Vol 13 - The times they are a-changin'

Bob Dylan joins TikTok in its final hours, the GRAMMYs pivot & Drake keeping it legal??

January 17, 2025

Happy Friday,

Bob Dylan joins TikTok in its final hours, the GRAMMYs pivot & Drake keeping it legal??

Have thoughts on this week’s news? Just hit reply.

Ela Minus

New Music Friday

What you need to know about today’s new releases

🎶 New albums and EPs from Mac Miller, Knock2, Rose Gray, Ryan Ellis, The Weather Station, BØRNS, LANCO, Ela Minus, Alessi Rose…

♪ Notable singles from Central Cee & 21 Savage, Marshmello & Jonas Brothers, Lucy Dacus, John Summit, Mumford & Sons, Jungle, FloyyMenor, Spacey Jane, THEY., Vundabar, BANKS…

Each week, we go through Spotify’s New Music Friday playlists to highlight releases you should know about…

#3 - Marshmello’s latest track ‘Slow Motion’ features the Jonas Brothers.

#7 - NLE Choppa & Imagine Dragons - yes you read that collab right, team up for ‘Dare U’. Who’s the A&R on that?

#11 - Mumford & Sons are back with new single ‘Rushmere,’ co-written by Natalie Hemby and Greg Kurstin.

#12 - Hailey Whitters releases ‘Casseroles,’ co-written by the prolific Hillary Lindsey.

#14 - Jungle’s releases new single ‘Keep Me Satisfied’, produced by J Lloyd.

#19 - ‘Everything Changes (But I Won’t) by Rose Gray and co-written by Justin Trantor.

⭐ #25 - Samia returns with ‘Bovine Execution,’ the first single off her upcoming album, produced by Jake Luppen (of Hippo Campus).

#31 - Kane Brown releases ‘Gorgeous,’ an acoustic ballad from his forthcoming album The High Road releasing next week.

#57 - Yukimi (of Little Dragon) releases the second track of her solo career with ‘Sad Makeup’ along with help from her band.

#59 - Long-teased track on social media ‘Angel of Mine’ by Tobiahs finally hits DSP’s.

#64 - Jason Isbell releases single ‘Bury Me’ & announces a new album - his first solo release since 2018.

#87 - ‘Unbelievable,’ the new single by DJ Koze featuring German singer Ada, has been released on Pampa Records, DJ Koze's label.

#91 - OK Go are readying their treadmills - the band drops ‘A Stone Only Rolls Downhill’ as the band gears up for their first album in 10 years.

⭐ = our pick of the week. Usually an under the radar artist to keep an eye on.

Lucy Dacus

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

FKA twigs, Central Cee, Teddy Swims, Boldy James, Mogwai, flipturn, Kane Brown, Larkin Poe, AJ Mitchell, HorsegiirL, Young Franco & Benjamin Booker all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Lucy Dacus, Jason Isbell, Perfume Genius, Samia, Whitechapel, Edwyn Collins, Yakima (of Little Dragon) & TOKiMONSTA all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

The Supreme Court upheld its decision to ban TikTok this morning. The GRAMMYs are set to proceed as planned on February 2nd at the Crypto.com Arena with a revised and condensed schedule focused on wildfire relief in Los Angeles. UMG, Warner, Sony, Spotify, BMG and more canceled all GRAMMY-related events, pledging to redirect funds to those affected by the fires.

Bob Dylan on TikTok? You’ve got 30 minutes, king.

Drake dropped his original legal claim against UMG and Spotify on Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ and then immediately sued UMG for defamation. UMG responded. HYBE and JP Entertainment were one of the few music stocks to make gains last week. HYBE subsidiary Ador continued its legal dispute with group NewJeans.

Balloonerism, Mac Miller’s lost album, arrives today with a short film in limited theaters worldwide. Coldplay announced ‘A Film For The Future,’ a visual companion to Moon Music premiering on YouTube January 22nd.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

Group Chat

The section that’ll probably get us in trouble one of these days

How it started…

The next day…

TikTok A&Rs next week:

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Reasons why people think some artists are plants

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Don't understand the meaning of hard work (30%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Jealousy and resentment (8%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Zero idea how the music industry works (50%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Something illuminati something something (12%)

Ringo Starr, Jazzy, Hunter Metts

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Irish dance-pop singer Jazzy, who just released her buzzy new single ‘No Bad Vibes’, signed with UTA for touring.

Ringo Starr teamed up with the newly relaunched Lost Highway Records for its first official release.

Nashville newcomer (by way of Northern Ireland), Gareth signed with BMG for publishing. The singer found his breakthrough last year with his cover of ‘Stick Season’ by Noah Kahan going viral.

NERVO & Reinier Zonneveld both extended their publishing deals with the dance-focused music co Armada Music.

Rising singer-songwriter Zach John King signed with Sony Music Nashville for records.

Former American Idol contestant Hunter Metts landed with WME for touring. 

+100 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: FKA twigs, Khruangbin, Lucy Dacus, Perfume Genius

Intuit Dome is to host FireAid, a benefit concert for communities affected by the LA wildfires on Jan 30th. Produced by Live Nation, AEG & the Azoff family, the show will donate proceeds to support displaced families and rebuild LA infrastructure. Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani & more are set to play.

Additionally, L.A. Gives Back announced its own fire relief benefit concert to be held later this month. 100% of proceeds will go to several charities that benefit the community, firefighters & animals affected by the wildfires. The event is being organized by Another Planet, Brownies & Lemonade and others, with a lineup to be announced.

Bad Bunny announced a 21-date residency at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico for his most recent album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. The first 9 shows will be “residents only.”

In other residency news, Kenny Chesney announced a 12-date run at Sphere, making him the first country artist to headline the Vegas venue.

Calibash 2025 and The Weeknd’s Rose Bowl Stadium performance join the growing list of postponed events due to the fires.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

  • Gov Ball 2025 will feature Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo & Hozier as headliners

  • New Orleans Jazz Fest announced Kacey Musgraves, Pearl Jam & Lil Wayne with The Roots among the headliners

  • Napa Valley’s BottleRock will be headlined by Green Day, Justin Timberlake & Noah Kahan

  • Phoenix-based nonprofit festival M3F shared its lineup with LCD Soundsystem & Justice as headliners

Jeff Perkins, Youssef Chellak, Lance Roberts

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Soundstripe, the music licensing tech company, named Jeff Perkins as CEO. Youssef Chellak named GM of Warner Music Belgium. Veteran music agent Lance Roberts joins WME as a Partner. River House Artists has promoted Zebb Luster to EVP, Lance Houston to GM and VP of Streaming & Radio, and Raines Edenfield to Director of A&R. Wrensong Publishing hired Haily Harris as Creative Manager. Matt Smallwood is made Head of Music for UK-based Club Class Music Management.

Martin Aagaard Jensen named GM at The Radar in Aarhus. Caldecott Music Group names David Nam Le as MD of Vista Musical Instruments and Jon Bahr as Sr. Advisor for Artist & Label Services. Artist manager Jake Nanez joins Raw Material. AIMP Nash Chapter elects John Ozier as Prez. Dead Horse Branding has promoted Brittany Hambrick to Prez of Ops & Branding. Sonos CEO Patrick Spence steps down after 8 years following an app “revamp” that upset customers, while Tom Conrad is appointed Interim CEO. 

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

  • Senior VP, Revenue at UMG in Santa Monica or Los Angeles

  • Viral Marketing Lead at WVE Media in Los Angeles

  • Director, Marketing at Position Music in Burbank, CA

  • Artist Relations at Vault.fm in LA or NY

  • Assistant VP of Marketing, Office of Communications and Marketing at Berklee College of Music in Boston

  • GM at Sofar Sounds in London

↗ Find these and 170+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR

Too Long / Did Read

Interesting, often long, stuff to watch, read, or listen to

📚Mood Machine by Liz Pelly

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