The Billboard Live Music Awards (previously known as the Billboard Touring Conference and Awards until 2018) is an annual meeting sponsored by Billboard magazine that honors the top international live entertainment industry artists and professionals. Established in 2004, it has thus been described as "part industry conference, part awards show".
The last such annual event appears to have been in 2019; it is unclear if the conference and awards have, or will, continue past that year.
Many of the awards are based on Billboards Boxscore chart tracking concert, comedy and other live entertainment attendance and gate receipts, and on real box office performance. As a result, the awards often equate to commercial success. The "top tour" superlative award is also given on the basis of fan polls. The "Legend of Live" and Humanitarian awards are given to individuals for their ongoing contributions to the live entertainment touring industry.
History
The conference and awards are held in November of each year, traditionally at the Roosevelt Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in New York City but, since 2016, at hotels in the Los Angeles area. The conference usually takes place over two days and is attended by figures from the music and concert industry. Each year features a keynote speaker from the performance industry, who in the past have included the likes of Gene Simmons of Kiss and 3 Doors Down.
While recorded music has an established awards structure headed by the Grammy Awards and also featuring the American Music Awards and the MTV Video Music Awards, live performance music has not had the same. The Billboard Touring Awards are an attempt to fill that gap. Billboard previously attempted to enter the awards arena for recorded music with the charts-based Billboard Music Award, which lasted from 1990 through 2006, returning in 2011. Those awards featured two slots for Concert Venue Award and Touring Venue Award, but were not otherwise live-performance-based.
Award names and awards given themselves have varied somewhat each year, with for example the Top Comedy Tour and Concert Marketing and Promotion Awards being added in 2007 and the Fans Choice being added in 2008, both being determined by fan vote. There are typically three nominees in each category.
Repeat winners in the awards have been common, with country artist Kenny Chesney winning Top Package Tour six consecutive years through 2009 and Bonnaroo Music Festival winning four times as well starting in 2004.
Winners
2019
The sixteenth annual edition of the awards took place on November 5, 2019, at the Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California. Legend of Live + Tour of the Year: P!nk, Beautiful Trauma World Tour Tour of the Summer: Hootie & the Blowfish, Group Therapy Tour Top Boxscore: Spice Girls - Spice World - 2019 Tour, Wembley Stadium, London, England - June 13–15, 2019 Top Grossing: Ed Sheeran Top Manager: Joyce Smyth (Rolling Stones) Top Concert & marketing Promotions: Verizon Up x Shawn Mendes x Camila Cabello Customer Loyalty Promotion Top Arena: Madison Square Garden - New York City Top Agency: WME Chip Hopper Award: Sara Bollwinkel, Agent at Paradigm
2018
The fifteenth annual edition of the (newly named) awards took place on November 13, 2018, at the Montage Beverly Hills in Beverly Hills, California, in proceedings hosted by comedian Roy Wood Jr. Top World Tour: Ed Sheeran, ÷ Tour Top U.S. Tour: Taylor Swift, Reputation Stadium Tour Top Tour & Top Draw: Ed Sheeran, ÷ Tour Top Package: not given Breakthrough Artist: Post Malone Top Comedy Tour: Kevin Hart Top Festival: Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival Top Promoter: Live Nation Entertainment Top Independent Promoter (Worldwide): OCESA-CIE Top Agency: CAA Top Manager: Dre London, Post Malone Top Boxscore: U2, Estadio do Morumbi, Sao Paulo, October 19–25, 2017 Top Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York Top Club: Brooklyn Steel, Brooklyn Top Amphitheater: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles Top Venue (Under 10,000 seats): Radio City Music Hall, New York Top Venue (Under 5,000 Seats): The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas Concert Marketing and Promotion: Khalid and Hollister Co. Humanitarian: not given Legend Of Live: John Mayer