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Here are the key events from day 1,372 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published On 27 Nov 202527 Nov 2025
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Here’s where things stand on Thursday, November 27.
Fighting
Intense clashes took place across eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, including in Slobozhansky, Kupiansk, Lyman, Kramatorsk, Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk, Huliaipole and Orikhiv.
Ukraine’s military said some of the fiercest fighting was in the strategic town of Huliaipole in the southeastern region of Zaporizhia, where forces are battling for “every metre” of land amid increased Russian shelling and drone attacks.
A Russian drone attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson killed a woman and young child, while Russian air strikes in Zaporizhzhia city injured 18 people, including 12 women, according to local authorities.
Ukraine’s military claimed it struck a Russian military-industrial complex in the region of Chuvashia, sparking a fire.
Early Thursday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed its forces killed or wounded 1,140 Russian troops over the last day. It also claimed its forces destroyed one Russian tank, three armoured combat vehicles, 21 artillery units, 214 drones and two aircraft.
Diplomacy
Russian officials expressed caution about the prospect of a quick peace deal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that while negotiations are “ongoing” and “serious”, it’s “premature” to suggest a deal is imminent.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Moscow isn’t ready to publicly discuss the Trump administration’s recently modified peace plan, but that it won’t budge on its key demands. “The overall success of this process is not guaranteed”, he said.
Still, US special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week, the exact date of which is yet to be confirmed, according to Russia’s Peskov.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the Trump-backed peace plan is a “starting point” but requires more work to ensure future Ukrainian and European security.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reiterated his call for further sanctions on Russia, accusing the country of obstructing peace efforts.
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard also urged the EU to immediately enact a 20th round of sanctions on Russia.
Numerous Baltic states issued strong statements of support for Ukraine after a meeting of EU foreign ministers, with Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna saying peace talks must begin with “firm conditions for the aggressor, not the victim”.
Energy
Ukraine’s Energy Ministry urged the public to conserve electricity and warned of emergency outages in some regions where energy infrastructure has been targeted by Russian attacks.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister said the state would provide targeted energy assistance to 280,000 families living in frontline areas to help them “get through the winter period more easily and meet basic needs”, including by paying for up to 300 kilowatts/hour per family monthly.
Putin, on a state visit to Kyrgyzstan, announced Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation is considering building a nuclear power facility in the former Soviet state.
Hundreds of protesters turn out every night, a year after pro-European demonstrations began
“I’m standing for the future of this country,” says Giorgi Arabuli, who has taken part in protests on the streets of Georgia’s capital Tbilisi almost every night since they began a year ago.
Mass demonstrations were met with violent police crackdowns as tens of thousands of Georgians turned out, angered by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s decision on 28 November 2024 to call a four-year halt on moves towards joining the EU.
“I’m from the generation of the 1990s. I’ve seen those dark times after the civil war,” said Giorgi. “Most of it was caused by Russian influence in a post-Soviet country. We don’t want to go back there.”
On the streets, the protests have evolved into a grinding war of attrition.
For months, Tbilisi’s main Rustaveli Avenue was blocked for a few hours every evening. New laws and a heavy police presence forced the protesters to adapt, marching through adjacent streets and facing nightly arrests.
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Protesters still try to gather on Rustaveli Avenue but police quickly clear the road
The Georgian Dream government has imposed massive fines for blocking roads, slapped criminal charges on young protesters and most recently pushed through a law allowing up to 14 days’ imprisonment for a first offence of blocking traffic, with repeat offenders facing up to a year in jail.
“Freedom for regime prisoners,” reads a large banner carried towards the nearby Supreme Court.
“They’ve used every method to crush the protests… but the fact is they haven’t been able to,” says Nata Koridze. Her husband, Zura Japaridze, is one of six key opposition figures jailed after refusing to testify before a parliamentary commission into alleged crimes by the previous government.
The six were jailed for up to eight months and banned from holding public office for two years.
Prosecutors have since announced new charges against eight opposition leaders, including Japaridze. They now face up to 15 years for alleged sabotage and aiding foreign powers.
Nata Koridze’s husband is due to be released on 22 December but she says he is due to appear in court again three days later.
They are accused of communicating with Western partners about government abuses – standard democratic practice – as evidence of betraying state interests.
Japaridze, like all the jailed politicians, is held in solitary confinement.
“Zura has not seen anybody except for a doctor and the guard,” she says.
Georgia’s path to EU membership, once the cornerstone of its post-Soviet identity, is now farther away than ever.
“Georgia is not on the trajectory to become an EU member state, neither in 2030 nor later,” said Pawel Herczynski, rejecting the government’s pledge to ensure membership by 2030.
The BBC approached the head of the parliamentary committee on European integration and other Georgian Dream MPs for comment, but no-one was available.
The government’s public response has been increasingly hostile towards its foreign critics.
Parliamentary speaker Shalva Papuashvili has accused the EU of “ideological and political dictates”, telling pro-government TV this month that “today’s Brussels does not want a Georgia that is like us”.
“They want a country standing on one foot,” he complained. “The policies and approaches in Brussels must be changed. For them, the Georgian people and their choice mean nothing, zero.”
Georgian Dream, in power since 2012, won 54% of the vote in last year’s disputed parliamentary elections, which monitors from Europe’s OSCE security mission said were marked by several shortcomings, including intimidation, coercion and pressure on voters, especially public sector employees.
All opposition parties have since boycotted parliament leaving it entirely in government hands. That means increasingly repressive legislation has been passed unopposed.
As well as steep fines for protesters blocking the road, there have been a restrictive broadcasting law and a law on foreign grants requiring all foreign funding for civil society and media to be approved by a government commission.
Hundreds of protesters have been fined and dozens jailed, among them well-known actor Andro Chichinadze, given two years for allegedly organising protests.
His theatre – once the best attended in Tbilisi – has closed in solidarity.
Andro Chichinadze’s theatre used to sell out regularly – it has now shut down
The belief that Georgia’s government is acting in Russia’s interest is widespread among pro-Europeans here.
They point to the ruling party’s billionaire founder, Bidzina Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s; legislation mirroring Russian laws targeting civil society; the government’s refusal to impose sanctions on Moscow over Ukraine and increasingly hostile anti-Western rhetoric.
Georgia’s leaders reject that portrayal, describing their approach towards Russia as “pragmatic” and their primary duty to maintain peace with their northern neighbour.
“Where are the facts?” said Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, denying pro-Russian bias during a recent TV interview. The government, he said, was being “responsible to Georgian society which wants to keep peace in the country”.
Batumelebi
Acclaimed journalist Mzia Amaglobeli was arrested in January and remains in jail
That is not the view of one of Georgia’s most respected journalists, Mzia Amaglobeli, imprisoned for two years for slapping a police officer.
“Russia is conquering us without war. An oligarch is ruling our country, depriving us of a European future and legitimising autocratic, dictatorial rule. We need the support of the democratic world,” she told the BBC in a handwritten letter from prison.
Georgia’s democratic decline intensified even before last year’s elections, with a June 2024 Russian-style law on foreign influence that targeted civil society and independent media.
Students played a big part in protests at the time and the government has responded with sweeping education reforms planned next February. Georgia’s 19 state universities will be required to concentrate on a single academic discipline under the slogan “one city, one faculty”.
The reforms will tackle perceived problems including excessive concentration of universities in Tbilisi, duplication of programmes and inadequate state funding.
The prime minister argues that funding should be “focused on fulfilling state tasks”. Leading figures at Georgia’s pre-eminent research institution, Ilia State University, say the reform is more about imposing political control and eradicating free space.
“After political parties, media and NGOs, universities must be put under pressure,” says Nina Doborjginidze, rector of Ilia State University. “If students are removed from the capital, they’re removed from the political scene.”
“This is not about education quality, it’s a political project,” adds vice-rector Georgi Gvalia. “This is an abrupt change in Georgia’s foreign policy from being one of the most pro-European countries in the region to the most difficult partners of the West, and change towards more autocratic great powers, like Russia and especially China.”
Back on Rustaveli Avenue, teacher Rusudan Lomidze, who has attended the protests every day, says Georgia’s fate is inextricably linked to Ukraine’s.
“If Ukraine is forced to sign a capitulation agreement, it will be an absolute disaster for us. Our boys are fighting in Ukraine, and they are fighting for both Ukraine and Georgia.”
The crowds are smaller than they were a year ago, but several hundred protesters still gather every night despite the risks.
Reflecting on her years as a diplomat working towards EU and Nato integration, Nata Koridze now believes “all of that has crumbled”.
“But the protest embodies an idea. And ideas live through decades, through centuries.”
The International Energy Agency reports that energy demand across Southeast Asia rose at twice the global average rate in 2024 and finds that consumption is set to double by 2050. To maintain rising living standards, economies across the region are pushing into higher-value and more energy-intense industries, data centres being one obvious example.
That creates a problem.
The ASEAN nations enjoy vast but as yet largely untapped potential for renewable energy, especially PV solar, and onshore and offshore wind. The IEA puts potential supply at 20 terawatts, roughly 55 times the region’s present generation capacity. And this energy would be cheap. But the increase in overall demand is for now far outpacing new supply from renewables. Until that changes, ASEAN nations remain dependent on rising fossil fuel imports that expose them to price risk, potential supply disruptions, and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.
Asian corporate executives have focused recently on coping with tariffs and trade restrictions, potential supply chain disruptions and geopolitical insecurity—rather than energy and power. In the latest EY-Parthenon Global CEO Outlook survey, Asia-Pacific CEOs expressed greater unease than their peers in Europe and the Americas about geopolitics, macroeconomics and trade. They must not lose sight of how investment in modernizing energy supply and transmission today will provide considerable benefits including, but not limited to, low-cost power. And they should mobilize all sources of finance, private and public, for projects to achieve this.
That is why the recent announcement from the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and ASEAN of a new financing initiative to support a connected ASEAN power grid (APG) is so important. It comes ahead of an enhanced memorandum of understanding set to be signed later this year by the ASEAN nations to finally realize the vision for a connected grid that has tantalized since the 1990s.
Building it will be expensive, estimated at over $750 billion. But the returns—cheaper and more reliable electricity, enhanced energy security and regional co-operation, lower emissions—will justify the cost, as long as finance can be mobilized.
At the ASEAN ministers on energy meeting in October, the ADB committed up to $10 billion over the next ten years. The World Bank is providing an initial $2.5 billion. The multilaterals will also offer grants, guarantees, political risk insurance and other concessions to attract private capital, as well as technical assistance.
Why has this connected grid not been built already? Partly for technical reasons. ASEAN nations use different voltages in their transmission systems. Their national grids stand at varying levels of sophistication. They employ distinct operating standards and regulatory frameworks. Politics has also played a part. Countries have previously prioritized domestic industrial development and national energy policies.
Increasing urgency around energy transition has shifted those priorities and focused on how to transmit renewable energy from the widely distributed sources that provide it to the consumers that need it, even in other countries. The key now is to progress beyond simply connecting countries’ networks to a more widespread upgrading of national grids.
In May, leading energy companies from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam agreed a strategic partnership to explore the use of undersea cables to transmit electricity generated mainly from Vietnam’s offshore wind farms through the Peninsular Malaysia National Grid to homes and businesses in Malaysia and Singapore.
Vietnam is prioritizing investment in offshore wind as part of a strategy to become a regional renewable energy hub. Singapore, while lacking the natural resources for large-scale renewables, intends to be a key enabler of cross-border trade in clean energy. It has given conditional approval for ten projects to import it, including solar power from Australia; solar, hydropower and potentially wind power from Cambodia; and solar power from Indonesia; as well as offshore wind from Vietnam. Thailand could be another big importer.
High return on investment
The vision for an ASEAN power grid, connecting a population likely to hit 780 million by 2040 across a $10 trillion regional economy, triple the size in 2022, was laid out one year ago at COP29. Doubling the number of interconnections across the 10 ASEAN countries could boost connected capacity from 7.2 gigawatts in 2022, to 33.5 GW fifteen years from now.
This will take more than undersea cables and high voltage direct current lines capable of transmitting power over long distances with minimal leakage. To succeed at scale a resilient ASEAN grid must cope with the key challenge faced in all renewables—intermittency. This necessitates investments in industrial-scale battery and other storage and conversion technology to balance increasingly variable supply with rising demand. Managing that balance is essential to keep grids stable and prevent outages, including amid extreme weather events that coincide with peak power off-take.
Upgrading domestic networks should include integration of new digital technology, familiar from the internet of things, to monitor and measure systems continuously, spot potential weaknesses before they trip supply, and enable steady maintenance instead of expensive repairs.
An ASEAN power grid paves the way to lower cost manufacturing and enhances competitive advantages, as the region continues to move up the manufacturing value chain.
In the longer term, it can also improve climate-resilient food security and pitch the region into a positive feedback loop. Related investment in agritech might also boost production of biofuel, potentially making air travel greener and helping to decarbonize other sectors that are difficult to electrify.
A significant proportion of total employment across Asia Pacific is in sectors directly impacted by climate, like farming and fishing, putting populations at high risk from global warming and rising sea levels. With the ASEAN grid, governments, large utilities, energy companies and financers are coming together to address this risk, and build a project that promises huge benefits for generations to come.
Bangkok, Thailand – Stewed, seasoned with sugar and cloves, deep-fried or dished up in a zingy chilli mince – the diets of most Thais are incomplete without pork.
But a $3bn market – supplied nearly entirely by domestic pig farmers – may be about to face competition like never before from the giant hog farms of the world’s third-largest producer, the United States.
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While the fine print of the Thai government’s preliminary trade deal with the US is yet to be revealed, some details have emerged.
Washington has a 10,000-item-long wish list of goods it wants to enter Thailand duty-free to reduce its $45.5bn trade deficit with the Southeast Asian country, an imbalance President Donald Trump says unfairly disadvantages US producers.
The list includes pork, corn, soya beans and some fruits.
Shortly after Trump met Thailand’s caretaker prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia last month, the White House revealed some of the many strings attached to its trade deal, which set the tariff rate for the kingdom’s exports to the US at 19 percent.
They include Thailand agreeing to “address and prevent barriers to US food and agricultural products in the Thai market”, according to the White House, and a commitment to “expediting access” for US meat and poultry products.
That has panicked Thailand’s pig farmers, who say the industry may not survive a flood of cheaper, subsidised US pork, which is fattened up on ractopamine, a livestock additive banned in many countries, including the kingdom.
The entrance of an outlet of the grocery chain on January 8, 2022 [Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images]
If US pork is allowed into Thailand without duties, nothing less than the kingdom’s food security is at stake, according to Worawut Siripun, deputy secretary-general of the Swine Raisers Association of Thailand.
“Producers will not be able to survive and will stop raising pigs. But the risks are not only for farms facing falling pig prices,” Worawut, who has about 10,000 pigs, told Al Jazeera.
“Those who grow feed crops are also affected, as well as animal feed traders, animal feed producers, and veterinary drug sellers. Everyone in the production cycle is impacted.”
Trump had made trade talks with Thailand contingent on Bangkok signing an extended ceasefire agreement with Cambodia.
But in the weeks since meeting Anutin, Thailand has suspended truce talks over alleged Cambodian breaches of the terms of the agreement.
While there are conflicting signals over whether tensions with Cambodia have put Thailand’s trade negotiations with its biggest export destination on the back burner, farmers and livestock companies are bracing for intensified competition.
Thailand’s pork industry has weathered challenges ranging from outbreaks of swine flu to illegal imports from China and Vietnam.
But it faces high costs, largely as a result of government price controls on corn and soya used to feed pigs and other livestock – a measure intended to protect the country’s crop farmers, a key voting bloc.
And like most of Thailand’s agricultural producers, the country’s pig farmers deal with slim margins.
Butchers chop up pork at the Bangkok Noi wholesale market on January 8, 2022 [Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images]
“Both imported and locally produced feed materials in Thailand are more expensive compared to the US, where feed is cheaper,” Worawut said.
Corn and other feed farmers are also bracing for tough times.
Thailand announced earlier this month that it would lift its annual corn import limit, from approximately 50,000 tonnes to 1 million tonnes, and scrap a 20 percent tariff to appease Washington.
Prime Minister Anutin is likely to dissolve parliament in the coming weeks and set a date for new elections.
He is angling to return to office in defiance of critics who say he has already given away too much to Washington before a comprehensive trade deal has been signed.
Trump officials have already announced a deal to gain preferential access to Thailand’s rare earths, the sale of billions of dollars of US-made aircraft and a promise by Bangkok not to tax US digital services companies.
Anutin’s bargaining position has been weakened by tough economic conditions.
A woman looks at a food stall selling roasted pork during a street festival in Bangkok, on December 28, 2019 [Mladen Antonov/AFP]
On Monday, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council trimmed its economic growth forecast for 2026 to 1.2 percent, down from an expected 2 percent expansion this year – by far the weakest performance among Southeast Asia’s leading economies.
With a third round of trade talks with the US under a cloud following the suspension of the Thailand-Cambodia peace deal, the main political opposition party has called on the government to pause the negotiations and consult with local stakeholders.
“This is a crucial moment,” said Weerayut Karnchuchat, deputy leader of the opposition People’s Party, Thailand’s largest in parliament.
“The minister of commerce has said negotiations will conclude by the end of 2025. That leaves around two months. The government should hold eight weeks of stakeholder hearings … especially groups directly affected, such as corn farmers.”
Thailand should take stock and assess if regional peers with full US trade deals – including Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia – are happy with the outcomes and “whether Thailand is offering too much”, he added.
For many midsized businesses, the return of Trump and his trade war has made for a difficult year, with demand depressed across countless supply chains exposed to the US.
Orders are retreating inside Thailand for everything from lightbulbs to electrical wires needed to run factories that export to the US.
Tipok Lertwattanaweerakul, a durian farmer and middleman, said he has seen his profit margins slashed.
Saudi Arabian buyers who sold durian to customers in the US had been Lertwattanaweerakul’s main source of business, but with the Arab country hit with a 10 percent tariff, “they are no longer purchasing from me at all,” he told Al Jazeera.
In a world first, two airports have done away with border guards at counters checking passports and arrival cards, in favor of a new AI-integrated biometric system that lets passengers skip the queue and pass through immigration without stopping.
Two airports in Indonesia have rolled out the Seamless Corridors from tech company Aradeus, which capture biometrics from “in motion” passengers as they pass through a wide hallway, doing away with the need to line up to have their passport and arrivals card manually checked. They’re now operational at Jakarta and Surabaya airports, with more to come.
“The Seamless Corridor is the ‘jewel in the crown’ of our end‑to‑end portfolio for seamless travel, helping to remove friction and queues at the border,” said Rudy Daniello, Executive Vice President of AirOps at Amadeus. “In combination with innovations in digital identity and biometrics at key airport service points, it’s finally possible for airlines, airports and governments to provide a truly seamless, secure experience, free from document checks, queues and barriers.”
Now, you might be wondering how the system can gather enough intel from a passenger simply walking down a corridor after disembarking the plane. There is still documentation required, however, this is done through the All Indonesia app prior to flying, much like the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) visa waiver program that eligible international travelers fill out in their home country before flying into the US. Except, unlike that system, there’s no additional passport check as you navigate through the immigration area after you land.
While it’s undoubtedly a privilege to fly across the world, there’s something quite soul-crushing about finally getting off a 14-hour flight after being cooped up in economy with a few hundred strangers, only to be funneled into a queue already full of other travelers whose planes have all arrived at similar times. Adding to the challenge is that it’s often 6 am or the middle of the night local time, there are no pens in sight to fill out physical arrival cards, no Wi-Fi to do it electronically, and language barriers, which add up to further delays in making it through to the other side, in search of a strong coffee and transport to your accommodation. Seamless Corridors aim to do away with all of this, letting you go from plane to taxi with only one brief stop to pick up any luggage.
If you’re unlucky, it can take hours to get through immigration following your flight
In Indonesia, Amadeus has partnered with Sinergi Teknoglobal Perkasa and they now have three Seamless Corridors in operation across the two airports.
“Our collaboration with Amadeus and the Indonesia Immigration Department has been a true example of partnership in action,” said Andy Syach, CEO of Sinergi Teknoglobal Perkasa. “By combining global expertise with local innovation, we are not only delivering world‑class border solutions but also empowering Indonesia teams through technology transfer and capability building. This close cooperation ensures that the solutions deployed today will continue to evolve and serve the nation’s long‑term vision for smart, secure, and seamless travel.”
The system also frees up immigration officers and airport staff to help passengers who need more assistance, rather than spending hours on queue control during peak travel times. The three corridors now in operation will initially be for elderly and disabled travelers, before they are opened up to all arriving passengers.
The All Indonesia app combines immigration, customs, health and quarantine declarations in one spot, allowing passengers to fill in all their information remotely at home ahead of travel. Immigration will then vet the data provided, approving the traveler for entry at the destination. This also takes away the anxiety of being assessed in real time at the border – which can vary in experience between easy questioning (shout out to Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan) and interrogational (hello, Heathrow Airport, London and LAX, Los Angeles). In a 2025 report from Amadeus based on a survey of 9,500 travelers around the globe, 90% of respondents reported feeling anxious about various stages of their journey, with a quarter saying airport security is their biggest worry.
The Seamless Corridor biometrics system scans moving passengers, matching an individual’s face to their passport photo on file, accurately confirming their identity as they cross the border.
The technology, which was demonstrated at the Dubai Airshow in 2023, was developed by Vision-Box, the biometrics company that Amadeus acquired last year. Vision-Box had been working on this system since 2001, but recent advances in AI and capture technology has now made it a scalable reality for commercial travel. While biometric scanning isn’t new – you can find face recognition and fingerprint stations at entry points around the world – having it undertaken while on the move, without any queues and gates to pass through, is.
In the Amadeus report, an average of 69% of people would be open to biometrics scanners at security. Interestingly, this varied across cultures, with 88% of Chinese travelers surveyed having no problem with biometrics capture, while just 54% of French passengers felt the same.
“Fundamental to the success and security of biometric technology is its use of decentralized proof of identity,” the report stated. “Here, all information is stored on digital wallets or in-app, with verification handled locally and temporarily, using encrypted, consent-based data sharing. This boosts privacy, control, and security, as travelers decide when and where to share their information.”
MBW Reacts is a series of analytical commentaries from Music Business Worldwide written in response to major recent entertainment events or news stories. Only MBW+ subscribers have unlimited access to these articles.
While the music industry fixates on Suno’s AI generation capabilities and copyright controversies, a more fundamental shift may be underway.
The company could be building a very different, and potentially deep-pocketed, superfan app.
WMG and Suno stunned the global music industry yesterday (November 25) with the news that they had settled their copyright lawsuit and struck a “first-of-its-kind” licensing partnership for AI-generated music.
According to a blog post from Suno CEO Mikey Shulman, his platform will “be introducing content from WMG artists who opt in for the use of their names, images, likenesses, voices, and compositions to be used in new AI-generated music”.
Shulman added: “These will be new creation experiences from artists who do opt in, which will open up new revenue streams for them… and allow you to interact with them in new ways. You’ll be able to build around participating artists’ sounds and ensure they get compensated.”
However, the second-to-last paragraph of WMG’s Suno press release yesterday contained an unexpected twist: the major label divested its concert discovery platform, Songkick, to the AI company as part of the deal.
So, why is a recorded music generation app interested in acquiring a live music discovery app?
On the one hand, it appears counterintuitive. After all, the AI music generated by Suno has no live performance component.
There’s no artist to tour, no stage to build, no venue to book, and if we’re being honest, the majority of users generating tracks likely lack the technical ability to perform their creations live, as admitted by Xania Monet’s creator, Telisha “Nikki” Jones, in a Wall Street Journal interview. “I grew up singing in church, but I can’t do vocals as powerful as what I created with Xania,” she said.
But think beyond the obvious, and consider what Suno has just assembled.
Suno currently commands a $2.45 billion valuation backed by $250 million in fresh capital. Nearly 100million people have created music on its platform over the past two years, generating $200 million in annual revenue primarily from subscriptions.
Now add the 15 million users signed up to Songkick, tracking artists across six million listed concerts and festivals globally.
This isn’t just about size, it’s about depth of engagement.
Songkick acts as an aggregator of tour dates and ticket links from hundreds of sources.
Using Songkick to actively search for concerts to attend and then purchase tickets for those concerts via links to external ticketing sites is arguably an act of superfandom in itself.
As pointed out last week in an article by Midia’s Mark Mulligan, making music has also always been a form of superfandom, and users of generative AI music tools, he noted, “are also some of the industry’s most valuable superfans”.
“Creating” a song, even via AI prompts, represents a fundamentally different level of fan engagement than simply streaming a song. Suno users are not just consuming content; they might be trying to co-create within the musical universe of artists they admire.
Don’t forget that, since September, Suno has attempted to attract professional music-makers into its tech, via its DAW layer, Suno Studio.
“We’re heading towards a world where people don’t just press play – they play with their music,” Suno’s Shulman wrote in his new blog post. “Interactivity will make music a bigger part of people’s lives, increase its cultural value, and bring people closer together. This partnership with WMG is a big step towards that future.”
Suno’s Songkick acquisition and expansion into concert discovery are significant because Suno is buying an additional layer of actionable fan insights.
The platform now possesses behavioral data for millions of users spanning the entire fan journey:
what music people want to create,
which artists inspire their ideas, and crucially;
which live shows they’re tracking and planning to attend.
According to yesterday’s press release, Songkick, which WMG acquired in 2017, will continue operating as what Suno calls “a successful fan destination.”
The companies claim the combination will “create new potential to deepen the artist-fan connection,” though the mechanics remain unclear.
What makes the Songkick element of the deal particularly intriguing is that none of Suno’s major investors appear to have existing positions in the live music or ticketing sector.
Suno’s latest $250 million round was led by Menlo Ventures with participation from NVentures (NVIDIA’s venture capital arm), Lightspeed, and Matrix.
However, Hallwood Media Ventures, the investment arm of the music company founded by former Geffen Records President Neil Jacobson, also participated. The company brings deep music industry expertise through a team that includes Universal Music Group’s ex-CFO Chuck Ciongoli, former Spotify Head of Global Curation Mike Biggane, and Paul Hourican, the former Global Head of Music Operations at TikTok.
Interestingly, Hallwood Media has also been expanding its operations to include merchandising services, ranging from product design and creative solutions to touring solutions:
The company’s merch division, according to the website, offers capabilities spanning e-commerce fulfillment and what it calls “experiential” services, including album release parties and pop-up activations.
Suno’s move into concert discovery also arrives against a backdrop of a booming live music business.
Live Nation’s own Q3 revenues climbed 11% year-over-year to $8.5 billion, underscoring the sector’s momentum and potentially explaining why an AI company would want a foothold in live music infrastructure.
Whether Suno intended to build a superfan platform or simply stumbled into one through strategic acquisitions, the result is the same:
It has morphed into a $2.45 billion company, sitting at the intersection of music creation, discovery, and liveattendance – with a new investor who clearly has ambitions in the merchandise game.
