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Live Nation to Lease 5,000-Seat Music Venue at Downtown Atlanta Development

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Live Nation has agreed to a long-term lease for a 5,000-seat venue in downtown Atlanta that will be part of a development around the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena.

Centennial Yards is described by CIM, the developer that has partnered with the City of Atlanta, as a “mixed-used community featuring residential units, retail and entertainment establishments, community gathering spaces and more.” The 50-acre site is expected to have a $5 billion price tag. In addition to the music venue, it will include a 14-story hotel, a two-story food and beverage hall and a Cosm entertainment venue. The development already includes a brewery, loft residences and a 500-foot pedestrian bridge.

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Live Nation’s involvement with the development was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

Concert venues are increasingly popular properties in urban developments centered around the venues of professional sports teams. Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been the home of the Atlanta Falcons since 2017. The Atlanta Hawks basketball team plays at State Farm Arena.

“Every owner of a major sports team that wants to have their new building is not just building a building anymore,” Live Nation president/CFO Joe Berchtold said at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday (May 13). “They’re building an entertainment district around it.”

Centennial Yards is the latest example of concert promoters taking part in developments that aim to revitalize urban areas. Downtown Nashville’s The Pinnacle, a 4,500-capacity music venue operated by AEG Presents, is part of Nashville Yards, owned by real estate developer Southwest Value Partners. Nashville Yards also houses AEG Presents’ regional offices, CAA and, starting in July, Messina Touring Group.

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Another massive multi-purpose project getting underway is RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. The development currently includes a food hall, a skate park and festival grounds that hosts music festivals and other large gatherings. Berchtold said at the conference that he was in D.C. last week but didn’t mention the RFK project.

Leasing a mid-sized venue in Atlanta will add to Live Nation’s portfolio of venues under its Venue Nation business segment. Venue Nation plans to open 20 additional venues globally in 2025, which it believes will add 7 million incremental fans annually. As of the end of 2024, Live Nation leased 222 venues, owned 32 and operated 67. It has the exclusive booking rights to another 69 venues and owns an equity stake in 4.

Florida Can’t Enforce Anti-Drag Ban, Says Appeals Court, Upholding Earlier Decision

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A federal appeals court has kept in place an injunction blocking Florida from enforcing a law that would restrict drag shows in the state, saying the statute likely interferes with First Amendment-protected free speech.  

In a lengthy opinion released Tuesday (May 13), two out of three judges on a panel for the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court injunction that bars Florida from enforcing its so-called Protection of Children Act. The statute aimed to prohibit children from attending “lewd” live performances at restaurants and bars, with Governor Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers singling out drag shows in public statements on the law.

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A Florida federal judge sided with restaurant chain Hamburger Mary’s in 2023, finding that the law is overly broad and thus tramples on free speech. And in Tuesday’s ruling, two appellate judges — Robin S. Rosenbaum and Nancy G. Abudu — agreed.

“By providing only vague guidance as to which performances it prohibits, the act wields a shotgun when the First Amendment allows a scalpel at most,” wrote Judge Rosenbaum for the majority.

Tuesday’s ruling means the 2023 injunction will remain in effect for now, and Florida cannot enforce this law while the Hamburger Mary’s lawsuit continues. Discovery has concluded in the case, though a trial date has not been set.

“Obviously, we’re thrilled that the injunction is going to remain in place for the duration of this litigation,” Melissa Stewart, an attorney for Hamburger Mary’s, tells Billboard. “That means that the citizens of Florida will have their First Amendment rights while we finish litigating this case.”

Representatives for the state of Florida did not immediately return requests for comment.

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First Amendment law allows governments to restrict “obscene” speech, but only when that speech encompasses “patently offensive” sexual material that appeals to a “prurient interest” and lacks serious artistic or political value.

The Eleventh Circuit majority says that because the Florida law targets an undefined mass of “lewd” shows, it could be used to squash all kinds of constitutionally-protected speech that does not meet the strict “obscenity” standard.

The opinion notes, for example, that a Florida enforcement agency previously revoked one venue’s liquor license after deeming “lewd” a performance in which a drag artist known as “Jimbo” mimicked giving birth to a pile of baloney.

The majority says that while Jimbo’s performance is a “bit odd (and hammy in every sense of the word),” it “cannot be deemed ‘obscene.’”

“One of the act’s sponsors’ stated intent to target ‘Drag Queen Story Time’ also helps show the potential breadth of a term like ‘lewd conduct,’” Judge Rosenbaum wrote. “Of course, one legislator’s interpretation of the act does not an authoritative construction make. But it does betray how much protected speech may fall within the act’s [scope].”

Judge Gerald Bard Tjoflat of the Eleventh Circuit disagreed, writing in a dissent that the majority opinion is wrong because it “reads the statute in the broadest possible way.”

Even if Florida’s statute is unclear, Judge Tjoflat continued, the proper remedy would be to ask the Florida Supreme Court to step in and offer an analysis rather than block enforcement completely.

Florida is among a number of red states that have enacted legislation restricting drag performances in recent years. A similar Tennessee law was also blocked by a judge in 2023, though the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated it a year later.

SoundCloud Says Users’ Music Isn’t Being Used for AI Training Following Backlash

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On Friday (May 9), SoundCloud encountered user backlash after AI music expert and founder of Fairly Trained, Ed Newton-Rex, posted on X that SoundCloud’s terms of service quietly changed in February 2024 to allow the platform the ability to “inform, train, develop or serve as input” to AI models. Over the weekend, SoundCloud clarified via a statement, originally sent to The Verge and also obtained by Billboard, that reads in part: “SoundCloud has never used artist content to train AI models, nor do we develop AI tools or allow third parties to scrape or use SoundCloud content from our platform for AI training purposes.”

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The streaming service adds that this change was made last year “to clarify how content may interact with AI technologies within SoundCloud’s own platform,” including AI-powered personalized recommendation tools, streaming fraud detection, and more, and it apparently did not mean that SoundCloud was allowing external AI companies to train on its users’ songs.

Over the years, SoundCloud has announced various partnerships with AI companies, including its acquisition of Singapore-based AI music curation company Musiio in 2022. SoundCloud’s statement added, “Tools like Musiio are strictly used to power artist discovery and content organization, not to train generative AI models.” SoundCloud also has integrations in place with AI firms like Tuney, Voice-Swap, Fadr, Soundful, Tuttii, AIBeatz, TwoShot, Starmony and ACE Studio, and it has teamed up with content identification companies Pex and Audible Magic to ensure these integrations provide rights holders with proper credit and compensation.

The company doesn’t totally rule out the possibility that users’ works will be used for AI training in the future, but says “no such use has taken place to date,” adding that “SoundCloud will introduce robust internal permissioning controls to govern any potential future use. Should we ever consider using user content to train generative AI models, we would introduce clear opt-out mechanisms in advance—at a minimum—and remain committed to transparency with our creator community.”

Read the full statement from SoundCloud below.

“SoundCloud has always been and will remain artist-first. Our focus is on empowering artists with control, clarity, and meaningful opportunities to grow. We believe AI, when developed responsibly, can expand creative potential—especially when guided by principles of consent, attribution, and fair compensation.

SoundCloud has never used artist content to train AI models, nor do we develop AI tools or allow third parties to scrape or use SoundCloud content from our platform for AI training purposes. In fact, we implemented technical safeguards, including a “no AI” tag on our site to explicitly prohibit unauthorized use.

The February 2024 update to our Terms of Service was intended to clarify how content may interact with AI technologies within SoundCloud’s own platform. Use cases include personalized recommendations, content organization, fraud detection, and improvements to content identification with the help of AI Technologies.

Any future application of AI at SoundCloud will be designed to support human artists, enhancing the tools, capabilities, reach and opportunities available to them on our platform. Examples include improving music recommendations, generating playlists, organizing content, and detecting fraudulent activity. These efforts are aligned with existing licensing agreements and ethical standards. Tools like Musiio are strictly used to power artist discovery and content organization, not to train generative AI models.

We understand the concerns raised and remain committed to open dialogue. Artists will continue to have control over their work, and we’ll keep our community informed every step of the way as we explore innovation and apply AI technologies responsibly, especially as legal and commercial frameworks continue to evolve.”