Coronavirus
CISAC 2020 Report: Global Publishing Collections Fell 10.7% Last Year
That 10.7% overall decline for music, however, was “considerably less disastrous than was foreseen one year ago,” as Oron observed, while TV and radio — still the largest sources of income for collection management organizations — declined less than expected due to a resilient economy. At the front-end of the COVID-19 pandemic, CISAC was anticipating a 25%-30% decline in collections for 2020, based on estimate reports then from member organizations, Oron tells Billboard. As well, “digital collections have managed to mitigate the fall in other income sources in many countries,” Oron said. “The surge of digital collections globally is a tribute to the efforts of CISAC societies to change strategy, shift resources and step up digital licensing activit...
Anti-Masker Gets 2-Pieced In The Face After Angry Tirade At Diner
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: @farleftkyle / Twitter Even with all the proof and research that shows that wearing a mask can actually help prevent the transmission of the Coronavirus, millions of Americans still refuse to have their “rights taken away” (thanks Trump). Anti-maskers have made it a habit to meltdown whenever asked to wear a mask whenever entering certain establishments, and there are consequences. Recently one anti-masker found out the hard way that people have grown tired of the anti-mask movement and their perceived privilege when he got punched out at a diner for railing against the mask mandate of the eatery. According to Raw Story the angry would-be customer threw a tirade at a staffer after being refused service for not complying with the mask policy and told her t...
Coachella No Longer Requires Vaccine at 2022 Festival
In August, officials with Goldenvoice’s parent company AEG Presents announced that starting Oct. 1, fans attending events produced by the company would need to show proof of full vaccination to gain entry to events like Coachella and the country-music-focused Stagecoach festival, which takes place in the same location the weekend after Coachella. “We have come to the conclusion that, as a market leader, it was up to us to take a real stand on vaccination status,” said AEG Presents CEO Jay Marciano at the time. “Just a few weeks ago, we were optimistic about where our business, and country, were heading. The Delta variant, combined with vaccine hesitancy, is pushing us in the wrong direction again. We realize that some people might look at this as a dramatic step, ...
Two-Thirds of Music Fans Favor Vaccine or Mask Mandates at Concerts: Study
Implementing COVID-19 safety requirements “is the number one thing anyone can do to take care of those around them and we are encouraging as many shows as possible to adopt this model,” said Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino in a letter to staff in August. MusicWatch, which surveyed 753 active music listeners, also found that just 6% of respondents would not frequent a venue where there were COVID-19 safety requirements. Only 15% of fans said they would be comfortable with attendees using “common sense” regarding vaccination and masking requirements for indoor concerts. As general manager of Tipitina’s in New Orleans, Brian Greenberg told Billboard in August that implementing vaccine requirements for his venue was met with mixed reviews. ...
Los Angeles Will Require Full Vaccinations to Attend Indoor Concerts
With California’s COVID infection rate among the lowest rates in the country, the city of Los Angeles is taking measures to keep it that way. On Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles City Council voted on and approved a new ordinance that would require people who go to indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, shopping centers, movie theaters, and yes, concert venues, to be fully vaccinated. Customers and attendees will have to show proof of vaccination for entry. As of now, New York City and San Francisco have similar laws, which caused some problems with some NBA players. It will go into effect on November 4, pending Mayor Eric Garcetti’s signing the measure into law. If businesses don’t abide by the law, they initially face a warning before fines escalate to $1,000 for th...
Is It Safe to Go to a Show in the Age of COVID
When COVID-19 hit the United States in early 2020, it caused an unprecedented shutdown of the live music industry that continued long after most other sectors of the economy had reopened. As the vaccine rollout gained steam over the first half of 2021, and new cases and hospitalizations trended downward, music lovers began to feel like they could finally make out a smidge of light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel. Tours were booked, venues did away with capacity restrictions as local laws allowed, and a head-spinning number of festival lineups were announced. Many began to believe the worst was behind us. Then the Delta variant made itself known, and it felt like we were sliding back into the pandemic. As the weather turns colder while medical resources are stretched to the limits in...
Neumos in Seattle, in a Pandemic: Shows Are Still Canceling
How are things going for you since we last talked? We had our third break in at (my restaurant) Life on Mars. I now have an alarm. The funny thing about me not having an alarm, is that when I moved to Washington in 1991, I sold burglar alarms for three years. I know how shitty they can be with false alarms and everything, so I was like ‘I don’t want an alarm.’ But this time we had a pro job. They came in through the back door, got into the office, took our portable P.O.S. devices and multiple laptops. The other times people broke in, they didn’t get much. This time they got us bad. We’ve got insurance and all that but there is still a deductible. It’s not cheap. It is a pain the ass and I am still dealing w...
Tomorrowland Looks to Expand to Three Weekends to Recover Pandemic Losses
Wilmsen notes that it’s currently unclear how long it might take for the municipalities to evaluate this request. “We hope soon,” she says. The pandemic has dealt a series of blows to Tomorrowland, which typically hosts roughly 400,000 attendees over two weekends each summer. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Tomorrowland has been forced to cancel six festivals — four total weekends in Belgium (in 2019 and 2020) and a pair of Tomorrowland’s winter events in France. Wilmsen says that organizers never intended to expand to three weekends, but are doing so in an attempt to recoup 5 million euros ($5.8 million) in lost revenue the company experienced in 2021 and an additional 20 million euros ($23 million) in anticipated losses. Expanding to three weekends woul...
Australia’s Top Promoters Launch Contest for Concert Tickets, But You Must be Vaccinated to Apply
To be eligible, you must be over 18; be a resident of Australia; enter within the competition window (Sept. 15-Nov. 30); answer a simple question; and “be fully vaccinated under the Australian national COVID-19 vaccination program,” a statement reads. Winners will get a plus-one to see the likes of Dua Lipa, Alanis Morissette, Kiss, Lorde, David Gray, Tyler, the Creator and many others, with the concerts calendar adding dates on a daily basis. The novel campaign is an extension of #VAXTHENATION, a nationwide call-out launched earlier this month, and led by hundreds of musicians, industry leaders and businesses. It’s an initiative of the so-called LIVE Alliance, a gathering of industry stakeholders and advocates, including the Association of Artist Managers (AAM), APRA AMCOS, ARIA, Australi...
How Risky Are Concerts? We Asked an Infectious Disease Expert
Billboard spoke with Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, senior scholar at Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security and an authority on infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness, to raise these questions. Adalja, 45, is a go-to pandemic expert, sharing his views on CBS This Morning, NPR and the BBC, among many others during the past year and a half. It turns out Adalja knows his way around concerts, too: A longtime skateboarder, Adalja grew up listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Metallica and Rancid and saw the original Lollapalooza twice. “We’ll have COVID cases 20 years from now,” he says. “Then we have to come up with a way to be able to go about our lives, making risk calculations jus...
Maroon 5 Will Be First Major US Act to Perform in Canada After Border Reopening
A spokesperson for Live Nation confirmed to Billboard that Maroon 5 will be the first major U.S. act to perform in Canada since the pandemic began early last year. Vaccinated Americans and permanent residents must submit proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their arrival to Canada. The vaccinations must have been administered at least 14 days before entry. A steady stream of concerts in Canada featuring U.S.-based artists — most for dates in 2022 — have gone on sale this summer, including John Mayer, The Killers, Sebastian Maniscalco, Elton John and Sepultura. On the books from October through December of this year are shows in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver featuring Ricky Martin with Enrique Iglesias, Lemonheads, Maluma, Ge...
L.A. County Renews Mask Mandate for Outdoor ‘Mega Events’
Per L.A. County, an “outdoor mega-event” is one that hosts upwards of 10,000 people in one location. “These events are considered higher risk for COVID-19 transmission,” and the owners and operators of such events are charged with enforcing the policy. The order clarifies recommendations and states that individuals must always wear a face mask “except while eating or drinking, which is the limited time during which the mask can be removed briefly to eat or drink, after which it must be immediately put back on. Patrons, customers or guests must be seated at a table or positioned at a stationary counter, ticketed seat or place while actively eating or drinking indoors, or while actively eating or drinking at an outdoor mega event.” The news comes as the county reported on Monday that five mo...
