Touring
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Each week we’ll be sharing the most important news from the north with Canada’s top music industry stories, supplied by our colleagues at Billboard Canada.
For more Canadian music coverage visit ca.billboard.com.
Online Streaming Act hearings
For the last few weeks, a who’s who of stakeholders in Canadian music and media have been appearing before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) — from rights manager SOCAN to Spotify, Sirius XM and even UFC. The occasion is Bill C-11, a.k.a. the Online Streaming Act, which will update Canada’s Broadcasting Act for the first time in decades. The hearings will continue until Friday (Dec. 8).
It’s a major deal for the Canadian music business, whose system of CanCon requirements and public funds have built an industry that can compete — or at least not crumble — in a market dominated by American media to the south. This first round of hearings are focused on major streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube and potential regulations and monetary contributions they may have to make in order to continue operating in Canada.
“We hope that the CRTC will lean into this idea that it’s a once-in-a-generation regulatory process,” says Patrick Rogers, CEO of Music Canada, which represents the major label. “There are a lot of big questions: Who gets regulated? Who pays? How much? Who has access to the money? Now is when we’re going to figure it out.”
A worry among many is that too much financial regulation of big American tech companies could cause them to scale back their investment in Canada. Something similar recently happened with Bill C-18, in which Meta chose to block all Canadian news rather than pay for it. In Spotify’s hearing, company executives — who have an office in Toronto — said that compelled spending could affect their existing Canadian investments.
“The objective here should be: how do we build a stable, viable, resilient, equitable, middle class of artists and thriving Canadian-owned businesses and the music space that can compete globally?” says Andrew Cash, president and CEO of the Canadian Independent Music Association. READ MORE
How Quebec markets its music to the world
M for Montreal festival took place from Nov. 15-18, bringing Canadian and international visibility to Quebec music and artists. That’s an important objective in Quebec, where francophone music is marketed as much to France and globally as to the rest of Canada, which is divided by language.
According to the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles québécoises (SODEC), one of the festival’s main financial partners, M for Montreal is a significant market. “It’s an extraordinary opportunity to check the interest of foreign professionals in very particular artistic proposals whose potential is not yet known internationally,” says Élaine Dumont, general director of international affairs, exportation and marketing of Cinema at SODEC.
For her, events like M for Montreal are a fantastic way to gauge interest in Quebec musicians. “They are at home with their audience, so they can give the best of themselves, and that is precious,” says Élaine Dumont.
Similarly, SODEC supports collective presence, which means making sure Quebec artists and music industry professionals are represented at festivals worldwide. “We collaborate with M for Montreal, Mundial Montreal, FME, POP Montreal, for example, so that they send professionals internationally,” she adds. Thus, M for Montreal participates in events such as South by Southwest in Texas, Reeperbahn Festival in Germany, The New Colossus in New York and The Great Escape Festival in England.
“The festival has a good network in France, Germany, the UK, the US, and the rest of Canada,” notes programmer Mathieu Aubre. And because the French market is not approached like that of Francophone Africa, for example, SODEC, with an annual budget of over $4 million for the export of Quebec music, also offers specific support to territories. “We distribute various aids that allow us to take risks, support artists’ careers and develop audiences outside Quebec and internationally,” says Dumont. READ MORE
Diljit Dosanjh to play the biggest Punjabi concert outside of India
Diljit Dosanjh is set to make history next year with a just-announced performance at Vancouver’s BC Place on April 27, 2024 — the country’s first-ever Punjabi stadium show. With a capacity of 54,500, it’s expected to be the largest ever Punjabi music performance outside of India.
The BC Place announcement caps off a banner year for Dosanjh. This summer, he became the first artist to perform a fully Punjabi set at Coachella and in September, he released his latest album, Ghost, blends smooth R&B, moody trap and laid-back pop. The album spent seven weeks on Billboard’s Canadian Albums chart, peaking at No. 5. His collaboration with Sia, “Hass Hass,” also went to No. 37 on the Canadian Hot 100.
Speaking to Billboard Canada for a cover story about the popularity of Punjabi music in Canada, talent buyer Baldeep Randhawa recalled taking a job at Live Nation with a goal of supporting South Asian music. At the time, he hinted at big things to come with Dosanjh and said he had already shown there’s a major market for Punjabi music in Canada.
“I told them I was gonna prove the concept, book a 500 cap[acity] room and eventually go bigger,” Randhawa said.
When only a couple of months later, Live Nation booked Dosanjh, Randhawa learned he could skip right over the 500 capacity rooms and book arenas. Dosanjh performed at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, then a sold-out show at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena — which has a capacity of 18,000 — in June 2022.
Dosanjh is a superstar, but he’s not the only Punjabi artist making waves in Canada. Dosanjh collaborator Ikky recently announced a headline tour visiting five Canadian provinces in February 2024. READ MORE
Last week, Billboard kicked off its 2023 year-end Boxscore coverage. Beyoncé led reported tours, Taylor Swift is poised for a record-setting finish and BLACKPINK and Karol G are helping usher in a new generation of genre diverse headliners. Plus, Boxscore breaks down the highest-grossing venues in the world, split between four capacity categories, plus a chart for stadiums.
New York City is spotlighted atop two of these lists. Madison Square Garden reigns supreme amongst venues with a capacity of 15,001 or more (excluding stadiums), while Radio City Music Hall is tops for venues with a capacity of 5,001-10,000.
For Madison Square Garden, 2023 marks its 15th year at No. 1 in its capacity category, dating back to 1999. It’s been No. 1 for six of the last seven years, after dipping to No. 2 in 2021. And for the second consecutive year, it’s the highest-grossing venue, regardless or capacity or structure. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, MSG’s 116 shows grossed $223 million and sold 1.6 million tickets between Nov. 1, 2022 and Sept. 30, 2023.
For Radio City Music Hall, it’s back at No. 1 for the first time since 2020, after Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater led in 2021-22. Over 231 shows in the tracking period, the theater earned $122 million from 1.2 million tickets.
Red Rocks remains the venue with the most tickets sold in the 5,001-10k category (1.4M), while London’s O2 Arena takes top honors for 15,001+ (2.4M).
In between, Dickies Arena (Fort Worth, Texas) completes a steady climb to its first year-end No. 1 in the 10,001-15,000 category. After opening in November 2019, the arena was No. 10 on the 2020 year-end recap, and No. 4 in 2021 and 2022. With $70.5 million, it narrowly takes the gold over Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena ($69.3M), Austin’s Moody Center ($67.8M) and Glasgow’s OVO Hydro ($67.3M).
Even newer, Las Vegas’ Resorts World Theatre claims the top spot among venues with capacity of 5,000 or less. It opened in December 2021 and remains undefeated after crowning last year’s chart. Bolstered by residencies by Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Carrie Underwood, the theater hosted 90 shows and grossed $45.3 million.
Finally, the Top Stadiums chart is led by SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif., outside Los Angeles. Like Dickies, it’s a relatively new building, after launching in September 2020. This year marks a return to the top, after leading in 2021 and sitting at No. 2 last year behind Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The venue reported 19 shows that collectively earned $175.1 million and sold more than 1 million tickets.
The numbers are in for the first leg of Madonna’s The Celebration Tour. According to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore, the European leg grossed $77.5 million and sold 429,000 tickets.
In January, Madonna announced The Celebration Tour, slated to honor the biggest hits of her legendary career. After a medical emergency forced a postponement of the first batch of North American dates, she launched the trek on Oct. 14 at London’s O2 Arena.
Over four shows that week, Madonna earned $14.7 million and sold 60,000 tickets, only to return to the O2 for the leg’s final two shows on Dec. 5-6, which added another $7.5 million and 31,000 tickets. Since returning from the pandemic, only Elton John and Queen + Adam Lambert have amassed bigger totals at the O2, and they did it with nine and 10 shows, respectively. When Madonna last played the O2, it was just two nights in 2015, compared to this year’s six.
In between, Madonna stopped in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and more, for a total of 27 shows across 11 European markets. Four nights at Paris’ Accor Arena provided the tour’s other eight-figure gross, bringing in $10.7 million from 62,000 tickets on Nov. 12-13 and 19-20.
Madonna’s European totals average out to $2.9 million and 15,900 tickets per night on a $180.53 ticket. Compared to the theater-residency run of her last tour, the Madame X Tour (2019-20), she’s up by 312% in nightly earnings and by 518% in average attendance.
On more level footing with the European leg from the Rebel Heart Tour from 2015-16, Madonna’s last arena tour, her 2023 shows are still up – by 9% in attendance, sold out on every show, and by 70% in average gross, thanks in large part to bulked up ticket pricing.
Immediate demand for The Celebration Tour expanded Madonna’s initial routing of 12 shows in Europe to 27. Likewise, the first batch of 26 shows in the U.S. and Canada has swelled to 47. She kicks off the North American leg on Wednesday (Dec. 13) at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. After a handful of shows this month, she’s back for the rest in 2024, playing through April 15 in Austin, plus five shows from April 20-26 at Mexico City’s Foro Sol.
Looking at the relationship between Madonna’s European shows and stateside shows on the Rebel Heart Tour, Billboard expects the U.S. and Canadian leg to earn about $150 million from 650,000 tickets.
With the handful of Mexico shows to follow, the current routing for The Celebration Tour is headed toward a total haul of $240-245 million and 1.1-1.2 million tickets over 79 shows. That would situate it behind stadium runs on the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008-09; $407.7 million) and The MDMA Tour (2012; $305.2 million), but ahead of arena treks the Confessions Tour (2006; $194.8 million) and the Rebel Heart Tour (2015-16; $169.8 million).
Last week, Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues, and promoters of 2023. That coverage included analysis of the new wave of genre diverse artists crashing stadium stages, and in turn, our charts. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Today, we continue with rock. […]
Live Nation has expanded its partnership with SoLa Impact’s SoLa Foundation, funding a major investment in SoLa’s second state-of-the-art youth center in L.A. and a program that will provide fully subsidized educational and workforce training opportunities in music and technology.
The touring giant has agreed to finance the completion of the new campus, which will be named SoLa Tech and Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation. Opening in early 2025, the new 8,500-square-foot technology and entertainment center will be located on the ground floor of the “Crenshaw Lofts,” SoLa Impact’s new 195-unit workforce and affordable housing development located near Crenshaw and Leimert Blvds.
The center will host the 18-week Live Nation Next Gen Program, which offers paid apprenticeships for historically excluded youth (ages 16-21) from South L.A. The program helps students explore entertainment and production careers and learn directly from Live Nation staff and executives about various aspects of live entertainment — from booking to marketing to operations and more. The program, which will work in partnership with Live Nation’s School of Live, will culminate with the group promoting, ticketing and producing a community concert.
“We are incredibly inspired and encouraged by Live Nation’s continued partnership and their commitment to diversity and inclusion in the live music industry and beyond,” said Sherri Francois, SoLa Impact’s chief impact officer and executive director of the SoLa Foundation. “This is another amazing example of the power of mission-aligned corporate and nonprofit partners working together with focus and determination to solve seemingly intractable challenges.”
The new SoLa Tech and Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation will service more than 1,000 students annually, with a long-term goal to close the socio-economic access gap for careers in the entertainment, science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) fields. Within the music sector, students will also be trained in the business and technology of the live entertainment industry, audio engineering and recording, coding, 3D modeling and animation, graphic design, digital content creation, entrepreneurship, and practical life and career skills. The center will also be a space for cultural, economic and civic events for the wider community.
“Live music isn’t a standard part of most schools and colleges, even though it continues to be a growing industry,” added Michael Rapino, president/CEO of Live Nation Entertainment. “By partnering together with SoLa, kids learn the business of music and we help them get first-hand experience, which unlocks a whole new world of careers, which has been incredible to be part of.”
SoLa Tech and Entertainment Center Powered by Live Nation, set to open in early 2025 in South LA.
Courtesy Live Nation
Last week, Billboard revealed its year-end Boxscore charts, ranking the top tours, venues and promoters of 2023. That coverage included analysis of the new wave of genre diverse artists crashing stadium stages and in turn, our charts. This week, we are breaking down the year’s biggest tours, genre by genre. Here, we continue with R&B.
R&B has some humongous contemporary stars – Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Usher and more – but in the last decade, it’s been too reliant on those stars to keep it afloat. The graph below shows how the genre has experienced severe spikes and drops, often victim to the scheduling whims of a small group of headliners.
In 2016, when Beyoncé mounted The Formation World Tour, R&B spiked from 3.5% of the overall top 100 gross, to 8%. But in 2019, after Bruno Mars wrapped his globe-conquering 24K Magic Tour, its share plummeted from 11.5% to 2.7%.
In 2023, R&B is hitting from all sides. The established superstars named above – Beyoncé, Bruno Mars, Usher – were all active, joining forces with next-gen headliners such as SZA and The Weeknd. More than that, Lionel Richie, New Edition and others are harnessing their legacies to build the next phase of their touring careers. All of that builds to the genre’s biggest share of the top 100 tours, dating back more than a decade.
That mix of classic artists and ascendant stars bodes well for the genre, even when its biggest icons are off cycle.
Keep reading to check out the top 10 highest grossing tours by R&B artists, according to figures reported to Billboard Boxscore. All reported shows worldwide between Nov. 1, 2022 – Sept. 30, 2023, are eligible. Here, we define R&B acts as artists who have recently featured on Billboard’s Top R&B Albums or Hot R&B Songs charts.
Lionel Richie
Image Credit: Adam Bettcher/Getty Images
Executive promotions are inevitably announced with press releases. Francesca Bodie‘s elevation to the newly created position of COO for the venue development, management and investment company Oak View Group (OVG), also comes with the announcement of two significant deals she led for the company founded by her father, OVG CEO Tim Leiweke and music’s multisector entrepreneur Irving Azoff.
Bodie, who served as OVG’s president of business development prior to her promotion, engineered the company’s strategic investment in Family Entertainment Holdings, the company behind the popular live franchises, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live, which is tied to the classic toy brand, and Magic of Lights, an all-ages holiday light show. OVG also unveiled activations with premium wine and spirits brand, Christian Navarro — including The NINETEEN 62 Club, a luxe lounge at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena and premium concession kiosks at four OVG facilities — the first offshoots of a venture with Navarro that Bodie also spearheaded.
Bodie’s new role will increase from capital development, mergers, and acquisitions to a focus on new revenue streams including overseeing all day-to-day operations for OVG globally, as well as leading OVG’s executive committee of highly diverse and accomplished executives into this next stage of growth.
According to the company, Bodie, a graduate of Stanford University who has worked in the facilities business since high school “when I helped load-in the Ringling Brothers Circus at STAPLES Center,” has raised more than $12-billion of invested capital for seven venues that OVG built and opened in the last 18 months, including the $1-billion-plus makeover for the redevelopment of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, New York’s $1.5 billion UBS Arena, the $375 million Moody Center in Austin, Texas; the $300 million Acrisure Arena in Palm Springs, Calif.; and the $200 million CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore.
In an exclusive interview with Billboard, Bodie says that after OVG’s year-and-a-half growth surge, her father — who she refers to as “Tim” — identified a need for processes and communication. So, this position is about building depth and organizational structure, and to put processes in place for [OVG360 CEO] Chris Granger to grow his company.
Bodie, who is the mother of two sons, 8 and 4, says her new role “will also allow me to strengthen our international platform, which is going to be a huge focus for us these next few years.”
In an interview with Billboard earlier this year, Tim also said that international was a big part of OVG’s future.
I am very excited about it. The seeds that we planted even during COVID are just now showing fruition and growth. April 19 is the big opening for Coop Arena [in Manchester, England], which is the first facility we are opening internationally. It’s the largest arena in the United Kingdom, with the largest private investment in any facility in the U.K. It is going to change touring in Western Europe. That’s going to be the start of our domino effect. Our strategy has always been that we have to be in the most influential capital markets in the world. São Paulo, Brazil is under construction; Madrid is in our pipeline as is Vienna, after we won the bid against pretty tough competition. Once we make that private investment — and we have strong local partners in each of those markets — we’re going to expand our service business in coordination. Taylor Swift’s tour has shown that fans are traveling internationally, but the overseas markets don’t have the facilities that we have here. Acts are still playing in buildings that were built many decades ago. So, for us there’s a huge opportunity for the private sector to come in and create what the fans expect — which is acoustically perfect sound, huge amenities, a huge focus on premium hospitality, and then giving the artist a platform to play in an optimal environment, including taking care of them from a safety perspective as well as a sustainability perspective.
Coop City is the first carbon neutral arena in the United Kingdom?
The first ever in Europe. In my new role, I’m going to be a huge advocate and partner of Chris in our GOAL [Green Operations and Advanced Leadership] initiative as well as our sustainable design. LEED certification is really just about how you design the building. Where we as an industry make the most impact on facilities is operations. Not every facility is going to be able to get to carbon neutrality, but everyone can move the needle in a better way. We track water, waste and energy usage, among other metrics, and if we can improve those markers every year, that is a good thing for our environment. Now, every building that we have [owned-and-operated facilities as well as venues OVG manages or where it handles food-and-beverage service] will be on the GOAL platform, which is in partnership with AWS (Amazon Web Services). Any facility with a mass gathering can join GOAL. We come in and measure every usage group that a facility has: water, air quality. sanitization around COVID, food waste, and obviously, carbon and energy is a huge portion of it. We take into account a facility’s age and determine what should be expected of the venue. Then we give them tools that identify areas that, operationally, they can drive better usage the next year.
In that same Billboard interview, Tim said that one day you are going to step into the CEO role. Your promotion to COO seems like the first step in a succession plan. Is there a timetable?
I can’t make that assumption. I will say this. Tim has never been more passionate about the industry or in better shape. I have worked with him officially since 2008, unofficially since 2004, and this is the most energetic and enthused he has ever been in his professional career. OVG hasn’t even hit the halfway mark. We’re going to double in value here in the next three to five years.
So, he hasn’t discussed this with you?
If that’s his plan he hasn’t shared it with me. He always says, “Earn your keep,” so he’s instilled a work ethic in me that I’m very grateful for, but our story is about depth right now. We made two critical hires with Chris Granger joining us — his vision around data and team-building is spectacular for that growth — and Ade Patton, a Fortune 500 CFO.
Can you put a number on the plan to double OVG’s value?
Tim’s goal is a $10 billion company and I’ll leave it at that.
What’s your perspective on the dearth of women in music industry C-suites?
I feel fortunate because there’s no gray area for Tim on this, and it’s not because he has a daughter. It’s just how he is. We have 50-50 representation on our executive committee. There are two women and four men on our board, and we all have equal votes. It’s very important to Tim to get voices and opinions from diverse backgrounds. I don’t want to dirt anyone, but I don’t see that call to action at Legends and ASM Global – and I worked at AEG and MLSE [Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment] —that enables the upward trajectory we have here. I’m also fortunate because [Azoff Company co-presidents] Beth Collins who’s been a great friend of mine and is also fellow board member, and Susan Genco, as well as the folks at Azoff have been incredible. Irving is a cofounder [of OVG] and I’ve known him since I was in seventh grade. It’s a shared culture system between Tim and Irving where they have strong women around them and they empower them in a way that is unique in the business.
How does your management style differ from the CEO?
Tim is a visionary. His thing is, Why not? Why can’t we do this? We are entrepreneurs. He also says, “We are not afraid.” We don’t make fear-based decisions. We stay focused. This promotion is an opportunity for me is to keep us focused as we expand. We have a tremendous appetite for additional M&A. That’s one of the reasons why we are very bullish on Family Entertainment Holdings. You are going to see our company triple down on content and make sure that our facilities have the best opportunities to diversify content. If existing facilities or new markets make sense and hit our return threshold, we are in that game of growth. And Chris Granger would echo me on the 360 side. They won 30 out of 33 bids last year, and they are on a rocket ship to diversification.
How does AEG’s sale of ASM Global to Legends affect your business?
We always anticipated there would be two [players in the facilities sector]. It doesn’t change where we’re investing capital or what our mission statement is. We have more entrepreneurial spirit when it comes to looking at partnerships and alignment. As for Legends, anybody who has dealt with the Feds recently knows that they will have to go through an approval process, just as we did with Spectra [the venue management and hospitality provider that OVG Facilities merged with in 2021 to create OVG360.]. I think they have their work cut out for them on the NFL side. That said, I have a tremendous amount of respect for that team. Shervin. [Mirhashemi, the CEO of Legends] was at my wedding and so was [AEG president/CEO] Dan Beckerman. I wish them the best, but I don’t think about them very much to be honest with you. None of us do.
Can you elaborate on the challenge Legends faces regarding the NFL?
If you look at Legends’ role in the last bit of NFL stadiums that have come up for service bids, project management or premium or sponsorship, they have the lion’s share of them, which would seem to put customers at a disadvantage when one company will have that much market share of NFL stadiums for F&B, premium/sponsorship sales and operations.”
Have you done any new deals in the last six months that you can talk about?
We’ve done a few that will be announced in the new year that will expand our portfolio in a meaningful way in London. We are very focused on growth there. We have relationships and deals from the arena perspective both in Cardiff, in partnership with Live Nation, and in Bristol which is a great sister market to Coop. You’re going to see us continue to be very aggressive in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the surrounding regions because there isn’t a tremendous amount of density there. From a service add perspective, we’re going to be aggressively growing our executive team and actively bidding on food and beverage and facility management.
You are spearheading OVG’s Las Vegas development. There are so many venues there. How are you going to make this one different?
Vegas is this anomaly where there’s never a glass ceiling to what it can be. Look at the Wynn. It’s the most profitable hotel on the strip and it has been for decades. And every time someone tries to match it, the Wynn raises the bar a notch. T-Mobile Arena was the last facility Tim built before he left [as president/CEO of AEG]. That building is 10 years old, and, no disrespect, it’s great for [Las Vegas’ NHL hockey team] the Golden Knights. But what we see is the need to set a new bar on touring, and that venue needs to speak to what is best in class today.
Singer, songwriter and dancer Victoria Monét gives Billboard a full behind-the-scenes look at her The Jaguar Tour, being a mother on the road, getting her first solo Billboard Hot 100 placement, love for Ciara and more!Victoria Monét:Are you hearing that?
Cameraman:Yeah, let’s hold for one second.
Victoria Monét:I can’t get no quiet around here because we’re on tour.
What’s up? It’s Victoria Monét, and this is my tour stop in New York City. And this is where I’m at the stage right down there in a little bit, so see you there!
It’s my very first tour, headlining ever. I’m doing a combination of songs from Jaguar I and Jaguar II. So you get, like, kind of two of my projects in one tour. It’s just really awesome. I’m excited to be doing this.
If I had to pick my favorite songs to perform from ‘Jaguar I and II, I think I would bookend it. My show starts with “Moment,” which is from Jaguar I, and it’s always exciting to see the crowd for the very first time. Everyone’s just, like, super in tune, all the phones are out, so that’s always really exciting. And then the finale is really fun. I do a song from Jaguar II called “On My Mama.” There’s a lot of energy surrounding it — it’s on the radio right now, so it feels very current.
The dance from the music video is somewhat viral, so I can see people doing it in the audience, so that always makes it more, like, an interactive part of the show, which feels really fun to do.
To see “On My Mama” become my first solo Hot 100 entry is really insane. I’ve been writing for so long and I’ve seen glimpses of it for my pen, but not for me as an artist, so it’s really, like, a whole new light for me. I’m super excited. I’m really grateful. I know how much it takes to get an accolade now. So I’m just thankful for everyone who is behind the scenes pushing it, every person at radio, everybody who’s streaming it and sharing with their friends and just making it go and do what it’s doing. I just have a really good understanding of what it takes to be anywhere near Hot 100. So I’m very, very thankful.
And now we are headed to talk to the GRAMMY U students!Watch the full video above!
AEG Presents is the latest music-related company to announce a move to the Nashville mixed-use district Nashville Yards, which is being co-developed by AEG and Southwest Value Partners.
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AEG Presents will relocate its regional office to Nashville Yards in 2025. The company’s new location will be comprised of the company’s regional office, members of its global touring division and the Nashville outpost of AEG Presents partner Messina Touring Group. Combined, these three entities oversee everything from bookings at intimate clubs to stadium tour dates, having promoted tours for artists including Kelsea Ballerini, Zach Bryan, Kenny Chesney, Eric Church and more.
AEG will also book and operate the upcoming 4,500-capacity music venue that’s slated to open in Nashville Yards in 2025.
Rick Mueller, president of AEG Presents North America, said in a statement: “We’ve been hyper-focused on expanding our presence in Nashville for a few years now. It’s a big opportunity for us to be consolidating all our operations under one roof at what’s soon to be one of the most popular destinations in the city, and to be booking and operating a new, state-of-the-art music venue on-site makes it that much more exciting.”
“We have an exceptional partnership with AEG, and together we believe we are constructing one of the most uniquely attractive music, retail and creative workplace environments in the world,” added Cary Mack, managing partner of Southwest Value Partners. “Independent of that, AEG Presents is a preeminent entertainment brand and operator of world class entertainment venues, and we are very excited to have their extended presence at Nashville Yards.”
In November, booking agency CAA announced that its Nashville office will also relocate to Nashville Yards in 2025. Upon completion, the 19-acre mixed-used development will feature pedestrian pathways, open green spaces, plazas and Class A+ office, residential, hospitality, entertainment, retail and culinary offerings.
Nonprofit organization Live Music Society is continuing its efforts to support small venues and listening rooms across the country. Today, the organization announced more than $200,000 in additional grants distributed to 31 independent venues, which brings its annual granted funds to over $800,000 so far.
The so-called Toolbox grants are designed for uses including regulatory compliance, enhanced accessibility and upgrading crucial systems such as ticketing and sales. This month’s recipients include xBk in Des Moines, Iowa, which will be installing a portable wheelchair ramp and ADA-compliant stage to better serve artists with disabilities; and The Hideout in Chicago, which will be hiring a social media consultant to improve its understanding of audience metrics and social media management systems and marketing practices. Another recipient, Moe’s Alley in Santa Cruz, Calif., will be installing a large flatscreen behind the stage to serve bands with visual elements in a space that cannot accommodate projection.
“These grants go beyond just supporting performance spaces; they foster a vibrant community where venues exchange knowledge, evolve together, and weave a richer cultural tapestry for our nation,” said Live Music Society founder Pete Muller in a release. “This expansion isn’t just about financial assistance; it’s about helping to create an ecosystem where artists and audiences flourish hand in hand.”
Additional venues assisted by this month’s grants include Alex’s Bar, Roots Music Project, Jalopy Theatre, One Longfellow Square, 20 Front Street, Beat Kitchen, Belltown Yacht Club, Cafe Colonial, Casbah, Drkmttr, Floyd Country Store, Hoosier Dome, La Peña Cultural Center, Moe’s Alley, Natalie’s Grandview, Next Stage Arts, New Deal Café, No Class, Opolis, PAUSA art house, Portland House of Music, Rambling House Music Bar, Real Art Tacoma, ShapeShifter Lab, The Egremont Barn, The Goodfoot, The Hideout, The Lost Church, The Parlor Room and The Venue.
“Small venues are the heartbeat of musical growth — they’re where artists learn, make mistakes, and connect with communities,” added Live Music Society board member and singer/activist Nona Hendryx. “Our commitment lies in supporting these venues and understanding that they’re vital launchpads for artists, where songs transform from garage or bedroom creations to stage sensations. Without them, stepping stones in the artist’s journey are missing.”
Live Music Society has continued to expand its programming since its inception in 2020 in response to mass gathering bans that impacted music venues during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in 2023, it provided $100,000 in Toolbox grants and an additional $500,000 for its Music in Action initiative, which helps venues develop and implement creative ideas to engage their communities, expand audiences and generate new revenue sources.