Live events industry lost $30 billion due to pandemic

Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, concert trade publication Pollstar puts the total lost revenue for the live events industry in 2020 at more than $30 billion.

Pollstar said the live events industry should have hit a record-setting $12.2 billion this year, but instead it incurred $9.7 billion in losses. The company added that the projected $30 billion figure in losses includes “unreported events, ancillary revenues, including sponsorships, ticketing, concessions, merch, transportation, restaurants, hotels, and other economic activity tied to the live events.”

In March hundreds of artists announced that their current or upcoming tours would need to be postponed or canceled because of the pandemic.

With just a few months on the road, Elton John’s “Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour” tops the year’s Top 100 Worldwide Tours list with $87.1 million grossed between Nov. 30 and March 7. John’s tour ranked No. 2 last year with $212 million grossed.

Celine Dion came in second this year with $71.2 million, followed by TransSiberian Orchestra ($58.2 million).

Graduate thanks Nicki Minaj for paying his tuition

A University of Louisiana at Lafayette student who just graduated is thanking rap artist Nicki Minaj for paying his tuition.

Three years ago, someone on Twitter reached out to Minaj with a request for the musician to help pay for college. Minaj agreed — on the condition that they show her perfect marks.

She wrote , “Show me straight A’s that I can verify w/ur school and I’ll pay it.”

A few dozen fans took Minaj up on the offer including Artavion Cook. He asked on Twitter if she could help pay his current outstanding balance of $1,300. She did and this week Cook graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree biology.

“This day is even more special because @NICKIMINAJ paid my tuition a few semesters ago,” he tweeted.