Vol 16 - (Ooh) If you tried just a little more times, I would've made you a reader

Happy Friday,

GRAMMYs recap 🏆, Chappell claps back 👏, Kendrick with the sack 🏈

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 Biig Piig, Nardo Wick, Chase Shakur, Chloe Slater, Tyga, Larry June, 2 Chainz & The Alchemist, Michigander, Inhaler, Oklou…

♪ Notable singles from Lady Gaga, LISA, Doja Cat & RAYE, Doechii, d4vd, Alex Warren, Anitta, Tommy Richman, Old Dominion, Ava Max, G-Eazy…

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

#1 - Another week, another BLACKPINK solo collab - this time LISA, Doja Cat and RAYE team up with ‘Born Again.’

#2 - Gaga is back with ‘Abracadabra’ - is there a recession in-store??

#3 - Doechii celebrates her GRAMMYs victory by dropping a new single, ‘Nosebleeds.’

#10 - Tommy Richman works to follow up the success of ‘MILLION DOLLAR BABY’ this year with ‘ACTIN UP’. 

#11 - Anitta releases her first track of 2025, ‘ROMEO.’

#18 - After recently signing with Def Jam, GELO nabs Lil Wayne for his ‘Tweaker’ remix.

#20 - Old Dominion with their latest anthem and first release of the year, ‘Making Good Time.’

#36 - Coi Leray is back with her first single under Epic Records (after stints with Uptown/Republic & Island) with ‘Keep It.’

#39 - Elton John and Brandi Carlile release ‘Who Believes In Angels?’ ahead of their upcoming album releasing in April.

#40 - Rising country star Mackenzie Carpenter teams up with Midland for a charming, flirty new duet ‘I Wish You Would.’

#58 - Bryan Adams drops ‘Roll With The Punches’ (reuniting with co-writer Mutt Lange) ahead of his upcoming album and tour.

#79 - Recent Prairy signee IDK teams up with Denzel Curry on ‘S.U.’

⭐ #91 - The American Dawn drops highly anticipated follow up to viral hit ‘Her’ with ‘The Edge.’ 

#99 - Spotify playlist darling and Greek artist Σtella releases ‘Omorfo Mou'.’

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Drake & PARTYNEXTDOOR, Alessia Cara, Art d’Ecco, Bartees Strange, Doves, Horsegirl, The Lumineers, Westside Gunn, Eyedress, THEY., Mallrat, John Glacier all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Lil Wayne, Elton John & Brandi Carlile, Machel Montano, Benmont Tench, Sabrina Carpenter (deluxe), Jesse Welles, Cold Specks, Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton all announced new albums this week. Oasis shared they’ll be releasing an anthology album featuring 26 singles & DJ Khaled quickly deleted his album announcement following Drake refuting his appearances on it.

The GRAMMY Review

Recapping the 2025 GRAMMYs

The 67th GRAMMYs took place on Sunday and Beyoncé finally won album of the year, becoming the 4th Black woman to do so following Natalie Cole, Whitney Houston and Lauryn Hill. Kendrick Lamar won both record and song of the year for ‘Not Like Us.’ Chappell Roan won best new artist and took the opportunity to advocate for all artists in her acceptance speech. Amy Allen won songwriter of the year, non-classical, making her the 1st woman to win in the category. For genre awards, Beyoncé also took country album, Sabrina Carpenter won best pop album, The Rolling Stones won for best rock album, Shakira won best Latin pop album, Doechii won best rap album (making her the 3rd woman to ever do so) and the Beatles won best rock performance for ‘Now and Then,’ making it their 1st win in a rock category and the 1st AI-assisted track to win. See the full list of winners here.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

The Super Bowl takes place in the US on Sunday with Post Malone performing at the tailgate, Jon Batiste singing the National Anthem, Trombone Shorty performing ‘America the Beautiful,’ Ledisi singing ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing,’ and of course, Kendrick Lamar (with special guest SZA) performing the half time show. Will Kendrick perform ‘Not Like Us?’

ByteDance launched a music licensing platform called EasyOde. Warner and Spotify confirmed a new multi-year deal. The National Music Publishers’ Association announced its plans to issue takedown notices to Spotify for over 2,500 instances of unlicensed music works use. A judge ruled that Apple does not have to let Musi back into the app store after removing the streaming app last year. Legendary producer and mogul Irv Gotti passed away this week.

Thirteen ticket scalpers were arrested in Hong Kong after scamming people out of HK$800K. A man suspected of murdering Pop Smoke reached a plea deal and will serve 29 years. Sam Fender was named official ambassador for Record Store Day UK this year. Killer Mike sued a security firm for placing him under citizen’s arrest under false pretenses at last year’s GRAMMYs. Megan Thee Stallion and Psy are set to star in an Apple TV+ K-pop competition series.

Even more people sued Diddy this week…

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Triller raised $50M in an equity funding round

• Warner acquired a controlling stake in Tempo Music Investments for $450M

• Exceleration Music acquired Mack Avenue Music, a collection of jazz labels

• South Korean company and SM entertainment majority holder Kakao plans to launch a fan platform

• Virgin Music Group partnered with RainLabs, a distro and label services company in Ghana

• Warner expanded its licensing deal with Audiomack to 47 more countries

• AI concert data startup Breakevent raised over $900K

Group Chat

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

Holy shit, Jeff…

We couldn’t have said it any better than AvA so they’re making another Group Chat appearance:

Totally random Tweet we found on the matter:

Update: Chappell responds (!!)

The REAL way to land on a Billboard list

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Meet the "methodology" guidelines (20%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Blackmail a Luminate employee (8%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ “Career trajectory and momentum” maxxing (8%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Pay your publicist $20K (42%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Ask colleagues to fill out one of those nomination Google Forms they send around (22%)

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

After more than a decade with Sony Music Latin, Reggaeton artist Nicky Jam has now teamed up with Virgin Music Group for new music. 

‘Old Town Road’’s Lil Nas X signed with Crush Music for management. 

Tipped Irish artist MOIO landed with Wasserman Music for touring alongside live appearances the past two weeks in London & Paris.

Manchester-based electronic music duo Solardo signed with Spin Artist Agency for touring in NA.

Coi Leray is assembling a new team with Range Music now handling management duties. 

American alternative singer Carlie Hanson signed with Fearless Records.

+150 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Beyoncé, The Weeknd, Lainey Wilson, Rauw Alejandro, AC/DC, Mumford & Sons

The FireAid benefit concerts last Thursday drew 50M viewers and raised >$100M in donations.

The TICKET Act, which would require ticket sellers to display all-in ticket pricing, will now move to a full vote in the US Senate.

St. Louis’ Gateway Studios & Production Services will open a 32-acre studio production complex in May designed to host rehearsals for major touring arena and stadium shows. CEO Trey Kerr explains their goal has always been to “create a world-class environment where artists and their teams can prepare to bring their visions to life.”

After a hiatus to focus on their solo careers, K-pop group BLACKPINK teased a world tour for 2025.

Dave Grohl joins the growing list of performers for SNL’s 50th anniversary concert on Feb 14th. Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone & more will perform.

House producer Blond:Ish will be Pacha Ibiza’s first woman resident DJ. Her 11-week residency will begin on May 21st.

All original Black Sabbath members will reunite at England benefit concert Back to the Beginning in July for Ozzy Osbourne’s “last performance.”

Jelly Roll’s 4-story venue Goodnight Nashville will open its doors on Feb 20th.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Bourbon & Beyond absolutely delivered with its lineup featuring Sturgill Simpson, Jack White, Noah Kahan, Alabama Shakes, Khruangbin & Megan Moroney to name a few

• 88rising’s Head in the Clouds will return for its 10th anniversary in Pasadena with performances from Rich Brian, DPR IAN, Porter Robinson & more

• Bob Dylan & Willie Nelson will also reunite for the 10th anniversary of Outlaw Music Festival, bringing acts Sheryl Crow, Wilco, Billy Strings & more

• Chicago’s Sueños Fest will be headlined by Shakira, Peso Pluma, Don Omar & Grupo Frontera

• Global entertainment platform celebrating the art of the African diaspora AfroFuture & Bedrock will host the inaugural AfroFuture Detroit fest this summer

• Movement Festival has added acts like Charlotte de Witte, A$AP Ferg, Zack Fox, Mau P & others to its lineup

• Birdsville’s Big Red Bash, yet another Australian festival, holds off till 2026

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

After two years as Chair & CEO of UMG Nashville—and more than 18 years with the company—Cindy Mabe exits her role as they name Mike Harris as CEO and appoint Dave Cobb as CCO. Formerly Head of Creative at 10K Projects, Alex Figueroa, joins Atlantic Records as VP of Creative. Tiara Hargrave named GM of Influence Media’s Slang Label. Capitol Records appoints Brian “Busy” Dackowsi as EVP/Head of Pop/Rock Digital Marketing. Activated Events names Lexia Thomas as Director of Artist Relations. Sphere Entertainment names Glenn Derry as EVP of MSG Ventures. Concord Music Publishing promotes Kourtney Kirkpatrick to SVP of Sync and Matt Turner to VP of A&R. Big Machine Label Group’s Clay Hunnicutt exits his role as EVP/Label Ops after 5 years.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Director - Royalty Income at BMG in London

• Live Events Director at Top Drawer Merch in Los Angeles

• Artist Manager/Product Manager at Prairy (Remote)

• Manager, Corporate Development at Nettwerk Music Group in Canada

• Strategic Digital Marketing Director at Blue Raincoat Music in West Hollywood

↗ Find these and 240+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR