The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented financial crisis for the live music business, leading to record job loss within the live music industry, according to recent data compiled by Billboard from state and federal databases. Approximately 75,000 to 100,000 full time concert employees working for North American venues, concert promoters, agencies, ticketing companies, touring crews and support positions have either been furloughed or laid off since the global halt to touring began in mid-March.

Many of those layoffs came from the biggest companies in live entertainment — Live Nation, AEG, Paradigm, Ticketmaster, Eventbrite, Cirque du Soleil, Feld Entertainment, MGM, Red Light Management and Madison Square Garden — which have enacted deep cuts as a result of the global shutdown.

One company, however, has not only avoided layoffs completely but actually hired more than 50 executives in the last two months to assist with a growing portfolio of venues and development initiatives. The Oak View Group, founded by former AEG chief executive Tim Leiweke, has been a quiet but persistent force for prosperity and economic development during the pandemic. Launched in 2015 along with Leiweke’s partner Irving Azoff, OVG is overseeing $4.5 billion in arena development projects across the world, including in Austin, Texas. There, the company made its most recent high profile hire, announcing that Casey Sparks, who previously managed the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma for ASM Global for six years, was joining the company. Sparks will serve as vp of OVG Austin and assistant general manager of the $338 million multi-purpose, state-of-the-art, privately financed Moody Center at the University of Texas, set to open in 2022.

Sparks joins former BOK Center alum Jeff Nickler, who was hired at OVG in 2019 to manage the company’s 29-member Arena Alliance and last month was appointed GM of the Moody Center and senior vp of OVG Austin (he’ll also continue to lead the Arena Alliance).

“Tulsa has been near and dear to my heart for many, many years,” Sparks tells Billboard. “Developing a live music market in a city that didn’t have one previously was incredible. And now joining OVG, I’m attracted to the commitment Tim has made to taking care of his employees and taking care of the communities we represent. I have many great friends at OVG who have been telling me I’d notice the difference in the company culture and it’s really impressed me in the short time that I’ve been here.”

Part of  OVG’s success is due to its strategic investors, including Silver Lake Partners. It’s also been lucky that most of the company’s major projects are expected to open after a vaccine for COVID-19 has been widely distributed. But much of the credit belongs to Leiweke, who is both a gifted mega-manager and a music and sports insider.

While many titans of industry have tried to disrupt the live music space by focusing on perceived inefficiencies, Leiweke has doubled down on personal relationships and the premium value of an artist’s content. That’s led him to seek out unique stakeholders for OVG projects, including recruiting Harry Styles as an investor and key supporter of a new OVG-backed arena in Manchester, England, and bringing in University of Texas superstar alum Matthew McConaughey to serve as the Moody Center’s “Minister of Culture,” where he will represent the best of Longhorns alumni’s potential and “Don’t Mess With Texas” charm.

“We’re already building the organization and when all is said and done,  we’ll have  60 to 65 full-time employees,” explains Nickler, who relocated to Austin with his family in March. Nickler has stayed busy in Texas, where OVG represents three facilities in the Arena Alliance — Toyota Center in Houston, American Airlines Center in Dallas and the ATT Center in San Antonio, Texas — and has a concert booking agreement at the Texas Ranger’s Globe Life Field, which opened in July and served as a “bubble venue” for Major League Baseball’s National League playoffs and the World Series.

OVG is also developing Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena (opens Oct. 2021), which replaces the former Key Arena and will be the future home of the Seattle Kraken NHL team; a new arena (late 2022) in Southern California’s Coachella Valley that will serve as the home venue for a Seattle Kraken minor league team; the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York (Oct. 2021) that will serve as a home to the New York Islanders; and new arena projects in Savannah, Georgia (early 2022) and Manchester’s Co-Op Live (2023).

In every project, OVG looks for under-developed markets with pent-up demand for live entertainment, Nickler says.

“It’s an incredible opportunity — Austin does not have a world-class arena and the expectation is that the Moody Center will be one of the finest concert venues in the country,” says Nickler. “It is obvious from looking at the data that a lot of major concert tours have skipped Austin and we believe that not only with the allure of playing in Austin, but with the relationships OVG has with Irving Azoff, his management company and Live Nation, this is going to be a top notch opportunity for touring shows and the Austin community.”

Kelly Clarkson’s 2013 Christmas carol “Underneath the Tree” climbs back up the Billboard Hot 100 ahead of the holiday at No. 30 this week (dated Dec. 12).

The holiday hit comes from Clarkson’s first Christmas album, Wrapped in Red, and expresses gratitude for the best present one can find (especially in 2020) underneath the tree, which is companionship.

Check out the lyrics and music video below.

You’re here where you should be
Snow is falling as the carolers sing
It just wasn’t the same
Alone on Christmas day
Presents, what a beautiful sight
Don’t mean a thing if you ain’t holding me tight
You’re all that I need
Underneath the tree
Tonight

I’m gonna hold you close
Make sure that you know
I was lost before you
Christmas was cold and grey
Another holiday alone to celebrate
But then, one day, everything changed
You’re all I need
Underneath the tree

You’re here where you should be
Snow is falling as the carolers sing
It just wasn’t the same
Alone on Christmas day
Presents, what a beautiful sight
Don’t mean a thing if you ain’t holding me tight
You’re all that I need
Underneath the tree

I found, what I was looking for
A love that’s meant for me
A heart that’s mine completely
Knocked me right off my feet
And this year I will fall
With no worries at all
‘Cause you are near and everything’s clear
You’re all I need
Underneath the tree

You’re here where you should be
Snow is falling as the carolers sing
It just wasn’t the same
Alone on Christmas day
Presents, what a beautiful sight
Don’t mean a thing if you ain’t holding me tight
You’re all that I need
Underneath the tree

And then, one day, everything changed
You’re all I need
Underneath the tree

You’re here where you should be
Snow is falling as the carolers sing (oh, yeah, yeah)
It just wasn’t the same (oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Alone on Christmas day
Presents, what a beautiful sight (oh, you’re all I need)
Don’t mean a thing if you ain’t holding me tight (underneath the tree)
You’re all that I need (underneath the tree, yeah)
Underneath the tree
Tonight
Oh, you’re all I need
Underneath, underneath the tree, oh

Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Written by: Gregory Kurstin, Kelly Clarkson

According to the latest Saturday Night Live promos, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band have joined the comedy show’s cast. “Can I play Dr. Fauci?” Stevie “Little Steven” Van Zandt volunteers from the back row.

OK, so probably not, but the New Jersey rockers are the musical guests on this weekend’s episode, hosted by Timothee Chalamet.

Speaking of the actor, the promos also feature SNL castmember Cecily Strong roping him into re-creating the title moment from his breakout 2017 movie Call Me by Your Name, in which Chalamet’s Elio and Armie Hammer’s Oliver romantically swap monikers. But it’s not exactly intimate when you’re surrounded by the full E Street Band — especially when Springsteen (hilariously) breaks the mood with a terse “And I’m Bruce.”

Watch the promos below, and tune in to see the new episode Saturday night at 11:35 p.m. ET/8:35 p.m. PT on NBC.

The “Midnight Sky” is the road Miley Cyrus is taking, as inspired by Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen,” for the lead single from her seventh album Plastic Hearts, which crowned Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart this week (dated Dec. 12).

In an interview on SiriusXM’s “The Morning Mash-Up” this summer, Cyrus explained the lyric “forever and ever, no more.” “I think it’s my relationship with the stigma,” she explained, noting that if your “forever” doesn’t work out then some people consider you a failure.

“And I just don’t think that. I think we’re kind of set up for devastation — in that, from the time we’re little kids, we’re taught to claim other humans as our best friends forever. And you just don’t know who you’re going to be sitting with here right now,” she continued. “You never know who you’re going to evolve to be and who they’re going to evolve to be. So I think that we, especially as women in relationships, a lot of the time we can get villainized when ‘forever’ doesn’t happen.”

Check out the lyrics and music video below.

La-la, la-la, la

Yeah, it’s been a long night and the mirror’s tellin’ me to go home (home)
But it’s been a long time since I felt this good on my own
Uh, lotta years went by with my hands tied up in your ropes
Forever and ever, no more

The midnight sky is the road I’m takin’
Head high up in the clouds
Oh

I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you (by you)
Fire in my lungs, can’t bite the devil on my tongue, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you
See my lips on her mouth, everybody’s talking now, baby
Ooh, you know it’s true, yeah
That I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you (loved by you)

La-la, la-la, la

She got her hair pulled back ’cause the sweat’s drippin’ off of her face (her face)
Said it ain’t so bad if I wanna make a couple mistakes
You should know right now that I never stay put in one place
Forever and ever, no more (no more)

The midnight sky is the road I’m takin’
Head high up in the clouds
Oh

I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you (by you)
Fire in my lungs, can’t bite the devil on my tongue, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you
See my lips on her mouth, everybody’s talking now, baby
Ooh, you know it’s true, yeah
That I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you (by you)

Oh
I don’t hide blurry eyes like you
Like you

I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you (by you)
Fire in my lungs, can’t bite the devil on my tongue, you know
I don’t need to be loved by you
See his hands on my waist, thought you’d never be replaced, baby
Ooh, you know it’s true, yeah
That I was born to run, I don’t belong to anyone, oh no
I don’t need to be loved by you, yeah

La-la, la-la, la
La-la
You know it’s true
You know it’s true
(Loved by you)

Lyrics licensed & provided by LyricFind

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Written by: Miley Cyrus, Jon Bellion, Alexandra Leah Tamposi, Louis Russell Bell, Andrew Wotman, Ilsey Juber

Rockstar Games announced Thursday (Dec. 10) that Grand Theft Auto Online will have three new radio stations, featuring more than 250 new songs to make up its largest musical update.

Julian Casablancas of The Strokes and The Voidz will host K.U.L.T. 99.1 Vespucci Beach, aka “Low Power Beach Radio,” with special appearances from Mac DeMarco, David Cross and Tony Mac. The station will exclusively premiere The Voidz’s new track “Alien Crime Lord” to the world and span selections from Joy Division, Danzig and The Velvet Underground.

Up next, UK DJ Joy Orbison is launching his own pirate radio station, Still Slipping Los Santos, on Dec. 15, which will feature a mix of house, techno, drill and drum-and-bass music.

And later this month, The Music Locker’s self-titled radio station will be the go-to spot for house, techno and disco music. Los Santos’ hottest new underground nightclub is brining the best genre-defying sets from Palms Trax and Moodymann as well as Keinemusik’s mixes.

GTA Online will also feature brand new mixes on its hit stations FlyLo FM and Worldwide FM. Grammy-nominated producer Flying Lotus has special guest appearances from Tierra Whack and new tracks from Madlib and MF Doom already cued up on FlyLo FM. Over at Worldwide FM, where New London jazz meets disco meets global music, DJ Gilles Peterson is hyping up a new, unreleased collaboration from BadBadNotGood and MF Doom and tracks from Kamasi Washington and Khruangbin.

Teyana Taylor hosted the 2020 Billboard Women in Music event on Thursday evening (Dec. 10) on her “Dirty 30” birthday — but she wasn’t the only woman being celebrated.

Even though it felt like the world stood still this year with the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor rewinded through 2020 and remembered how the female artists being honored — Dua Lipa, Jennifer Lopez, Jessie Reyez, Chloe x Halle, Dolly Parton and the 2020 Woman of the Year Cardi B — got everyone up on their feet to dance at home, protest for racial justice and head to the polls.

“Tonight’s honorees helped us look through the darkness and find the light. Their music inspired our Zoom dance parties, they used their platforms to fight a global pandemic, to fight for equality and encourage voters to make their voices heard,” Taylor proudly exclaimed in her opening speech. “They even inspired old white men to do the ‘WAP’ TikTok challenge, chile! Look, while the world was in lockdown, these women were standing up, doing what women do best: getting to the work and getting to the money.”

Below, find 11 more can’t-miss moments from the 2020 Billboard Women in Music event.


Dua Lipa kicks things off with elegant “Boys Will Be Boys” performance 

Lipa sang and dressed like a true Powerhouse, with the help of a magnificent string arrangement and a tiered tulle black ballgown. The song’s conclusion — “But girls will be women” — speaks to how much faster women have to grow up than men due to the societal double-standard. It was an all-too-fitting message on a night honoring the industry’s glass-ceiling breakers.

Sen. Bernie Sanders talks about how Dua Lipa creates new rules for a more just world  

Sen. Sanders honored the Future Nostalgia singer’s activism by nodding to her first top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hit “New Rules” while virtually presenting her with the Powerhouse Award. “She has said loudly and clearly with her actions that now is the time to fight for a better future for all. She’s fighting for young people, women, refugees, the LGBTQ community. … She’s raising her voice to command real change,” he said during his presentation. “It is clear to me that she knows the rules have to change, that it is time for new rules to create a world that works for all of us and not just the very wealthy.”

Jennifer Lopez tears up talking about how music is her “first love” while accepting Icon Award from Maluma

After her Marry Me co-star and “Pa’ Ti + Lonely” collaborator presented her with the Icon Award, Lopez got emotional while talking about her “first love”: music. “My mom used to put me on the kitchen table and there’s where she showed me how to do the booty shake and together, we’d sing the oldies or whatever was on top of the Billboard charts at the time,” she recalled fondly. “Those were my first performances.”

Jessie Reyez compares being born a woman to “being born walking uphill” in acceptance speech for American Express Impact Award 

Whether it’s bluntly speaking out about sexism in the music industry, family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border or the Black Lives Matter movement, Reyez will fearlessly grab the mic time and time again. She’s also unafraid to wear boys’ clothes or cut up curtains to make dresses because she doesn’t abide by dress codes, or any codes for that matter. “I’ve always said that being born a woman on this Earth is very much like being born walking uphill,” Reyez said while accepting the American Express Impact Award. “There are so many burdens and bags that we carry yet manage to do so with grace. … Billboard Women in Music, thank you for recognizing my uphill walk as a young woman.”

Executives of the Year Brianna Agyemang & Jamila Thomas recall how they transformed their exhaustion and passion into action 

June 2, 2020, is a day Agyemang and Thomas will never forget because they pressed pause on the multibillion-dollar music industry with #TheShowMustBePaused campaign. Both women grew weary of racial injustice seen in the streets and in the hallways of major companies, but the two kept the midnight oil burning as they drafted a list of demands. And their passion for equal opportunities for Black people continues to fuel them. “We managed to take a moment that derived from exhaustion and a passion to help and turned it into a movement with a call to action to pause,” Thomas said.

Beyoncé congratulates Rising Star Award recipients Chloe x Halle 

Beyoncé recorded a special video message for her Parkwood Entertainment darlings before they accepted the Rising Star Award presented by Honda. “Ladies, I am so, so proud of you,” she said. “You’ve done this with authenticity, with grace, with raw talent. And you managed to shine in every room you enter. And I’ll always love you.”

Chloe x Halle do it for the girls around the world during sparkling “Baby Girl” performance 

The duo sure managed to shine during their performance of “Baby Girl” from their sophomore album, Ungodly Hour, which earned the sisters a Grammy nod for best progressive R&B album. The singers began rattling off beloved attributes of women — passionate, beautiful, elegant, intelligent, capable, loving, majestic, powerful — before launching into their performance. Diamonds dotted their eyeliner and draped over their locs for what will definitely go down as a high note of the night.

Miley Cyrus honors her “fairy godmother” Dolly Parton’s legacy while presenting her with the Hitmaker Award

Cyrus couldn’t have penned a more acclamatory speech for her godmother. And the pressure might’ve felt immense, considering the 74-year-old Hitmaker has 26 No. 1 singles on Billboard’s country charts to her name, unlike any other female singer-songwriter. The Plastic Hearts star gave credit where it’s due by retelling the story about how Parton refused to let Elvis Presley record her 1974 No. 1 hit “I Will Always Love You.” “When Elvis sought to record Dolly’s ‘I Will Always Love You,’ Dolly famously said, ‘No’ — keeping control of her song that Elvis wanted half of the publishing royalties to,” Cyrus said proudly. “Slay all day, Dolly!”

Parton keeps chugging along with “9 to 5” performance  

Dolly did what Dolly does best: work till there’s no more work left to be done. She performed her 1981 No. 1 hit “9 to 5,” and she only works in style, as her jewel-fringed dress shimmered among the Christmas trees in the factory setting.

Breonna Taylor’s mother Tamika Palmer honors Cardi B for her activism regarding her daughter’s campaign for justice  

Palmer, who lost her 26-year-old daughter after she was fatally shot during a Louisville police raid in her own home on March 13, praised Cardi for being “one of Breonna’s most outspoken advocates for justice over the last nine months.” Nine months later, Cardi’s Instagram profile picture still spells out Breonna Taylor’s name.

Cardi B reminds girls “there’s hope for your dreams” while accepting Woman of the Year honor  

Billboard’s 2020 Woman of the Year proved how she sticks up for the girls following in her footsteps. While accepting the night’s biggest honor, the “WAP” rapper retraced her steps and expressed how she hopped to the top with every project she put out.

“Throughout the years, if you listen to my mixtape, if you listen to my music now, I have progressed because I wanted to progress. I want to be the best I can at anything that I do,” she said. “Life is about making your dreams come true. But in order to make your dreams come true, don’t think it’s gonna come and fall from the sky into your lap. You actually have to put in the work. You gotta be ambitious, you gotta network, you gotta become better at what you do…. There’s hope for your dreams.”

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