Universal Music Group has opened its first “music-based experiential hotel” in Madrid, uDiscoverMusic reports. The UMUSIC Hotel Madrid is operating at full capacity since the start of this year. The innovative hotel is located inside the historic Albéniz Theater building in the Spanish capital. “Through music’s unique power to inspire and unite – especially given UMG’s unparalleled roster of artists and labels – UMUSIC Hotels will both highlight these cities’ rich music heritages and provide new opportunities for artists to reach fans in immersive, innovative and authentic ways,” Bruce Resnikoff, President and CEO of Universal Music Enterprises, said of the project. Locations planned for UMUSIC hotels are Atlanta, Georgia; Biloxi, Mississippi; and Orlando, UMUSIC Hotels offer fans, guests, and artists immersive music experiences, incorporate elements of the local music scene,

Every winter, three thousand metalheads cruise the Caribbean at the largest Heavy Metal cruise in the world - 70,000 Tons of Metal. The cruise takes place upon The Independence of The Seas, the theatre stages on it are converted into onboard metal venues, becoming home to more than 60 metal bands over the course of four days at sea from Florida to Mexico and back. Paper Magazine writes, lovingly, how every year, almost all Royal Caribbean staff members allegedly ask to work the cruise, saying that people they meet are considerably nicer and cause way less drama than other cruise experiences.

Guardian has an interesting article about music tourism, a relatively new type of commercial tourism characterised by people travelling somewhere attracted by music. One of the newest is Full Metal Cruise - a music cruise with thousands of metal fans listening to metal bands on a cruise ship. Only in the UK, music tourists spent […]