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Kendrick Lamar performs at the GRAMMYs in 2018
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From Social Media To Streaming: 10 Moments That Changed The Landscape Of Music In The 2010s
From the rise of streaming services to the globalization of pop, the 2010s were a revolutionary decade that disrupted the music industry and forever changed the game
GRAMMYs/Dec 27, 2019 - 10:32 pm
With the final days of 2019 comes the finale to a revolutionary decade that disrupted the music industry.
A bit of cultural context: The decade kicked off in January 2010 with a rising Lady Gaga dominating the global charts with her breakout track, "Bad Romance," Taylor Swift taking home the GRAMMY for Album Of The Year for Fearless and a (very) young Justin Bieber breaking into the mainstream with early single, "Baby." Later in the year, Apple would release its first-ever iPad and Instagram would debut in the world. Other major developments would follow later in the decade: Spotify launches in the U.S. in 2011; and Apple Music and YouTube Music hit the scene, while Jay-Z acquires and rebrands Tidal, the latter three milestones all happening in 2015.
As music and technology evolved in parallel at lightning speed, the music industry paradigm of yesteryear began to shift. Social media, which would soon allow a direct line of communication between artist and fan, broke down walls. Music fans, once fed a top-down stream of culture and content, became the tastemakers. And the music industry as a whole largely pivoted from a sales-based business model to a streaming-heavy consumption model.
As the decade comes to a close and enters a new era, The Recording Academy reflects on 10 moments and developments that forever changed the music landscape for the listener, the artist and the biz itself in the 2010s.
The Rise Of Streaming Services
Nowadays, music fans are accustomed to having complete on-demand access to millions of songs at the convenient touch of a button. That's all thanks to major streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal and Amazon Music, which have collectively helped shift the consumption of music from ownership-focused to access-based via subscription models.
Read: Who Ruled Music Streaming In 2019?
Today, streaming accounts for approximately 80 percent of the music industry's revenue. Culturally, playlists are now a primary source for new-music discovery, becoming powerful launch pads for artists and labels and largely replacing traditional tastemakers and gatekeepers like radio and music blogs. As well, major streaming services have helped discover and proliferate niche genres and global sounds. Chances are you'll still discover your next favorite artist, album and song on a streaming service 10 years from now.
Hip-Hop Reigns Supreme
The 2010s saw hip-hop reach a new level. Trap, a rap subgenre popularized in the early 2000s and rooted in the American South, reached mainstream crossover success when artists like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry integrated the sound into their pop-centric music. The genre also birthed today's leading rap stars and producers, including Future, Migos, Gucci Mane, Sonny Digital, Metro Boomin and Mike WiLL Made-It.
Most recently, the so-called "SoundCloud rap" explosion has launched the careers of bona fide stars like Post Malone, Lil Pump, Trippie Redd, Lil Tecca and Rico Nasty. By 2018, the scene achieved its first chart-topping album via the late South Florida rapper XXXTentacion, who's second artist album, ?, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. last March. Chicago SoundCloud rapper Juice WRLD, who died earlier this month, continued the streak when his second album, Death Race For Love, topped the Billboard 200 chart this past March.
Read: Find Out Who's Nominated For Best Rap Album | 2020 GRAMMY Awards
Bolstered by the rise of streaming—Chance The Rapper's 2016 mixtape, Coloring Book, became the first streaming-only album to reach the Billboard 200 charts and win a GRAMMY—hip-hop and R&B surpassed rock as the most popular genre in the U.S. for the first time ever in 2017. What lies ahead for the genre is both a mystery and a wide-open opportunity.
The Latin Music Explosion
Where the 2000s popularized regional and niche sounds like bachata and banda, the 2010s saw Latin music skew toward urban and contemporary styles, setting the stage for urbano, the umbrella term encompassing genres like reggaeton, Latin trap, dembow and more, to reach critical mass.
The decade's Latin music victor is the undeniably catchy, omnipresent international breakout hit "Despacito" from Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee. Released in January 2017, the track, which claims the top spot for the most-streamed music video of all time, set off the so-called "Despacito effect," a music industry phenomenon that consequently ushered in an avalanche of Spanish-language hits and mainstream pop crossovers. The international success of the Spanish-language track ultimately helped break down cultural and language barriers across the global pop spectrum.
Read: Los Angeles' First Permanent Latin Music Gallery Launches At GRAMMY Museum
With Latin music ranking as the fifth-most popular genre in America, in terms of album consumption, the future burns bright for the sound.
K-pop, Afrobeats And The Globalization Of Pop
One of the most notable changes in the pop landscape this decade comes in a rainbow array of languages and cultures: the globalization of pop, led by the international sounds of K-pop from Korea and Afrobeats from West Africa and the wider diaspora.
While modern K-pop dates back to the '90s, the genre reached true international scale in 2012 with the arrival of Psy's breakthrough viral hit, "Gangnam Style." The track's official music video would eventually become the first video ever to reach 1 billion views on YouTube, once standing as the most-viewed clip on the video-sharing platform.
Psy and "Gangnam Style" set the stage for the K-Pop explosion in the U.S. and across the globe: BLACKPINK became the first K-pop girl group to perform at Coachella in 2019 and BTS became the first K-pop act to top the Billboard 200 chart via their 2018 album, Love Yourself: Tear.
Read: Why is K-pop's popularity exploding in the United States?
Currently, Afrobeats is the next international sound sweeping pop music. Major stars like Kanye West and Rick Ross have all collaborated with Afrobeats acts. Drake's 2016 international hit "One Dance," once the most-streamed song on Spotify, featured Nigerian Afrobeats artist Wizkid, who would go on to sign with RCA Records in what became the biggest record deal ever for an African artist. This past July, Beyoncé released The Lion King: The Gift, the soundtrack album to the 2019 Lion King remake, which featured African and Afrobeats artists like Wizkid, Burna Boy, Mr Eazi and many others. With major labels like Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group betting on Afrobeats, all eyes are now on Africa.
Social Media Makes Impact
With nine out of 10 regular social media users partaking in music- or artist-related activities on social apps and 63 percent of users employing social media technology to discover new artists, social media's massive impact on the music industry is virtually immeasurable.
Most notably, social media has broken down the walls once separating artists from listeners. Musicians can now use multiple social media avenues to directly communicate with fans, and vice versa, creating a "bond" between the two parties like never before. On a business front, social media has changed the A&R and music discovery game forever: Shawn Mendes blew up on Vine, Tori Kelly built her career off YouTube videos and Cardi B was an Instagram star before she was a chart-topping rapper.
Read: Lil Nas X's No. 1 Run Began With TikTok, Now The Music Industry Is Taking Notice
Social media marketing, led by memes, social media challenges, viral songs and dance challenges, is the next wave for the music industry. Today, the video-sharing social network TikTok, which introduced Lil Nas X and his viral hit, "Old Town Road," to the world is being touted as the future of the biz.
Beyoncé And The "Surprise Album" Formula
Nine Inch Nails' immersive marketing campaign for Year Zero and Radiohead's pay-what-you-want model for In Rainbows may have shocked the music industry, but Beyoncé completely subverted the system when she surprise-dropped her self-titled album in December 2013. The 23-time GRAMMY champ dropped Beyoncé, marketed as a "visual album" comprising 17 videos to coincide with the project's 14 tracks, with zero advance notice, skipping the months-long marketing and promotional campaigns that have become the industry standard for artists of pop-star stature.
Read: J Balvin & Bad Bunny Drop Surprise Album 'Oasis,' Release Sensual Single "Que Pretendes
The unconventional formula worked: Beyoncé debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in the U.S. and once stood as the fastest-selling album ever on the iTunes Store. The success behind the album's surprise-drop approach sparked an industry trend, and newfound marketing tactic, that saw everyone from J Balvin and Bad Bunny to little sister Solange following in Beyoncé's gold-dusted footsteps.
Music Festival Inc.
Music festivals have been a part of American music history since the days of Woodstock and Monterey Pop Festival in the late '60s. Over the past decade, however, the culture and business of music festivals have developed from a DIY approach to a fully fledged industry. In 2017, Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which celebrated its 20-year anniversary this past April, became the first reoccurring festival franchise to gross more than $100 million, with a total gross of $114.6 million that year. Goldenvoice, the organizers behind Coachella, also holds the overall record for all-time top festival gross for its 2016 event Desert Trip, which brought in a record-breaking $160 million in 2016.
In addition to big payouts for festival producers and headlining artists alike, festivals have also become a creative playground for ambitious acts. Coachella alone has been the home to many milestone moments and industry-wide trends and developments over the past decade, including multiple band reunions (OutKast, Guns N' Roses, N.W.A); the genesis of the booming hologram concert industry; and Beyoncé's game-changing Homecoming headlining performance in 2018. Today, festivals worldwide serve as a breeding ground for artistic ambition and a launch pad for the new, now and next in music technology.
"Hamilton" And The Mainstreaming of Jukebox Musicals
On paper, "Hamilton" reads like an unlikely premise: a hip-hop Broadway musical based on the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. What unfolded was an even unlikelier run: 11 Tony Awards, a Broadway box office record and a Pulitzer Prize(!). Since its original off-Broadway debut in New York City in 2015, "Hamilton" has been unstoppable. The show's multiplatinum-certified original Broadway cast recording, released by Atlantic Records in September 2015, went on to peak at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and topped the Top Rap Albums chart. It also took home a GRAMMY for Best Musical Theater Album for 2015, while the show's creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, received the President's Merit Award from the Latin Recording Academy in 2017. Elsewhere, The Hamilton Mixtape, a 2016 follow-up mixtape album featuring original and deleted songs from the musical, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Read: How Hip-Hop & "Hamilton" Are Transforming An 8th Grade History Class
The breakout success of "Hamilton" has since launched Broadway culture and musicals into the global mainstream unlike any other production before it, shining a new light on the art form and introducing a younger generation to the medium. Its lasting legacy has also initiated a wave of jukebox musicals, pop-music-inspired shows and productions, with everyone from The Temptations ("Ain't Too Proud") to Tina Turner ("Tina: The Musical") receiving the Broadway treatment.
EDM Conquers The Global Dance Floor
In the 2010s, EDM went mainstream. Beloved pop icons crossed onto the dance floor via full-on dance-pop collaborations: Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris, Jack Ü (Diplo x Skrillex) with Justin Bieber, Steve Aoki and One Direction's Louis Tomlinson. Even Britney Spears dabbled in dubstep on her 2011 No. 1 pop hit "Hold It Against Me."
This decade also saw EDM fully infiltrating the GRAMMYs. In the same year dubstep wunderkind Skrillex swept the dance/electronic category in 2012, Canadian electronic artist/producer deadmau5 and French dance legend David Guetta joined Chris Brown, Lil Wayne and Foo Fighters onstage for a televised cross-genre performance. Two years later, in 2014, French electronic icons Daft Punk would win big at the GRAMMYs for their 2013 album Random Access Memories, which took home major awards, including Album Of The Year and Record Of The Year for lead single "Get Lucky."
Watch: Daft Punk, Pharrell Williams win Album Of The Year
Today, EDM artists are among the highest-paid musicians across the board—Calvin Harris ($38.5 million), Marshmello ($40 million) and The Chainsmokers ($46 million) raked in big bucks in 2019 alone—and continue to headline international festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza and Glastonbury. What was once an underground subculture is now the soundtrack to the future.
The Convergence Of Gaming And Music
Counting more than 2 billion gamers around the world and with the potential to become a $300 billion industry by 2025, today's video game market is thriving. It's no surprise, then, that the music industry wants in on the action. While video games and music have gone hand in hand since the days of "Super Mario Bros." in the mid-'80s, the convergence of the two worlds hit its peak in the 2010s. These days, the music biz is leaning heavily into the gaming industry to unlock new revenue streams, reach new listeners and bolster marketing campaigns.
Video games have always provided a healthy income for major artists via licensing deals: Famously, Aerosmith made more money from their 2008 video game, "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," than from any of their albums. Still, the current wave of video game and music crossovers takes the approach to the next level via virtual concerts. This past February, superstar producer/DJ Marshmello performed an exclusive in-game "concert" in "Fortnite," a massively popular online video game, that attracted more than 10.7 million people. A clip of the performance has since garnered +45 million views on YouTube. Following the concert, Marshmello released Marshmello Fortnite Extended Set, a DJ mix album based on the virtual performance, which topped Billboard's Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart in the U.S. With video games and music now at the forefront of pop culture, the two industries will continue to push into the future together.
Tina Turner in 1990
Photo: Rob Verhorst/Redferns
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Remembering The Artistry Of Tina Turner, "The Epitome Of Power And Passion"
Throughout her eight GRAMMY wins and 25 nominations, Tina Turner’s vast and generation-spanning musical output proved equally entertaining and inspirational. The Bold Soul Sister died on May 24 at her home near Zurich, Switzerland. She was 83.
GRAMMYs/May 25, 2023 - 04:15 pm
The Queen of Rock 'n' Roll, recording legend, icon of empowerment. No matter how one refers to Tina Turner, her passing constitutes a seismic loss that marks the end of a shining cultural legacy which leaves in its wake an industry-shaping career. Throughout her eight GRAMMY wins and 25 nominations, Turner’s vast and generation-spanning musical output proved equally entertaining and inspirational.
The icon died on May 24 at her home near Zurich, Switzerland. She was 83.
"Tina Turner broke barriers for women on and off the stage throughout her incredible career," said Harvey Mason jr, CEO of The Recording Academy, of Turner who received GRAMMY’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and is a three-time inductee to the GRAMMY Hall of Fame. "She amazed audiences worldwide with her electrifying performances, including on our GRAMMY stage in 1985 and 2008, and was an undeniable rockstar who paved the way for so many with her signature style and powerful vocals. She will be greatly missed by all the people she touched around the globe."
It’s a sentiment shared by the music industry, and world, at large. "She was truly an enormously talented performer and singer,"Mick Jaggerwrote on social media. "She was inspiring, warm, funny and generous. She helped me so much when I was young and I will never forget her." On her website, Beyoncé — who performed with Turner at the 50th GRAMMY Awards — paid tribute to her "beloved Queen," writing, "I love you endlessly. I’m so grateful for your inspiration and all the ways you paved the way. You are strength and resilience. You are the epitome of power and passion."Elton John put it simply: "We have lost one of the world's most exciting and electric performers," he wrote. "She was untouchable."
Turner’s untouchable talent famously embodied two phases. First, her tumultuous collaboration with husband Ike Turner, during which they performed as a duo and yielded hits including the oft-covered "Proud Mary." The instantly-recognizable song earned the couple a GRAMMY Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Group in 1972 and was inducted in the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2003. In her triumphant second act, Turner broke away from the partnership. She reinvented herself as a solo performer, improbably transitioning from a '60s and '70s-era rocker to arena pop star in the 1980s.
For her efforts, the singer swept the major categories at the 1985 GRAMMY Awards, winning Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "What’s Love Got To Do With It." She also took home the golden gramophone for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Better Be Good To Me."
One of her most indelible hits, Turner utilized "What's Love Got To Do With It" as a call to action, becoming brutally honest about her abusive relationship with her ex-husband along the way. Turner later recalled toRolling Stone that when she left Ike in July 1976, "I had nothing. I didn’t even know how to get money. I had a girl working for me who had worked for Ike, because she knew about ways of getting money. I didn’t know how to do any of that stuff." She later devised what’s considered one of the greatest comebacks in music history.
First offered to Donna Summer — who sat on the track before ultimately passing — songwriter Terry Britten later revealed that she thought "What’s Love Got to Do With It" was "awful." Turner didn't like the song either, but recorded it following encouragement from her manager, Roger Davis.
"I said, 'If it doesn't work out, we won't use it. So let's give it a go,'" Britten recalled in her 2021 documentary, Tina. It wasn’t until Turner laid down her vocal track that the song was elevated from pop confection into a showcase for the vocal powerhouse. "They weren't used to a strong voice standing on top of music," Turner said in the documentary. "But I converted it and made it my own."
Turner’s deft musical translation is evident throughout her eclectic discography, from the blues-inflicted rock she performed as Ike & Tina Turner, to pop anthems like 1989’s "The Best" (which became a trademark and, naturally, the title of a popular greatest hits album). In 1962, she was nominated for her first GRAMMY Award for Best Rock and Roll Recording for "It’s Gonna Work Out Fine," her and Ike’s hit from the previous year which was offered to them after songwriter Rose Marie McCoy saw their energetic stage show at the Apollo.
It was an auspicious early hit for Turner, who would become a staple of the category for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. Decades later, she earned back-to-back wins in the category for "One of the Living" and "Back Where We Started" in 1986 and 1987, a nomination for "Better Be Good To Me" in ‘88, and took home the golden gramophone in ‘89 for Tina Live in Europe, among many others.
"My songs are a little bit of everybody’s lives who are watching me," said Turner to Rolling Stonein the midst of her hot streak in 1986. "You gotta sing what they can relate to. And there are some raunchy people out there. The world is not perfect. And all of that is in my performance; I play with it."
Born Anna Mae Bullock, Turner’s journey to musical dynamo began on the farmlands of Tennessee where she discovered early on her passion for artistic expression. "As a girl, every chance I got, I’d go to our local movie theater and memorize scenes so I could reenact them," she recalled in 2021 the Harvard Business Review. "Although I did have a bit of singing training in high school and even learned some opera, my voice and dance abilities have mostly come naturally to me."
That vocal prowess and inimitable energy as a performer was on full display throughout her life behind the microphone, one of the most memorable examples being "River Deep-Mountain High." Inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 1999, her duet with Ike was produced by Phil Spector who Turner said had him cut her vocals ad nauseam to spectacular results. "I must have sung that 500,000 times," she told Rolling Stone after the publication ranked the track No. 33 of their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. "I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing."
Upon her death, the New York Times called her "a magnetic singer with explosive power." That power was visible on and off the stage, both in her artistry and ability to soldier on in the face of the numerous obstacles. In a 2005 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Turner explained, "There's an expression, 'You'll never get out of this world alive.' It's true. We won't. Go forward. Do your best with your makeup, hair, and clothes."
In that same interview, Turner also mused about her legacy, touching on the inspiration she doled out by being her authentic self. "My wish is to give the kind of truth to people that will help them change their minds. When that happens, I'll be the best that I can be."
Crowds at the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella
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Touring In A Post-Pandemic World: How Costs, Personnel & Festival Culture Have Affected 2023 Performances
The live music business is still dealing with the repercussions of the pandemic. GRAMMY.com spoke with a cross section of professionals about the industry's most profound changes, how they’re being addressed, and what it all might mean for the future.
GRAMMYs/May 19, 2023 - 02:51 pm
The pandemic wreaked global havoc on many levels. Beyond the human toll, the disruptions brought on by the spread of COVID-19 caused deep and lasting damage to nearly every business sector, including live entertainment. Virtually overnight, workers lost their livelihoods, businesses closed their doors or drastically curtailed operations, and supply chains were hobbled.
Within days of lockdown, multiple outlets published sobering articles detailing the tours, concerts and festivals that had been affected by the outbreak; Insider.com article identified at least 170 postponements or cancellations. In a flash, every artist across the globe witnessed the live performance side of their careers vaporize. Crews were sent home, and all of the businesses that served the sector — logistics, audio gear, food service and more — found a barren landscape.
During the pandemic, major promoter Live Nation saw a drastic drop in the number of concerts and festivals under its banner: from over 40,000 events in 2019 to just over 8,000 in 2020. But by the end of 2022, Pollstar.com reported that the year’s top 100 tours sold approximately 59 million tickets — more than 2019's sales.
Three years after the beginning of the pandemic, life is in many ways returning to normal. Yet the costs associated with putting on a concert have risen dramatically, due to both the pandemic's inflationary pressures and a surge in demand for the goods and services necessary to sustain tours. For those working in and around the live music business, the "new normal" means some things work as they did before COVID-19 while others have altered radically — either temporarily or for good.
GRAMMY.com spoke with a cross section of industry professionals about some of the most profound changes, how they’re being addressed, and what it all might mean for the future.
New Touring Paradigms
With the return of live music has come a corresponding, pent-up surge in demand, notes Christy Castillo Butcher, Senior VP, Programming & Booking at the 70,000 seat SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. "To satiate that demand, you have to have a bigger venue."
In 2023 alone, SoFi Stadium is hosting several megashows: Billy Joel & Stevie Nicks, Grupo Firme, Romeo Santos, a five-night Taylor Swift residency, Metallica, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and P!nk are all on the venue’s calendar, with additional shows awaiting announcement. Madison Square Garden saw multiple sold-out performances by Janet Jackson, and will host a seven-night Phish residency.
Since the pandemic, some artists have taken different approaches to touring. Tandem tours and residencies are just two of the phenomena that seem to be increasing in popularity with touring artists and their management teams.
Teaming up for a tandem tour isn’t a new idea; package tours have been part of the concert landscape from the days of Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars in the mid 1960s. And in an era when post-pandemic-related shortages and logistical snags make touring even more challenging, the practice is finding renewed interest.
One of the highest-profile tandem tours of 2023 is the ZZ Top/Lynyrd Skynyrd Sharp Dressed Simple Man tour. Visiting more than 22 cities across the U.S, the tour brings together three-time GRAMMY nominees ZZ Top with the popular Southern rock band.
"You want to give the fans the value of seeing two bands together," says Ross Schilling, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Tour Manager. (Pollstar reported an average ticket price for the top 100 North American tours in the first half of 2022 at more than $108. Meanwhile, ticket prices for megastars such as Beyoncé and Swift have reached astronomical levels.)
Schilling acknowledges that there are pros and cons for the artists as well. "You're sharing the expenses and the revenues," he notes, adding that the production is often halved. "Video, pyro, smoke, whatever kind of elements you want to add" can be shared on a tandem tour.
Read more: 5 Reasons Why Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Will Be The Most Legendary Of Her Generation
Another option experiencing a renaissance is the concert residency. "Residencies are not new, of course," says Phil Carson, a touring and management veteran who spent many years on the road with high-profile rock bands including Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, AC/DC and Yes. "They started with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. when there was really only one place to go: Las Vegas."
Today there are many more options, but the motivations are often the same as before. "Sammy, Dean Martin… all those guys wanted to hang out together, and didn't want to go on the bloody road," Carson explains. As their audiences grew older, they too were interested in the idea of going to one place to see their favorite performers.
And Carson thinks that the multi-night approach may well be part of a trend for the future. "We’re starting to get two-and three-night runs in casinos across America," he says. Adele, Bruno Mars, Maroon 5, Luke Bryan, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood and Carlos Santana are just a few of the artists eschewing the road in favor of a series of dates in one venue.
The trend is extending to smaller venues as well. Singer/songwriter James McMutry and his band launched a residency at Austin' Continental Club in November 2021; that booking continues to the present day. And just last August, Robert Glasper announced a 48-show residency at the Blue Note Club in New York City; it’s his fourth extended run of dates at the famed jazz venue.
Festivals Return En Force
Following increased demand for live entertainment post-lockdown, major music festivals returned with a force in 2022 and continue to do so in 2023. Coachella and Lollapalooza were among the multi-day, multi-weekend events returning after COVID-forced cancellations, while mid-level events such as San Francisco's Outside Lands also saw over 220,000 attendees in 2022 — a major boon for a live music industry that had been in crisis only a year before.
Celebrating and featuring a multigenerational lineup of Latinx artists and performers, the Bésame Mucho Festival premiered in December 2022 at the 56,000 capacity Dodger Stadium. Tickets sold out within 70 minutes. The lineup for the 2023 event was announced in February; once again, the event sold out almost immediately.
Ashley Capps has been wholly immersed in the festival scene; former head of AC Entertainment, for many years he oversaw the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. These days he has scaled back his activities but still curates the adventurous Big Ears Festival which he founded in 2009 in Knoxville, Tennessee.
"The post-pandemic Big Ears has seen extraordinary growth," he says, noting a pre-COVID trajectory of growth, with an annual 20 percent increase in ticket sales. The 2022 Big Ears — the first after a two-year pause — experienced a 35 percent growth. "That led us to declare our first full-on sellout," he says, "five weeks before the festival happened."
In 2023, Big Ears noted another surge in ticket sales, surpassing 50 percent over the previous year. The multiple-venue festival added additional larger venues to accommodate the increased demand. Concertgoers "are certainly hungry to get back into the live music experience," Capps says. "And the artists we’re working with at Big Ears are eager to be back out and in front of appreciative audiences."
That pent-up demand on both sides of the equation can result in a crowded field, with many events — even beyond music — competing both for attention, staffing and gear.
The Cost Of Making Music
Global logistical bottlenecks that plagued every industry continue to take a toll on the live music industry. Worldwide economic inflation — which hit 8.8 percent in 2022, nearly doubling year-over-year, a partial result of the pandemic — has increased costs and cut profits, laying the groundwork for a "rocky road to recovery." Finding themselves without opportunities for work during the pandemic, untold numbers of skilled tour technicians left the business.
"People got out of the industry across the board, from musicians to agents to managers to bartenders to production staff," says Morgan Margolis, CEO/President of Knitting Factory Entertainment. "'I’ve got to do something else.' I saw a lot of that." Some never returned, causing a personnel shortage once live touring resumed.
All that affected live music venues, too. "We were shuffling around tour managers, production managers, box office personnel," says Margolis. He characterizes his company — active nationwide in venue operations, festivals, artist management, touring and more — as an "all hands on deck" operation. "I actually slung some drinks in Walla Walla at an Aaron Lewis concert," he says.
Increased costs mean it’s essential to run the leanest operation possible while maintaining quality. Margolis recalls the landscape when live music started coming back in 2022. "Vans and buses: everything was running out, even rental cars," he remembers. "And everything — generators, lighting rigs, staging rigs – was now 20-30 percent more expensive, because everybody was spread so thin."
But like many in the business, Margolis simply made the best of things. "Personally, I was excited to be on the ground again," he says. "I wanted to be around people."
After a nearly overwhelming surge of music artists getting back into live performance, he says that he is seeing a "more methodical" mindset taking hold. That compares to how he characterizes 2022: "Throw it all against the wall: we’re going everywhere!"
Read more: Beyond Coachella: 10 Smaller Festivals Beloved For Their Homegrown Vibes & Huge Lineups
Another new wrinkle: proposed rule changes by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would increase the costs to international musicians of obtaining a U.S. visa by as much as 260 percent. "The more these policies are made, the harder it is for us to share our music,” says Sampa the Great. The Zambian singer/songwriter and rapper notes that the proposed changes will hit independent artists especially hard: "Touring is the only way our music gets heard globally."
Such across-the-board cost increases can mean that some international artists have to have tough conversations. If not through touring, Sampa the Great wonders, "How else do we connect with the people who support our music? And how else do we independent artists sustain our careers making music?"
Schilling admits that during the worst of the shutdown, he thought about retiring — and so did one of his biggest clients. Skynyrd began a farewell tour in 2018, which was ultimately cut short by the pandemic, prompting serious soul searching. "When everyone’s livelihood was ripped out from under them, they decided 'We want to go out on our own terms.'" This year’s tandem tour with ZZ Top puts things right, Schilling adds.
That kind of thinking is widespread among the professionals who remain in the game post-COVID. From many working as venue owners to tour managers to crew to artists, the chance to get back on the road outweighs the challenges that they will inevitably encounter. There are many career paths easier than working in the live music industry, but few can compare with its rewards.
Changes Backstage And Post-Show
Before the pandemic, many touring artists arranged meet-and-greet sessions before or after their shows. They provided an opportunity for interaction between fans and artists, and represented an additional revenue stream for the artists. During the pandemic era, those sessions disappeared, even for the new shows that could still take place. Today, even while enforced social distancing has largely disappeared, the state of meet-and-greets is not what it was.
"My last three artists aren’t doing meet-and-greets, because there's still that concern of COVID," says David Norman, a longtime promoter, tour director, manager and accountant currently on tour with Evanescence; his past clients have included Prince, John Fogerty, Earth Wind & Fire, Green Day, Alicia Keys, Tyler, the Creator and many others.
Norman points out that his artists take a financial hit by eliminating the meet-and-greets. "But it’s better to be safe than sorry," he says, noting that a musician who tests positive for COVID can "shut down [performances] for weeks. Then you have to reroute [the tour], and refund money to people who aren’t able to come to rescheduled shows."
Others take a different approach. "Lynyrd Skynyrd will do meet-and-greets," says Schilling, adding that his team "wants to get back to as normal as we possibly can, as fast as we possibly can." André Cholmondeley is a musician, longtime tour manager and tech support professional who worked as guitar tech for Yes guitarist Steve Howe.
Before 2020, "if you bought the meet-and-greet package, you could shake their hands," he says. "There were lots of hugs and pictures." Now the experience involves more waving and fist-bumping. Foreigner, meanwhile, has recently swapped meet-and-greets for Q&A sessions. “Everybody has a great time, and the band is not bored with it because it's different every night," says Phil Carson, the band's Tour Manager.
Life away from the audience has changed, too.
"One major change across the board is the huge difference in catering," says Cholmondeley, who has recently toured with Pat Metheny and Ani DiFranco. Before COVID, touring artists and their crews would typically find a buffet backstage. "We order a lot more food now," Cholmondeley explains. "You get a couple of menus texted to you each day."
Carson notes that the band has found an alternative solution that works for them. "Our singer Kelly Hansen is a chef who won an episode of Food Network’s 'Chopped,'" he says with pride. "He's got a whole kitchen range on our tour bus. He makes breakfast, he makes tacos after the show."
Carson readily admits that such an approach stands in sharp contrast to rock‘n’roll road dining in the ‘70s. "Back then," he says with a hearty laugh, "it was a few lines of coke and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s!"
Bridging The Gap
Beginning in March 2020, the cancellations and disruptions brought upon by the pandemic reverberated throughout the live music industry. But as the business sector enters the third quarter of 2023, the focus is once again on the future, and guarded optimism is the prevailing perspective.
Festival season is officially underway, with Coachella wrapping up two weekends of massive-scale excitement, and a host of other events slated throughout the summer promising an active several months for touring musicians and crews. Taylor Swift's Eras tour is selling out fast, while Beyoncé's Renaissance tour has only just begun (to much fanfare, as expected). It seems as if touring as we once knew it is falling back into place.
Even with her focus on recording — she counts two albums, an EP, two mixtapes and nearly 30 singles — Sampa the Great emphasizes the appeal of live music for both audience and entertainer.
"Performing is the best way to connect with an audience," she says. "You're translating your music from audio to something visual, something physical. It bridges that gap from just hearing an artist or seeing them on social [media] to actually experiencing the artist."
TXT, Blackpink, Aespa & More: Here Are All The K-Pop Tours And Events You Can Catch This Summer
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden.
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
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Beyoncé Kicks Off Her Renaissance World Tour In Stockholm, Sweden: Watch Performance And Stage Videos, See Photos, View The Setlist & More
Beyoncé returned to the stage with her hotly anticipated Renaissance World Tour, which saw the singer perform a three-hour set that included multiple live debuts of 'Renaissance' tracks and other classics.
GRAMMYs/May 11, 2023 - 04:05 am
BeyHive assemble: The moment has finally arrived. Beyoncé officially kicked off her 56-date Renaissance World Tour tonight in Stockholm, Sweden. Launching with a sold-out show at the Friends Arena in the Swedish capital, the tour marks Queen Bey's first tour in nearly five years and first solo tour in seven years. The world tour is in support of her GRAMMY-winning and history-making 2022 album, Renaissance, and also marks the first time she performed songs from the album on stage.
Across a three-hour, 36-song set, which was split into seven acts, Beyoncé delivered an expansive, dazzling set spanning her broad and celebrated discography, including many live debuts of Renaissance tracks like "CUFF IT," "BREAK MY SOUL," "PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA," "VIRGO'S GROOVE," and many more. She also performed several Beyoncé classics like "Run the World (Girls)," her Megan Thee Stallion collab "Savage Remix," "Crazy in Love," "Formation," and more.
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
Released last July, Renaissance is Beyoncé's seventh solo album, all of which have topped the U.S charts. Renaissance garnered Beyoncé eight of her nine GRAMMY nominations at the 2023 GRAMMYs; she was also nominated for Best Song Written For Visual Media for her original song "Be Alive" from the film King Richard.
At the 2023 GRAMMYs, she took home four GRAMMY Awards — including Best Dance/Electronic Recording for "Break My Soul," Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for Renaissance, Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Plastic Off The Sofa," and Best R&B Song for "Cuff It" — setting the record as the artist with the most GRAMMY wins of all time. When nominations for the 2023 GRAMMYs were announced last November, she was the most nominated artist for that GRAMMY Award year; she is currently tied with her husband and occasional music partner, Jay-Z, for the most GRAMMY nominations ever, counting 88 nominations each.
Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour continues across Europe through late June and then heads to North America in July.
Below, check out the full setlist, view photos, watch videos, and see fan reactions from the BeyHive from the first night of Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour.
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Andrew White
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Andrew White
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Mason Poole
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Mason Poole
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
Beyoncé performs onstage during the opening night of her Renaissance World Tour at Friends Arena on May 10, 2023, in Stockholm, Sweden | Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Parkwood
Setlist
Opening Act
The Signboard (Video Introduction)
Dangerously in Love 2 (Live Debut - Shortened)
Flaws and All
1+1
I'm Goin' Down (Mary J. Blige cover)
I Care
RENAISSANCE
RENAISSANCE (Video Introduction)
I'M THAT GIRL (Live Debut - Extended spoken intro)
COZY (Live Debut)
ALIEN SUPERSTAR (Live Debut)
Lift Off (JAY Z & Kanye West cover)
7/11 (Dancers Interlude)
MOTHERBOARD
MOTHERBOARD (Video Interlude)
CUFF IT (Live Debut)
ENERGY(Live Debut)
BREAK MY SOUL (Live Debut)
OPULENCE
OPULENCE (Video Interlude)
Formation (Shortened)
Diva (Shortened)
Run the World (Girls) (Shortened)
MY POWER (Live Debut - Shortened)
BLACK PARADE (Live Debut)
Savage (Remix) (Megan Thee Stallion cover) (Live Debut)
Partition (Shortened)
ANOINTED
ANOINTED (Video Interlude)
CHURCH GIRL(Live Debut)
Get Me Bodied (Shortened)
Before I Let Go (Maze featuring Frankie Beverly cover)
Rather Die Young
Love on Top
Crazy in Love
Freedom(Band Jam. Interlude)
ANOINTED - PT. 2
Love Hangover (Diana Ross song) (Sung by the choristers)
PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA (Live Debut)
VIRGO'S GROOVE (Live Debut)
Naughty Girl
MOVE (Live Debut)
HEATED (Live Debut)
MEGAMIX
THIQUE (Live Debut)
ALL UP IN YOUR MIND (Live Debut)
Drunk in Love
MIND CONTROL
MIND CONTROL (Video Interlude)
AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM (Live Debut)
PURE/HONEY (Live Debut)
SUMMER RENAISSANCE (Live Debut)
How Many GRAMMYs Has Beyoncé Won? 10 Questions About The 'Renaissance' Singer Answered
Rihanna attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City
Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
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Met Gala 2023: All The Artists & Celebrities Who Served Fierce Looks & Hot Fashion On The Red Carpet, From Rihanna To Dua Lipa To Billie Eilish To Bad Bunny To Cardi B To Doja Cat & More
Fashion and music have always been inextricably linked, and the strong longs were on fully on display at the 2023 Met Gala — one of the most anticipated style events of the year. See the red carpet outfits from Rihanna, Lil Nas X, Anitta & more.
GRAMMYs/May 1, 2023 - 11:46 pm
It's that time again! The 2023 Met Gala — one of the fashion bonanzas of the year — is in full force. And given that fashion has always been the yin to music's yang, GRAMMY winners and nominees were among the stars studding this glamorous, fashion-forward event.
Presented by gala co-chair Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue and global editorial director of Condé Nast, the Met Gala this year is co-chaired by Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel, Roger Federer and three-time GRAMMY winner Dua Lipa.
GRAMMY winners and nominees as well as today’s leading artists in music are already setting the Met Gala red carpet on fire, with everyone from Dua Lipa, Phoebe Bridgers, Rita Ora, David Byrne, rising rap sensation Ice Spice, and more showing off their fierce fashion looks. Plus, Rihanna and her partner ASAP Rocky made a last-minute surprise arrival on the 2023 Met Gala red carpet, setting the fashion and music worlds ablaze.
This year's Met Gala celebrates the indelible legacy of the late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld; the dress code is "In honor of Karl…")
Below, check out some of the most eye-catching red carpet fashion looks from music’s biggest stars at the 2023 Met Gala.
Rihanna attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Dua Lipa arrives for the 2023 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2023, in New York | Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP
(L-R) Finneas O'Connell and Billie Eilish attend The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Bad Bunny attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Jennifer Lopez attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Cardi B attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Doja Cat attends the 2023 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Lil Nas X attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Matt Winkelmeyer/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Usher attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Sean "Diddy" Combs attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Phoebe Bridgers attends the 2023 Met Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Anitta attends the 2023 Met Gala the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Halle Bailey attends the 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Kevin Mazur/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Janelle Monáe attends The 2023 Met Gala Celebrating "Karl Lagerfeld: A Line Of Beauty" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 01, 2023 in New York City | Photo: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images