We've been getting an increasingly clear picture over the past couple months of what the future of live music is going to look like as the world adapts to, and hopefully tames, the coronavirus. Virtual shows, gaming integrations, socially distanced seating, reduced capacities, temperature checks, disinfectants, etc. Probably some illegal raves. And now, thanks to a memo from LIVE NATION to talent agencies tracked down by BILLBOARD and ROLLING STONE, we've got our first real sense of what the behind-the-scenes economics of all this might look like. The giant promoter is looking for concessions from artists that, according to Billboard, would "dramatically shift the balance of power back to promoters in the post-pandemic world." Agents told the magazine they view the memo, which appears to be mostly about payments and obligations for festivals, as the beginning of a negotiation between buyers and sellers in an industry desperate to recover from the pandemic. They're going to be hardball negotiations. Live Nation wants to reduce artist fees by 20 percent from 2020 levels. It wants to stop the practice of giving artists their full guarantee if a festival is canceled because of poor ticket sales; instead it says artists should get 25 percent of the guarantee when that happens. And if an artist pulls out of a fest without good reason, Live Nation wants the artist to pay a penalty of double that guarantee. Traditionally, artists owe the promoter nothing in that case. Agents seem to be prepared to accept lower fees but, per Billboard, they say the idea of a cancellation penalty is a non-starter. This is all playing out in a sector that's been almost completely shut down for three months, with little clarity as to when it will be able to restart. The rest of 2020 looks like an almost total loss, at least in the US, and booking shows for 2021 is still a gamble. "We are in unprecedented times," Live Nation told agents, "and must adequately account for the shift in market demand, the exponential rise of certain costs and the overall increase of uncertainty that materially affects our mission." Live Nation, of course, has a uniquely broad mission. If it sent that memo to artist managers, too, it wouldn't have to travel very far, as the company is an artist management powerhouse, too. There will be interesting lunches ahead. Or Zoom meetings... Indies doin' it for themselves: "Back in the '90s," says SAM VALENTI, founder and CEO of the long-running indie label GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL, "the paradigm was to have a major label invest in you—the SUB POP and MATADOR idea." Remember those days? Ghostly, whose artists include MATTHEW DEAR, MARY LATTIMORE and GALCHER LUSTWERK, has merged with the indie giant SECRETLY in a partnership Valenti says makes his label "part of a culturally aligned, larger company that's still independent and artist-driven. It felt like that was the dream." And the new paradigm... Behold the first (I believe) voice tweet single. Keep on tweeting, LIZ PHAIR. ("Exile in Jackville" anyone?) I assume someone's already at work on the first voice tweet album and I'm hoping it's TIERRA WHACK. (Also, while obviously we're never getting an edit button, is it too soon to ask for a remix button?)... ROLLING STONE's 50 best albums of 2020 so far... Jigsaw falling into place... Soooo many questions about the last two paragraphs of this WASHINGTON POST story about that new book named after a song from HAMILTON, which ends with an unresolved anecdote about DONALD TRUMP, KIM JONG UN and an autographed ELTON JOHN CD that the former desperately wanted delivered to the latter. Where is the autographed CD now? Does the autographed CD even exist? Whose autograph? Which CD—HONKY CHATEAU? Elton's GREATEST HITS? A blank CD that JARED or IVANKA burned an MP3 onto? Do BERNIE TAUPIN's lyrics make any more sense when translated into Korean? Are the answers classified?... RIP YOHAN, of the K-pop group TST, and VERA LYNN, Britain's "Forces' Sweetheart" and the first British artist to have a #1 hit in the US.