Optimistic or pessimistic? You decide. Just over half of 1,350 live-event professionals surveyed by POLLSTAR and VENUESNOW think the industry will be "back at full capacity" sometime in 2021. But most of them mean the second half of 2021 and nearly a third of the respondents say it won't happen until 2022. And it's hard to say exactly what full capacity will mean, whenever that may be: Pollstar's ANDY GENSLER reports that "44.2% say larger festival gatherings and stadium events are over; another 42% believe large indoor shows are done; and 41.7% of the fans will be afraid of all gatherings." That's the bad news. The good news: Nearly 60% of live event professionals *aren't* worried about that. So here, perhaps, is the question: If COACHELLA 2021 tickets were stock futures, would you be buying? What about Coachella 2022? For what it's worth, the pros don't appear to be afraid of large gatherings: 43% say they'd be ready to work a show or a tour today as long as safety protocols were in place, and another 18 percent say they'd sign on even if they weren't. (Hey, Florida is calling out to you, 18 percenters.) The full "2020 State of the Industry" survey is subscription-only at the two sites; for those without, there's lots to be gleaned from this overview... As for what live music looks and sounds like, in case you forgot, here's the entirety of PRINCE's Dec. 31, 1987 show at PAISLEY PARK, which the Prince estate premiered on YOUTUBE on Friday and which is still there, right down to the MILES DAVIS jam, and, um, wow (it's also available on the astonishing SIGN O' THE TIMES: SPECIAL DELUXE EDITION mega-box, about which I may have a wee bit more to say sometime soon)... KANYE WEST, for anyone who wasn't clear on this, isn't at war with UNIVERSAL MUSIC; he's at war with all labels, on behalf of all artists. Can one rapper with a savior complex and a very loud Twitter account change the music industry? Does he have a case? MusicSET: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Record Deal"... Team BILL MURRAY has responded to team DOOBIE BROTHERS in the great golf-shirt music licensing caper, and we have reached peak dad joke *and* peak yacht rock: "We appreciate your firm’s choice of 'TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREETS', rather than to the courts, which are already overburdened 'MINUTE BY MINUTE' with real problems," the attorney for WILLIAM MURRAY GOLF writes in response to the attorney for the DOOBIE BROTHERS. The former doesn't explain why his client would be using the latter's client's music in an ad without paying for it, as the latter alleges, but I'm nitpicking... I am very very here for alt-rock MARIAH CAREY... TIKTOK gets a court-ordered reprieve... Birds are singing different tunes in the pandemic... RIP GUADALUPE "SHORTY" ORTIZ, BRENT YOUNG, SEAN "SOMEONE ELSE" O'NEAL, MARK STONE and MICHAEL ZUCKER... A programming note: I'll be out for a couple days observing YOM KIPPUR and my first pandemic birthday. MusicREDEF will be back in your inbox Thursday morning.