Vol 18 - I wanna be the first thing in your inbox when you wake up

Happy Friday,

A new throuple has entered the villa, BLINKS rejoice 🖤🩷 & Rocky freed A$AP!!

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 Tate McRae, Saya Gray, Sam Fender, Chase Matthew, SIENNA SPIRO, Kelora, SAINt JHN, Bren Joy, Durand Bernarr, Kameron Marlowe, Nao, Nardo Wick, Youth Lagoon…

♪ Notable singles from Selena Gomez, benny blanco & Gracie Abrams, JENNIE & Doechii, Coco Jones, Fontaines D.C., Burna Boy, Quavo, Suki Waterhouse, Mumford & Sons, Tucker Wetmore, Wallows, Debbii Dawson, Lay Bankz, Rico Nasty, Joey Bada$$…

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

#1 - Selena Gomez says to ‘Call Me When You Break Up’ with benny blanco and Gracie Abrams featuring co-writers Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter and many more.

#2 - Tate McRae releases ‘Revolving Door’ with help of co-writers Ryan Tedder, Julia Michaels and Grant Boutin.

#3 - JENNIE drops ‘ExtraL’ featuring Doechii, giving fans a taste of what’s coming on her album Ruby.

#15 - Mumford & Sons collab with songwriter and newly appointed Chief Creative Officer at UMG Nashville, Dave Cobb on ‘Malibu.’

#22 - Hotly tipped songstress Debbii Dawson reveals that ‘You Killed The Music.’

#34 - grentperez releases ‘Movie Scene’, the next single off his upcoming debut full length album dropping March 28th via AWAL.

#38 - Joe Jonas goes country on Ashley Cooke’s ‘All I Forgot,’ co-written with Charlie Puth.

#44 - Republic Records’ new shiny thing nate sib (now managed by Dylan Shanks) releases ‘tonight.’

#56 - Dead Oceans artist Jensen McRae is ‘Praying For Your Downfall.’ The singer-songwriter announced her sophomore album and an NA tour this week.

#66 - At a disrespectful 66, Spotify place MARINA’s first release in 3 years - ‘BUTTERFLY’ - via recently brand-refreshed BMG (prev. Atlantic).

#73 - Don’t know what happened last week, but Russell Dickerson’s new single ‘Happen To Me’ just happened to us.

⭐ #80 - Indie rap duo Paris Texas release ‘infinyte’ off their new album They Left Me With The Sword. The pair are opening for Tyler on his Chromakopia tour, which kicked off earlier this month.

#88 - New music alert from Keke Palmer with track ‘Imposter!’

#97 - Self-proclaimed ‘twee pop’ band Wishy releases ‘Fly.’ 

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

LISA, Shygirl, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Architects, BANKS, Mdou Moctar, Lil Tracy, G-Eazy, DARKSIDE, Doves, REASON, serpentwithfeet, Miya Folick & Redferrin all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Rico Nasty, Superheaven, Lael Neale, John Splithoff, Sleigh Bells, Big Thief’s James Krivchenia & McKinley Dixon all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

The lawsuit against Jay-Z and Diddy over the alleged rape of a 13 year old in 2000 was dismissed. Paramount paused select awards shows such as the CMT Music Awards, the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and the MTV EMAs as its merger with Skydance Media is expected to close soon. Spotify’s superfan tier is on the way and could launch this year. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are hoping to sell their recorded music catalog for $350M+.

The trial for Tupac’s suspected murderer was delayed until 2026 after new evidence emerged. LISA launched a comic company, with “ALTER-EGO: THE OFFICIAL COMIC” set to debut alongside her upcoming album. Ryan Tedder teamed up with HYBE to discover and train a new global boy band. An auction started the process of selling 2 tapes with ‘unreleased’ Michael Jackson music and his estate is unhappy with this ‘sad attempt…to mislead the public.’ A$AP Rocky was found not guilty of firearm assault. Avicii collaborator Sandro Cavazza revealed he did not approve the recent release of ‘Forever Yours - Tim’s 2016 Ibiza Version.’

We’re a proud partner of the FREE, digital Measure of Music conference running today-Sunday!

Live Nation reported record revenue for 2024, earning $23.1B. The BBC Radiophonic Workshop archives have been made available to listeners for the 1st time. India’s T-Series, Saregama and IMI organization plan to sue OpenAI. Boyz II Men pushed for US lawmakers to pass legislation that allows recording artists to get paid for their work that is paid on the radio. A US Court ordered the identity of 100 music pirates to be revealed from telecom provider Altice USA.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• New Mashup app MashAPP partnered with UMG, Sony, Warner and Kobalt.

• UMG took the lead with a major stake in Japanese music powerhouse A-Sketch.

• Hybe’s Supertone launched its AI text-to-speech service.

• Spotify may roll out AI-driven mixing and ticketing features this year.

• TikTok released its latest report highlighting music’s positive impact.

• Instagram’s latest music feature lets users send songs directly through DM’s.

• Believe launched a new services unit in Thailand focused on breaking indie-pop artists into the market.

• Killphonic Rights debuted their label division with ‘The Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young’

• T-Pain strikes a deal, sells publishing catalog and select masters to HarbourView.

• Warner Records links up with hip-hop & R&B power player Tim Hinshaw in game-changing partnership.

• Atlantic Music Group joins forces with Abou "Bu" Thiam’s BuVision label.

Group Chat

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

Lol

“Challengers (Remix)”

Who's new logo is this?

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) (2%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Another Australian music industry resource org (22%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Some stupid Web3 music company (22%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Definitely not BMG (54%)

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

R&B singer Summer Walker, who recently launched her ‘Over It Radio’ radio show on Apple Music, signed with UTA for touring.

Rising Latin star Xavi joined the Walter Kolm Entertainment management roster alongside artists like Maluma, Ryan Castro, Prince Royce & others.

DJ & Producer Mau P, whose debut single in 2022 went for over 200M streams, signed with Warner Chappell Music for publishing.

Country artist Jay Webb signed with WHAT’S GOOD PROJECTS for management.

Songwriter Corey Sanders, who has worked with Calum Scott, Sasha Sloan, Katy Perry & more, has teamed up with Page 1 Management.

+185 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Post Malone, Camila Cabello, Paul Simon, Lil Baby, Vampire Weekend, Father John Misty

K-pop supergroup BLACKPINK announced a limited run of shows starting in July.

Post-his SNL 50 performance, Paul Simon announced a 50+ date tour, after he retired from touring back in 2018.

Amidst a run of Australian music festivals being cancelled, Laneway Festival confirms its return for 2026. This year’s festival drew in 200K+ attendees across Auckland, Brisbane, Sydney & other big cities.

Speaking of Aussie festivals, Yours and Owl will be the first NSW fest to trial pill testing and host a government-run testing facility.

The Hollywood Bowl released its lineup for the 2025 summer season with shows from Earth, Wind & Fire, Alabama Shakes, Big Thief, John Legend & more.

Days into her headline tour, Shakira was hospitalized in Peru citing abdominal pain.

Grand Ole Opry announced its Opry NextStage class of 2025 in Dasha, Tigirlily Gold, Tucker Wetmore & more.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Montreal’s Osheaga 2025 will be headlined by The Killers, Tyler, The Creator & Olivia Rodrigo and feature acts like Doechii, Shaboozey & more

• Drake is set to headline London’s Wireless Festival on all 3 nights with a different set list each night

• Lollapalooza Berlin will feature headliners Justin Timberlake, BTS’ J-Hope & Gracie Abrams

• Jennifer Lopez & Troye Sivan will headline WorldPride Music Fest in D.C. this June

• Roots Picnic 2025 will feature D’Angelo, Lenny Kravitz, Meek Mill & GloRilla

• Shania Twain, Tyler Hubbard & Lainey Wilson will headline Cavendish Beach Music Festival this July

• Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley & Bailey Zimmerman will headline Washington’s Watershed Music Festival in August

• Zootown Music Festival’s inaugural event lineup includes Kacey Musgraves, Hozier, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit & more

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Ole Obermann is leaving his role as Global Head of Music Biz Dev at ByteDance; he’s rumored to be heading to Apple. Tracy Gardner will step into the role after Obermann exits in March. Warner Chappell promotes Gabz Landman to Sr VP, A&R. Big Machine Label Group has appointed Jodi Dawes as VP of Publicity & Communications. AEG Presents promotes Andrew Klein to Prez of Global Partnerships. Sony Music Nash promotes Mallory Michaels to VP, Radio Marketing & Promotion.

Taylor Vaughn joins Big Feat PR as VP heading up the West Coast office. ATC Live adds Lucy Atkinson as a new agent and promotes Alice Hogg to Head of Tour Marketing. Sound Talent Group promotes Sarah Pederson to Director of Finance. Simon Carpenter becomes CEO of Gigantic Tickets as founder Mark Gasson moves to chairman role. Raw Power Management has promoted Dan Brown to the newly created position of Head of A&R. Big Timber Ent expands with a new Accounting Division where Troy Brown will lead this new service. See here who’s been promoted and hired across UMG’s REPUBLIC Collective, and click here to find out which 14 trainees were promoted at CAA.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Managing Editor (for News) at The ROSTR Group in Los Angeles

• Director, Contract Administration at Kobalt in Nashville

• Director or Sr. Director, Artist Brand Manager at Red Light Management in Nashville

• Director of Artist Services at Amuse in Stockholm

• VP, Insights & Analytics at BMG in Los Angeles

↗ Find these and 160+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR