Ahead of his Coachella headlining performances on April 11 and 18, Justin Bieber performed an invite-only surprise set at The Roxy in West Hollywood on Sunday night (March 29), where he treated fans in attendance to the live debuts of tracks from his 2025 albums Swag and Swag II.
“You’re invited to something special from Justin Bieber,” an email containing a “unique presale purchase link” sent to select fans ahead of the show read, according to a screenshot shared to Instagram. “This is a private, invite-only experience — please keep this strictly confidential. Any public sharing may result in the invite being revoked.”
Bieber’s Roxy show offered fans the opportunity to not just see Bieber play his Swag material — but to see him play, period. While Bieber made a proper return to the stage following a four-year hiatus at the Grammys on Feb. 1, his recent touring history has been marred by delays and cancellations. A world tour that was announced shortly before COVID was ultimately scuttled, and just a few months after he eventually hit the road in February 2022, Bieber cancelled the remainder of the outing, sharing a diagnosis of Type 2 Ramsay Hunt syndrome that prevented him from performing.
Since then, Bieber’s stage appearances have been limited, with an appearance at Rolling Loud Las Vegas in March 2023, where he performed “Private Landing” with Don Toliver, and at Coachella 2024, where he appeared as a surprise guest during Tems’ set to perform his remix of her Wizkid collaboration “Essence.”
His show at the Roxy, then, marked a return to playing full sets — and was a surprise for more than just the fans who were invited. Coachella is known for its strict radius clause — the contractual language that prevents artists booked for Coachella from performing around Southern California in the months leading up to the festival. But the festival’s radius clause isn’t as ironclad as it may seem, and workarounds are not entirely unheard of. The Roxy, for instance, is operated by Goldenvoice — the same promoter that puts on Coachella each year, providing some corporate cover for the show. (Billboard has reached out to Justin Bieber and Goldenvoice for comment.)
But how exactly did Bieber play The Roxy so close to his scheduled Coachella dates? Billboard spoke with several industry professionals who broke it down.
What is the point of a radius clause?
Radius clauses designate the specific area around a festival’s location within which artists are not allowed to perform ahead of a festival date, so as not to cannibalize the market by drawing potential festivalgoers to separate headlining shows rather than the festival.
“In layman’s terms, a radius clause is a protection both in miles and in location, within which an artist can or can’t perform,” Jay Moss, senior vp and agent at The Team (formerly known as Wasserman) tells Billboard. “Festivals do it to protect the integrity of their event, and make sure they’re getting talent that no one else is getting.”
When radius clauses are in effect, what time and distance might they specify?
Coachella’s radius clause reportedly prevents artists from performing shows in or around Southern California from Dec. 15 to May 1 (the exact time frame can vary from year-to-year). Festival radius clauses often span 250 miles — and Coachella’s is known to be stricter than most. That can be an easy workaround in more remote states that are primarily made up of secondary markets, but proves fairly restrictive in major markets or festivals based in cities like New York or Chicago. Ultimately, a radius clause varies by contract.
“I don’t think there’s a standard; every [festival] has different ones,” says Jake Bernstein, vp of music at The Team. “Some are 300 miles for 180 days before and 60 days after. Some are 250 miles. It just varies. Everyone’s got their own. I think the smart promoters look into who’s coming to their festival, and they look at their data on ticket buyers and make their radiuses by that.”
Why do promoters want radius clauses?
If a major act announces a headline show near their festival, it can lead to slower ticket sales for the festival itself, and promoters count on that act’s fan base to purchase passes.
“It keeps the artist out of the market for a certain time and makes their festival a little more special,” Bernstein says. “That way the artist won’t be in whatever mileage of region or states in a certain amount of time. So, the only chance to see that artist is at that festival, as far as the fans know.”
Can a radius clause benefit an artist?
The consensus is that radius clauses benefit promoters. Artists often agree to them so that they can perform at a festival — which exposes them to new audiences who then hopefully buy tickets for future headlining shows by those artists. But artists also don’t want to oversaturate fans.
“You really need to plan whatever tour you’re going on to be far after the festival, on the opposite end of the year,” Bernstein says. “You can’t do a huge show in California in June after playing Coachella in April. It’s just not going to work. Besides, the fans are drained, too. They just spent the money to see you at the festival. What’s the point of playing three months later? You’re not going to play that market shortly after a festival, at least for a big show. You want the fans to be hungry to see you again.”
Festivals can also be financially lucrative for artists, particularly as they oftentimes won’t need to bring in quite as much production, allowing them to save costs.
How can an artist work around a radius clause?
Ahead of a music festival, artists can still play shows within the specified radius, so long as they are not billed to sell tickets. Secret performances, private, invite-only events and appearing as a special guest are easy workarounds.
Managers and agents will often collaborate with a promoter while the festival deal =is being made, explaining why an artist should perform a show within the radius. Unless a contract specifically states that artists cannot perform in any way — including appearing as a special guest or playing a secret set — then they are often able to find workarounds.
“You have to work with [the festival] and ask them in advance, usually before you confirm the festival, letting them know you have certain shows on certain dates,” Bernstein says. “Sometimes they say that’s fine. Sometimes they say no, and you have to change your plans. Or sometimes, they’ll say, ‘Can you give us a little bit of a better deal on the artist? Can you do a free after-party?’ If you’re asking for clearance after you’ve confirmed or the festival has announced, it goes back to, ‘Well, will you take a little reduction? Will you do a meet-and-greet onsite? Will you do a special activation?’ It’s really just asking the question and getting ahead of it, rather than letting it go up and upsetting your partners.”
Why might an artist decide to perform within the area specified by a radius clause?
For an artist like Bieber, a performance at the 500-capacity Roxy can serve as a warm-up ahead of a major festival date — especially if the festival is already sold out and its promoters no longer need to worry about selling tickets.
“Any time you’re seeing an artist perform a gig such as a pop-up show or underplay that would seemingly break a typical radius clause, it’s thought out and very intentional,” says Daniel Rubin, vp of artist management at Element1 and manager for The Band CAMINO, Sawyer Hill and half•alive. “Marketing for a show or festival is very much narrative- and content-driven. An artist popping up and doing an underplay gig, whether we’re using the Bieber example at The Roxy or artists doing something special for fans in the market, it allows a little bit more context for the bigger show or festival.”
Bernstein adds, “It’s always going back to talking to the promoter who booked you. It’s going to them and letting them know you want to do an underplay. Sometimes, these festival promoters have their own clubs. Goldenvoice does. So, you can arrange those underplays with them. For example, [Coachella 2026 performer] Subtronics is doing the Fox Theater in Pomona [on April 14]. That is a Goldenvoice show.”
Why might a festival promoter allow that?
In some cases, festival promoters may ask an artist who is booked to play their festival to perform an underplay ahead of it. Sometimes, that might be because a festival promoter has opened a new venue in the market and wants to get people through the door.
Other times, even if a festival is sold out, artists and promoters may still want to build hype for the main event.
“If it’s the same promoter, it’s obviously their choice to make if they’re going to allow an artist to do another event within the radius,” Moss says. “In [a case like Bieber’s], I’m sure it was a really big look. Coachella is sold-out, so they weren’t worried about that part of it, and it was something cool to build a lot of excitement to have the headliner of one of, if not the biggest festivals in the world, play an unbelievably small and intimate event. It probably got a lot of eyes on it, and it probably got people even more excited to see him in a couple of weeks at Coachella because of the fervor around trying to get a ticket to see him in a 500-cap space.”
How common is it for artists to find workarounds for radius clauses?
It’s often case-by-case, with no straight-forward answer. However, sometimes an artist who’s on their way up may not want to omit a major market from their tour routing.
Radius clauses don’t just apply to festivals; they can also come up when artists have headline shows at larger venues with a promoter.
“A recent example in our world, with The Band CAMINO, is last year they had their album and a robust national tour,” Rubin says. “We came up with this idea of doing underplays in the markets they’re coming back to shortly thereafter for the main tour. While there were still some more tickets left to sell, the idea was to come to the promoter with an inspired idea that this would create a little bit of a hype machine and be additive to the big tour, which was understood and embraced by our promoter partners.”
