Whether Reznor was singing an intimate B-stage number like this or NIN’s heavier dance and rock material, his vocals sounded crisper than ever before. That’s because on this year’s Peel It Back Tour, the band’s front of house sound engineer, Jamie Pollock, had, for the first time, used L-Acoustics’ Source Intelligence. The pro audio company created the technology to utilize nongenerative machine learning to help identify an artist’s voice in real time — and deliver it to the crowd, free of any other background noises that a microphone might pick up onstage. Pollock kept his experiment “hush-hush” throughout the entire run, but fans noticed the difference. “Trent’s whispering at times; he’s trying to make it as intimate as possible,” Pollock says. “And then [the next] minute, he’s screaming.” Related ‘Supercharged’ AI Bots Are Disrupting the Ticketing Market. The Industry Is Desperate for a Solution Kenny MacPherson, Veteran Music Publisher and Big Deal Music Co-Founder, Dies at 71 Diddy Moved From New Jersey Prison to Similar Facility in Pennsylvania As in most aspects of life now, AI continues to expand in the live-music space, whether it’s being deployed by long-established companies like L-Acoustics or newer AI power players like Suno. The latter hired Michael Chua, previously a Ticketmaster executive, as vp/GM of its new Suno Live Experiences division upon its launch in October. Bad actors, too, have taken to using AI in the live sector. Scalpers are unleashing more bots than ever to help purchase tickets. In October, RAYE posted on Instagram that her show at London’s 5,000-capacity Royal Albert Hall had received 1.8 million presale sign-ups. “Hundreds of thousands of fake registrations” had been recorded, she wrote. “It is a new world we are living in now, I have never witnessed bots on this scale.” But by and large, AI is helping concerts and tours run smoother from end to end — and whether or not fans are aware, it’s integrated into more aspects of the scene than ever. Marketing For as long as artists have been touring, marketers have been tasked with getting the word out — and AI is reshaping even this long-established aspect of the business. Companies such as Laylo and HIVE help artist teams send SMS and email campaigns, with Laylo often working directly with artists and HIVE frequently serving venues themselves. According to Laylo, its clients include Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande and Noah Kahan, who utilize the platform for tour announcements and SMS messages going out to fans who’ve opted in for sign-ups. Laylo also can link directly to Instagram, allowing for easy communication on social media. HIVE, meanwhile, works with clients including the major dance promoter Insomniac and provides similar services for SMS and email. “We’ve seen a huge shift in how