LONDON — This summer could see the return of live gigs, packed nightclubs and outdoor music festivals in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday (Feb. 22), provided COVID-19 infection rates continue to fall and there is no let-up in the U.K.’s vaccination program.

Unveiling a four-step plan to ease England out of lockdown, the prime minister said Monday that limited capacity indoor music shows will be permitted from May 17 onwards — if a number of health provisions are met, including capacity restrictions and social distancing.

The U.K. is the first major music market in Europe to unveil a roadmap for its live sector to return to operation sometime this year. Like most countries around the world, the U.K.’s live industry ground to a halt last March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and it has remained mothballed ever since. On Jan. 6, the country went into lockdown for a third time.

Under the new guidelines, promoters must set audience sizes at a maximum of 1,000 people or 50% of a venue’s capacity (whichever is lower) for select indoor events with up to 4,000 people, or 50% capacity for outdoor events. Large outdoor seated venues where crowds can be safely distributed will be allowed up to 10,000 people or 25% of total seated capacity.

The prime minister said the government could lift all social distancing restrictions in the U.K. from June 21, meaning the return of full-capacity concerts and outdoor shows, as well as the reopening of nightclubs and bars.

For that to happen, four key conditions around vaccinations, infection rates, hospital admissions and new variants of coronavirus need to be met, Johnson said.

He said the four-step proposals, which include the reopening of schools on March 8 and the reopening of shops and outdoor hospitality on April 12, were intended to be “cautious but irreversible” and would be led by “data, not dates.”

Reaction in the U.K. live industry was mixed. Executives welcomed some long-awaited clarity over when they are likely to be able to open again, but called for greater financial support to help businesses, crew members and technicians to survive until then.

Greg Parmley, CEO of newly formed U.K. music trade body LIVE, said the sector had “as predicted” been left “at the back of the queue to reopen.”

According to LIVE, the sector contributed £4.5 billion ($6.3 billion) to the U.K. economy in 2019 and supports 210,000 workers. It estimates revenues dropped by 81% last year.

“Any return to normality for live music could be months behind the rest of the economy,” Parmley said. He called for the establishment of a government-backed insurance scheme covering live shows, similar to what officials have introduced in Germany and Austria, to help mitigate risk for promoters, artists and venues.

David Martin, CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, said the prime minister’s statement “offers some green shoots of hope for live music” but cautioned “there is some way to go before we return to pre-pandemic levels of activity.”

Similar hopes have been raised before, both in the U.K. and across Europe, only to quickly fade away. In July, a number of socially distanced pilot shows by artists like Frank Turner and Beverly Knight were held in London to explore how live music could safely return. Those plans were put on hold when infection rates and deaths began to rapidly rise across the U.K., resulting in local and national lockdowns.

Last fall, other major touring markets in Europe, including Germany, France and Spain, abandoned plans to return to live entertainment following a spike in COVID-19 cases. Among the casualties was a 12,000-capacity Live Nation-promoted “Return to Live” concert in Düsseldorf headlined by Bryan Adams, scheduled for Sept. 4.

The recent cancellation of the Glastonbury festival for a second year running deepened fears that live music would once again be off limits in 2021. But the success of the U.K.’s vaccination program has produced cautious optimism the sector can bounce back in the second half of the year.

To date, health officials have administered more than 17 million vaccination doses in the U.K. (about one-quarter of the population), with the government planning to offer the vaccine to everyone over the age of 18 by the end of July. The U.K. has the third-highest vaccination rate of any country in the world, behind only Israel and UAE.

“Live music events could be the shot in the arm that Britain needs as we look to bounce back from this pandemic,” said UK Music chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, welcoming the prime minister’s announcement.

Boosted by news from Spotify’s global Stream On event Monday (Feb. 22), the company’s share price reached an all-time high of $387.44 at midday. During the presentation, CEO Daniel Ek and a host of executives announced plans to launch in 80 new markets; upcoming podcasts from Barack and Michele Obama’s production company, Higher Ground; new tools for do-it-yourself podcasters; and a high-definition audio tier to match existing offerings from Amazon, Qobuz, Tidal and Deeper.

Remarkably, Spotify’s enterprise value hit $72 billion, twice the €30 billion ($36.5 billion) value of Universal Music Group, Spotify’s largest music supplier. But investors’ initial enthusiasm faded away as Spotify’s share price dipped into negative territory just three hours later and ended the day down 4% from the opening price at $349.91. For all of Spotify’s hard work, the realities of running a streaming audio company are unavoidable: Margins are slim and competition is strong.

Since 2019, podcasts have been central to Spotify’s growth strategy and goal of improving the company’s margins. Original and exclusive content not only attract listeners but can help ease pressure from rigid music licensing costs. On that front, Spotify’s spending matches its ambition. Most notably, Spotify paid $100 million to exclusively license The Joe Rogan Podcast, a consistent top podcast since its arrival on the platform in December. Other deals show Spotify is looking beyond celebrity podcasters to attract smaller creators. Megaphone, acquired in November, inserts audio advertisements into podcasts. New self-serve tools for Anchor, the podcast app it purchased in 2019, as well as new monetization options announced Monday, could also attract “long tail” podcasters and, eventually, more advertisers.

Not everybody is buying the growth strategy — at least not at current valuations. Credit Suisse analyst Brian Russo pegs Spotify’s value at just $315 per share and expects “disappointing” subscriber additions in 2021. But other analysts see opportunity ahead. Stifel’s John Egbert, with a price target of $360, sees benefits from geographic expansion and expected price hikes in select markets. Morgan Stanley’s Benjamin Swinburne, who puts the stock’s value at $350, likes Spotify’s expansion potential and leadership in audio streaming.

For its part, 12-year-old Spotify argues the streaming audio business is still in its early stages and that growth, not profits, should be its focus. Its subscribers grew to 155 million at the end of 2020, and it expects to finish 2021 with 172 million to 194 million. “We’re committed to building the world’s leading audio platform,” said Dawn Ostroff, Spotify’s chief content officer and advertising business officer, during Monday’s event. Aside from purely advertising impacts, the combination of spoken word with music may increase listening time and reduce churn, a particularly nefarious problem for subscription services because acquiring new customers increases sales and marketing expenses.

An expanding footprint will also help Spotify grow beyond its core European and North American markets. An additional 80 markets — in unnamed countries in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean — will increase Spotify’s addressable market “to more than a billion people … with nearly half of them already using the internet,” said Ek. It is already available in most of Asia’s most populous countries, such as India and Indonesia, as well as Japan, the world’s second-largest music market. Africa is full of opportunity, although its countries’ average revenue per user will be less than the U.S. or European countries. Still, breaking into markets such as Nigeria (population 201 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (90 million) and Kenya (population 53 million) can amount to big paydays for streaming services.

DaBaby has no beef with JoJo Siwa.

The rapper’s “Beatbox” freestyle, with a line name-dropping the Dance Moms alum, raised some questions over the weekend — but it turns out DaBaby was just using her name in a play on words.

“N—-, you a b—-/ JoJo Siwa, b—-/ She let the wrong n—- get rich,” DaBaby rhymes on the track. In the “Beatbox” video, he holds up a photo of a smiling Siwa.

Some fans had guessed why DaBaby dropped the Siwa line, while others apparently took it as an insult to the 17-year-old, one that seemingly came out of nowhere and had both stars’ names trending on Twitter and Google.

After having a laugh — “I love Twitter bruh,” he tweeted — DaBaby cleared the air on Sunday (Feb. 21).

“my 3 year old princess is your number 1 fan. I bought her every product you have out. She think she you,” DaBaby tweeted to Siwa. “Don’t let em trick you into thinking id ever have a problem with you. My word play just went over their heads.”

“All love on my end shawty, Keep shinning!” DaBaby wrote.

And in reply to a joke he spotted on Twitter, he said, “I don’t ‘Siwa’ they so mad either bae.”

On his Instagram Stories, DaBaby added, “Y’all MFs sick lol. Y’all ok w/ that child being tricked into thinking I got a problem with her, WE F— WIT YOU JOJO.”

See DaBaby’s reaction to the chatter about his JoJo Siwa lyric in the tweets below and on Instagram.