Final votes and a presidential signature are still needed, but Republicans and Democrats finally agreed Sunday on a $900 billion pandemic stimulus package after a bruising, monthslong fight. And, amazingly, the SAVE OUR STAGES bill is still in it, with $15 billion earmarked for grants to live music venues, movie theaters and other cultural institutions. Or maybe not so amazingly. The bill's resilience is testament to the work of a tenacious live music lobby, led by the NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION, which successfully made the case that a nearly yearlong shutdown—with no end quite in sight—has been disastrous not only for independent clubs and theaters, but for the wider economies of the communities in which they operate. Senators were told last week, for example, that every dollar spent on live music leads to $12 in spending at nearby businesses. This may not be the time for any kind of celebration, but one can hear some well-earned sighs of relief across the business this morning... BARACK and/or SASHA OBAMA likes 2020 tracks by MEGAN THEE STALLION, SPILLAGE VILLAGE, LIL BABY, WAXAHATCHEE, PHOEBE BRIDGERS and (we're going to go out on a limb and assume Barack only on these) a handful of dad-rockers. It's a shame the Obamas weren't among the 230-plus critics who voted in UPROXX's 2020 critics poll, which could use a few more voices... Pick your own headline: "BMG Review of Historic Catalog Finds Black Artists Paid Lower Royalty Rates at Four Labels." "BMG Finds Little Evidence of Racial Discrimination In its Review of 33 Acquired Catalogs." These two stories were based on the same results of an internal review BMG has been promising since Blackout Tuesday half a year ago, when companies throughout the music business pledged to take concrete steps to confront racial inequities. The German company, which built its catalog largely on acquisitions, took the unique step of saying it would review artist catalogs at every label it's ever bought, "mindful of the music industry’s record of shameful treatment of Black artists," and make a plan to address any inequities within 30 days. It missed its own deadline, but reported last week that of the 33 labels it's acquired that are no longer active, 15 had both Black and non-Black artists, and of those 15, four showed a "statistically significant negative correlation between being Black and receiving lower recorded royalty rates." "We will act on this knowledge," CEO HARTWIG MASUCH said. As a bonus, the company has discovered that it's the owner of lots of legacy contracts that treat non-Black artists poorly, too. (You are shocked, shocked to read this.) The company said while the contracts are "fully legally enforceable," it plans to update them in favor of the artists. Attention all other labels: BMG invites you to do the same... Subscribe to this country music newsletter by two of my favorite writers, NATALIE WEINER and MARISSA R. MOSS (and consider nominating them for Duo of the Year at the next CMA or ACM Awards)... Good idea for a full-album livestream concert: Play a fan favorite album all the way through on one guitar, then switch guitars and play the entire album again. And then solicit fan questions and actually sit there answering them until either the studio where you're doing this kicks you out or your dog starts getting restless, or possibly both. That was my Saturday afternoon. My Saturday night was watching a ticketed, encore showing of YO LA TENGO's fantastic livestreamed Hanukkah show, and it was one of those days where life seemed almost normal in a totally not normal kind of way. There are two vaccines now. Live-music relief dollars are on the way. I look forward to the day when we look back on all this and remember how strange and dark and empty it was but how music was there for us, like it always is, and how artists (and, crucially, armies of people and companies by their side) figured out a thousand different versions of what to do and how to do it...RIP ISRAEL BERRIEL, PELLE ALSING, JEFF CLAYTON, EWAN MACLEOD and MIKE "MCBEARDO" MCPADDEN.