Vol 15 - The next edition will shake the tree, and much will come loose

Happy Friday,

GRAMMY weekend, Power Players, and…checks notes…Jonas Brothers??

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

New Music Friday

What you need to know about today’s new releases

🎶 New albums and EPs from The Weeknd, EST Gee, Iniko, French Police, Penny and Sparrow, Pink Siifu, L.S. Dunes, Christian Nodal, berryblue, Max Styler, MIKE…

♪ Notable singles from Morgan Wallen, Zach Bryan, The Kooks, The Lumineers, Jessie Reyez, JENNIE & Dominic Fike, Latto & Playboi Carti, Nessa Barrett, Black Country, New Road, Momma, Nardo Wick, Cole Swindell…

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

#3- Morgan Wallen drops title track ‘I’m the Problem’ ahead of fourth studio album release.

#5 - Jamie xx teams up with Erykah Badu for a fresh new single, ‘F.U.,’ featured on the deluxe edition of his latest album, In Waves.

#10 - The Lumineers release ‘You’re All I Got’ along with ‘So Long’ on their new EP.

#11 - Måneskin’s Damiano David covers Mark Ronson & Miley Cyrus’ ‘Nothing Breaks Like a Heart’ in his Spotify Singles session.

#13 - Gryffin, Kaskade and Nu-La drop your new favorite track to run to, ‘In My Head.’

#15 - Collab-lover Julien Baker teams up this time with Torres for ‘Sylvia,’ the first single of their joint album due out later this year.

#19 - Bring Me The Horizon release the Liam Gallagher-approved cover of ‘WONDERWaLL - Spotify Singles.’ “I f*cking LOVE it,” the Oasis frontman shared. “Absolutely incredible made my day I’m of out on my skateboard f*ck y’all.”

#28 - American rock supergroup L.S. Dunes bring ‘Forgiveness’ from their newly released album Violet. The band recently announced a NA tour for this April.

#31 - James Bay + Jon Batiste in ‘Sunshine In The Room.’

#39 - Rascal Flatts release ‘I Dare You’ featuring the Jonas Brothers. The track is co-written by Nick Jonas and Shay Mooney of Dan + Shay.

#48 - Christian Nodal performs ‘A Solas con la Botella’ with The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and composer Adam Klemens.

⭐ #60 - Rising Toronto artist Charlie Houston drops ‘Lighter’ off her debut album out today.

#92 - Tom Grennan’s ‘Shadowboxing’ is co-written by Justin Tranter.

#97 - Deafheaven make their return with ‘Magnolia’, their first release in four years.

#98 - Joy Orbison and Joe James are starting the year strong dropping new single ‘bastard’, crafted at XL Recordings.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Dream Theater, 2 Chainz, Squid, Sharon Van Etten, Guided by Voices, Tyga, Inhaler, Caroline Rose, Facs, Oklou, Biig Piig, Michigander, Krept & Konan & Olly Alexander all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Lady Gaga, The Driver Era, Charley Crockett, Julien Baker & Torres, Goose, Momma, Deafheaven, Alison Krauss & Union Station all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

GRAMMY weekend is here and there will be a series of special performances from Stevie Wonder, Cynthia Erivo, Sheryl Crow and more. More on how the awards have pivoted to focus on aiding those affected by the wildfires in LA. Spotify and UMG signed a new multi-year licensing agreement that includes a direct licensing agreement with UMPG in the US. In other Spotify news, the company overcame a lawsuit brought by the MLC over bundling royalty rates. Three music-focused bills were reintroduced to the US Senate this week:

• American Music Tourism Act - promoting music tourism

• MAIN Event Ticketing Act - combatting ticket bots

• Help Independent Tracks Succeed Act (HITS Act) - providing tax deductions for production expenses to help independent creators

USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released its annual music report, showing that women in music saw little change in 2024 from the previous year. Duetti reported that independent artists received only $3.41 per 1,000 streams in 2024.

Live Nation vs. DOJ continued…

Dolly: An Original Musical is set to premiere in Nashville this Summer before heading to Broadway next year. The Jonas Brothers will reunite with Disney for a Christmas comedy movie releasing this year. The investigation into sexual assault and domestic violence allegations against Marilyn Manson was dropped last week. Eminem’s publisher sued a car dealership in Detroit over TikTok ads using ‘Lose Yourself.’

Warner Chappell Nashville President/CEO Ben Vaughn passed away.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Music investing company backed by BlackRock and WMG, Influence Media Partners, raised $360M

• Hong Kong-based firm HongShan Capital Group acquired a majority stake in amplifier maker Marshall Group

• Tuned Global partnered with AI startup AudioShake

• Label and mgmt firm Rough Bones opened an office in Nigeria

• China’s Netease Cloud Music reached a temporary deal with South Korea’s SM Entertainment to keep SM’s catalog available beyond January 31st

• Indie distributor IDOL signed partnership deals with Mexican Summer and new label Dom Recs

• Will Sonos be sold?

• ADA extended its partnership with label Solotoko

• Live Nation Urban partnered with monthly vendor highlighting Black-owned businesses Black on the Block

• Walkoff Entertainment secured a partnership with Virgin Music Group

• Record label Lasal announced a JV with CCMG

Group Chat

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

What are we doing here guys…

Billboard Power Players “Methodology”… 🤣

ROSTR son or HITS DD daughter?

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ ROSTR son (33%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ HITS DD daughter (4%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Stop. (37%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ What? (26%)

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Travis Scott, Tyler, The Creator & Kali Uchis all were part of the group of artists announced as coming over to Wasserman along with their respective agents James Rubin, Kevin Shivers & Cristina Baxter.

JISOO is the latest BLACKPINK member to sign a solo label deal, this time with Warner Records who is releasing her debut solo mini album Feb 14.

Rapper Logic, who has racked up 1B+ streams on his hit ‘1-800-273-8255’, signed with new management at Good Luck Have Fun/Night.

2025 GRAMMY nominee for Best Americana Album, Charley Crockett, announced he has teamed up with Island Records for his new album due out in March.

Rock band Daughtry joined Grandview Music along with their manager Jon Linton who comes over from Hard 8 Working Group.

Country newcomer Hudson Westbrook signed a publishing deal with River House Artists in partnership with Sony Music Publishing Nashville.

+200 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: GloRilla, Central Cee, Simple Minds, Earth, Wind & Fire, Incubus

Chris Stapleton donated $1M to LA wildfire relief. blink-182, similarly, announced a one-night-only charity show on Feb 13th to support wildfire relief efforts.

Additionally, GIVE A F*CK LA, a charitable auction and concert, will be held next Wednesday at The Hollywood Palladium and feature acts like St. Vincent, Hayley Williams, FINNEAS & more. Donations will be given to a number of local organizations that are helping those affected by the wildfires.

AEG’s ticketing platform AXS will introduce biometric security features on their ticketing app such as fingerprint and facial recognition. AXS exec Justin Burleigh cites the feature “enhances security for our users [and] streamlines the ticketing process.”

Post Malone announced he will play the Super Bowl LIX Tailgate show.

After 3 years of construction, SILO Dallas has opened its doors. The 3k+ capacity venue is “a state-of-the-art, multi-use event space designed to host the world’s most in-demand DJs.”

Hot off a trio of collaborations, Bruno Mars is extending his Vegas residency with 7 new shows at Park MGM this spring and summer.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Simple Plan, Bowling for Soup & others are among the first announced acts for Vans Warped Tour’s 30th anniversary

• Pasadena’s Just Like Heaven announced Vampire Weekend as its headlining act. Included in the lineup is rock outfit Rilo Kiley, who will be reuniting to play live for the first time since 2008

• Billboard THE STAGE at SXSW will be headlined by John Summit, Grupo Frontera & Koe Wetzel

• Old Dominion is set to headline Boots In The Park in Santa Clarita in May

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Sony Music Publishing promotes Katie Welle to President, Head of US A&R. Arwen Hunt joins Various Artists Management as Head of AUS/NZ. AEG restructures international leadership, naming Adam Wilkes as President & CEO of AEG Presents (Europe & APAC) and Alex Hill as President & CEO of AEG International. Activated Events names Amy Bryan Fosgate as Sr. Talent Buyer and Chrissy Greco Head of Marketing. Mike Chester has been promoted to GM at Warner Records. Universal Music Publishing Group has appointed Jamie Kinelski as Senior VP of A&R.

Hiroki Totoki is named the new CEO of Sony Group in Japan and current CEO Kenichiro Yoshida will remain as Chairman. Chuck Pettry moves from Sandbag to Manhead Merch as VP Artist Relations. Music Support UK appoints Kimberley Goddard as Head of Fundraising and Corporate Partnerships while Laila Khan assumes the position of Major Event Fundraising and Engagement Specialist. Audacy CEO David Field steps down after 27 years while Kelli Turner steps in as interim President and CEO. Spotify’s General Counsel Eve Konstan announces exit after five years in the role. See the 5 new executive hires at Wasserman here.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Head of Digital (Artist Specific) at Roc Nation in NY

• Senior Booker at Beatside in Italy 

• Full Stack Engineer at Universal Music Group in Philly

• Senior International Marketing Manager, Maternity Leave Cover at Transgressive Records in London

• Senior Manager, Paid Media at Roc Nation in NY

↗ Find these and 200+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR