Spotify and Live Nation Urban are staging a one-day R&B festival in the Dallas area on November 1.
RNB X Live: Dallas will be held at The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, with Erykah Badu and H.E.R. on the bill.
The venue is booked and promoted exclusively by Live Nation and holds up to 8,000 people.
Spotify calls the event both a one-day festival and its first standalone R&B concert.
RNB X is Spotify’s R&B editorial playlist, and the company says the festival is the playlist’s largest live extension to date.
The announcement, made on Tuesday (September 8), follows a widening of Spotify’s relationship with Live Nation, which co-owns Live Nation Urban.
In May, Spotify and Live Nation struck a multi-year agreement covering Reserved, a feature that holds up to two tickets for each of an artist’s most dedicated fans among eligible Premium subscribers.
Spotify works with more than 40 ticketing partners and says its live music efforts have driven over USD $1.5 billion in ticket sales for artists to date.
The company said last year that its “super listeners” – the top 2% of an artist’s monthly streaming audience – account for 50% of all artist ticket sales through the platform.
“R&B has always been a genre built on community, and a big part of our philosophy has been creating opportunities for artists to get closer to the fans who care about them most.”
Brandon Payano, Spotify
“R&B has always been a genre built on community, and a big part of our philosophy has been creating opportunities for artists to get closer to the fans who care about them most,” said Brandon Payano, R&B Lead, Artist Partnerships at Spotify. “Our partnership with Live Nation Urban has continued to grow around that shared belief, from our RNB X Live: The UK Sound shows last fall to their broader efforts to bring more R&B artists and fans together.
“RNB X Live in Dallas feels like an exciting and obvious next step, bringing artists and fans together for the kind of moments that show just how powerful R&B can be when experienced live.”
Badu, a Dallas native, plays the festival two months after the August 28 release of Before the World Blows, her joint album with The Alchemist.
It was her first project since the 2015 mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone.
Spotify bills H.E.R.’s appearance as a rare live return, after several years in which she has not headlined her own shows.
Also performing are kwn, Destin Conrad, and Jai’Len Josey, each of whom Spotify has supported through editorial programs including Artists to Watch and Fresh Finds.
Dallas artist rjtheweirdo opens the show.
“R&B’s influence spans genres and generations, shaping culture in ways that can’t be defined by one sound or one type of artist.”
Alaysia Sierra, Spotify
“From First Nights to RNB X Live, we’ve been intentional about taking the work we do through RNB X on Spotify and extending it beyond the platform, creating real-life spaces for R&B artists and their fans to connect,” said Alaysia Sierra, Spotify’s Head of Editorial, R&B. “R&B’s influence spans genres and generations, shaping culture in ways that can’t be defined by one sound or one type of artist.
“We wanted this festival to reflect that expansiveness, from an icon like Erykah Badu, to a defining voice like H.E.R., to rising stars like kwn and Jai’Len. R&B has given so much to music and culture – it’s only right that we continue to invest in its potential, giving the artists of its past, present, and future the platform, resources, and space to keep pushing R&B forward.”
First Nights refers to R&B First Nights, a concert series Spotify launched on March 31, 2023, with a Victoria Monét show in Los Angeles.
The RNB X Live series has been run with Live Nation Urban, which co-presented RNB X Live: The UK Sound in San Francisco and New York in August 2025.
Before that, Spotify staged RNB X After Hours, a free show at the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C., on November 12, 2024, with a bill including Normani, Bryson Tiller, and Leon Thomas.
Two artists from those nights are back for Dallas: Destin Conrad played the D.C. showcase, and kwn performed on the San Francisco date.
Spotify says select performances in Dallas will be captured and released exclusively on the platform via Spotify Live.
That name belonged to a different product until 2023, when the company shut down its live audio app of the same name.
In June, Bloomberg reported that Spotify had held talks with festival promoters over the rights to carry live concert video, citing people familiar with the talks, as covered by MBW.
Spotify has turned playlist brands into concerts before, launching a six-date RapCaviar Live series with Live Nation in 2017.
Presale tickets for RNB X Live: Dallas opened to eligible top fans in the Dallas area on Tuesday (September 8) at 12 p.m. CT.
A Live Nation presale is scheduled for Wednesday (September 9) at 10 a.m. CT, with general sales starting on Friday (September 11) at 12 p.m. CT via Ticketmaster.Music Business Worldwide
