Music

Post Malone was anything BUT POSTponed ... his show in Denver oddly went on despite everything else getting canceled amid fears of widespread of the coronavirus.

The rapper's facing tons of heat after performing Thursday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Pepsi Center ... quite the opposite of social distancing. Fans ate up the performance, but many are confused as to why it was allowed to happen in the first place.

Colorado hasn't banned large public gatherings but health officials in the Centennial State warned against it to steam the fast-spreading disease. Post's show drew even more ire considering the NBA, NCAA, NHL, MLS, MLB and other major orgs halted operations.

The Pepsi Center tweeted Thursday Post's show would proceed as scheduled, and the reaction was immediate and tense. One person replied, "Wow. Wildly irresponsible and greedy. Thanks for the $300 loss." Another said, "Governor should [get] involved and cancel this event what is state of emergency!"

And, get this ... Post's show continued even though Blake Shelton's show originally scheduled for Saturday at the same venue was nixed due to the coronavirus.

Post Malone's next gig is next week at Chase Center in Frisco. So far, it's listed as "canceled or postponed -- TBD" but California officials have called for the cancellation of all gatherings with 250 or more people.

As coronavirus fears skyrocket and the stock market plummets ... Soulja Boy's making a whole lot of money off a pretty clean gamble.

Sources close to the rapper-turned-entrepreneur tell TMZ ... he's invested in a company called The Soap Shop -- which, of course, sells soap products and the like. We're told Soulja went in on a franchise location in Mississippi last year with his manager, CEO Miami Mike.

Our sources say Soulja's trying to diversify and heard it was a good investment opportunity. What he didn't know is how well-timed it was.

As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has people frantically looking for soaps, disinfectant products and anything that'll kill germs. That all adds up to a massive profit for Soulja and co.

Our sources say TSS as a corporation has gone from selling 100 bottles of cleaning products per month to well over 3,000-plus cleaning products in the last 2 months. That's about a 3,000 percent increase, and we're told it's record-setting production.

Soulja and Mike's specific Soap Shop location -- in South Haven, MS -- is seeing similar results. Our sources say profits have tripled without changing anything.

One last thing, the soap venture actually benefits the youth. Soulja has linked his Soap Shop location to a charity called Bubbles for Cash.

The "Making the Band" reboot is gonna be delayed in its search for new talent because upcoming auditions have been called off due to coronavirus.

Sources close to production tell TMZ ... the final 2 open casting calls -- Friday in Charlotte and March 21 in NYC -- have been canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Those would have been the last in-person auditions.

Even more of a bummer -- DaBaby was set to help out at the Charlotte casting call ... and Diddy was going to be at the NYC auditions at MTV Studios. Not anymore.

MTV tells us ... “As a precautionary measure to ensure the health of our production crew, talent and aspiring artists, all public auditions for MTV’s “Making the Band” in Charlotte, NC on March 13-14 and New York City on March 21-22 have been canceled. Safety remains our utmost priority, and we’re continuing to defer to health officials and the CDC for guidance."

The good news ... 'MTB' hopefuls can still submit their auditions online as they have been, they just won't get that up-close-and-personal touch.

We broke the story ... Diddy recruited some big names -- Quavo, Monica and 112 -- to help him recruit potential big names of the future at the open casting call last month in Atlanta.

There were also in-person auditions held last week in Houston, but with the coronavirus fears intensifying -- it looks like that will be the last one.

Thousands of people who were stoked to attend Coachella next month aren't only disappointed, they're stressing out too ... over getting their money back from Airbnb.

As we reported ... the music festival's been postponed to October due to the coronavirus crisis, which means the folks who planned to travel to the Coachella Valley-area and booked a place to stay on Airbnb, are now scrambling for their refund.

That's because, so far, the online booking company is only offering full, automatic refunds to people who were traveling to countries like China, Italy and South Korea ... a fairly short list considering the virus has spread worldwide.

So, renters looking to get their money back have instead been instructed to cancel their reservation -- which automatically refunds 50 percent of their payment -- but they then have to reach out to the host, explain the extenuating circumstance for the cancellation ... and request return of the remaining 50% plus cleaning fees and other expenses.

The good news -- if a host rejects the full refund, renters can file a claim with Airbnb for a special review, and this policy includes some language that seems to support giving folks their cash back.

The policy reads ... "Epidemic disease or illness that suddenly affects a region or an entire group of people" qualifies as a special review circumstance, and policy decisions will be "based on announcements by the World Health Organization and local authorities."

Considering local officials declared a public health emergency in the county where Coachella's located, which clearly contributed to the postponement ... it should certainly fall under this category.

But, the ball's in Airbnb's court ... and so far, refunds are no guarantee.

Howie Mandel is taking coronavirus panic to the next level, or maybe we're all just not up to his level -- either way, he's prepared for a day on the job. At 'AGT' or Chernobyl!!!

The famous germophobe clearly isn't taking any chances with the deadly virus, and pulled up Tuesday to set rocking a full hazmat suit, gloves and, of course, a gas mask. Keep in mind, "America's Got Talent" shoots in Pasadena, CA ... not Wuhan.

But ya know Howie -- better safe than sorry. He's ready for COVID-19, plague or, more likely, a day's worth of jugglers, puppet acts and singers.

Howie's head-to-toe precautions make Rep. Matt Gaetz look pretty soft. Remember, the FL Congressman showed up on the House floor last week wearing a gas mask during a vote for coronavirus funding. It looked extreme, but Mandell just put that to shame.

As we first told you ... the coronavirus scare has crept its way to 2 of the most popular shows on TV -- "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" -- so it makes sense Howie would take this approach.

He's not one for simple handshakes under the best of conditions.

Travis Scott, Rage Against the Machine and Frank Ocean will be legends of the fall -- Coachella and its headliners are moving to October due to the coronavirus crisis.

TMZ has confirmed agents for several acts booked for Coachella have been told the new dates are the consecutive weekends of Oct. 9 and Oct. 16. The festival's promoter, Goldenvoice, is in the process now of informing reps for all the acts. The official announcement will likely come once that's done.

The massive music festival was originally scheduled for the weekends of April 10 and April 17, but it's now going the way of several other festivals that are either postponing or pulling the plug altogether.

South by Southwest canceled last week, as did the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. Even live touring legend Pearl Jam just announced it would postpone its upcoming spring dates.

County music fans gotta change their travel plans too -- the Stagecoach festival is postponing from April 24 to October 23.

All of this comes on the heels of other major shifts due to coronavirus fears. TMZ broke the story ... Justin Bieber is moving several of his stadium tour dates to arenas to ensure they can fill the venues, even with reduced ticket sales amid the crisis.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!!! Even during a worldwide Coronavirus scare ... so says wrestling superstar-turned-Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho, who tells TMZ Sports his band ain't canceling their tour.

The music industry has taken a hit in recent days thanks to the disease ... with huge festivals like SXSW and Ultra (canceled), Coachella and Stagecoach (postponed) deciding to switch up the plan.

On top of that, Pearl Jam has postponed the spring dates of its North American tour ... so when we saw Jericho at LAX on Monday ... we had to ask if his shows were going on as scheduled.

"Why wouldn't they?" Jericho tells us, adding he's not looking to cancel "unless the cops tell us we can't."

FYI -- Fozzy has a huge following ... and the band's biggest hit, "Judas" has more than 35 MILLION views on YouTube.

The band is set to go on a tour through the States starting next month ... and will go through the end of August.

Jericho calls the Coronavirus "mass hysteria" ... and it's clear he's ready to rock out for all those dates.

Megan Thee Stallion is all smiles just days after her EP dropped ... and she's adamant it'll hold her fans over until THE BIG ONE drops.

We got the Houston rapper out over the weekend leaving Coach in NYC and she tells us it's been nothing but love since she dropped her 9-track EP, "Suga," on Friday. She's adamant it's gonna hold her fans over until her big album drops.

When that'll happen is unclear. Remember, Megan's label, 1501 Certified Entertainment, went to court and filed a motion to try and stop her from releasing her new music ... but in the end, it was Megan who notched the W in that battle.

Yungblud isn't ready to hit the panic button over coronavirus and pull the plug on upcoming gigs -- including a couple at Coachella -- but the decision might soon be out of his hands.

The British rocker was out at the L.A. Zoo Sunday for an Australian wildfire event, and when we ran into him, we talked about COVID-19's impact on the music biz. Specifically, we asked if the new superbug could be a death knell to live music events.

Fact is, several artists have canceled upcoming shows because of coronavirus, and a few major music festivals have already gotten the ax as well.

Well, check out what YB has to say about it ... he tells us he doesn't believe this is the end of times, and thinks we as a society just need to adjust and get used to dealing with coronavirus.

As far as him yanking future performances, Yungblud says he ain't gonna do it -- at least not yet. He gives kind of a corny justification, but hey ... the guy's got music in his heart.

Pretty brave of him, especially considering he's got a couple shows scheduled overseas later this month -- and then a string of shows here in the U.S., including Coachella.