Vol 20 - We'll t-t-take you to the garden of readin'

Coldplay’s choice, hackers in their grand theft Eras & Glastonbury underwhelms?

March 07, 2025

Happy Friday,

Gaga halts the BLACKPINK NMF cover takeover, Dua caught in the crossfire. In other news, it’s Coldplay’s choice, hackers in their grand theft Eras & Glastonbury underwhelms?

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

SASAMI

New Music Friday

What you need to know about today’s new releases

🎶 New albums and EPs from Lady Gaga, JENNIE, SASAMI, Spiritbox, Jason Isbell, Youngboy Never Broke Again, AJ Mitchell, Richy Mitch & The Coal Miners, Daniel Seavey, Vulfpeck, Livingston, Caylee Hammack, Mack Keane, KenTheMan…

♪ Notable singles from Doechii, Cameron Whitcomb, GELO & GloRilla, Baby Nova, yung kai, Jonah Kagen, Hanumankind, David Guetta & Sia, Black Country, New Road, Max McNown, Nemzzz, Sabrina Claudio, Chloe Qisha, Aidan Bissett, Jack Van Cleaf…

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

#1 - Lagy Gaga’s new project Mayhem is finally here, with Gesaffelstein, Cirkut & Andrew Watt-produced ‘Garden of Eden’ leading today’s playlist.

#3 - Doechii officially releases ‘Anxiety’, a song she recorded & produced in her bedroom back in 2019.

#15 - Spiritbox drop their new album and land focus track ‘Keep Sweet’ on NMF. Note to self: new season of The Handmaid’s Tale coming this year.

#21 - Arista’s Jonah Kagen is back with his first release of the year with ‘The Reaper.’

#23 - Hanumankind drops his first single since his hit ‘Big Dawgs’ last summer with ‘Run It Up.’

#41 - UK pop newcomer Chloe Qisha unveils her latest single ‘Sex, Drugs & Existential Dread’ with writing help from Rob Milton (The 1975, Holly Humberstone).

#50 - Dolly Parton releases ‘If You Hadn’t Been There,’ a heartfelt tribute to her late husband of 60 years, Carl Dean.

#53 - Is it summer yet? Aidan Bissett releases ‘are we in love yet?’ produced by Andrew Wells.

#84 - Glaive Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things releases his debut single ‘Choose the latter’ via AWAL, the same label home as his costar Djo.

⭐ #88 - Artist Runnner who makes Bandcamp songs for SoundCloud kids (according to him) releases his most recent indie gem ‘Spackle.’

#95 - With a name like “Dutch Interior” how could they not get editorial coverage? The band release ‘Beekeeping’ ahead of their March 21st album drop.

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

Curren$y

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Curren$y, LE SSERAFIM, Coheed and Cambria, clipping., Courting, Penelope Scott, Charley Crockett, Davido, Charlie Cunningham, Nico, Steven Wilson, Twin Shadow & Jasiah all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Anyma, Ghost, Jessie Reyez, Billy Nomates, Don Felder, I’m With Her, Daisy the Great, Car Seat Headrest, Finn Wolfhard, Volbeat & Adam Melchor all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Drake “settled” his lawsuit with iHeartMedia after accusing the company of receiving illegal payments from UMG to boost airplay for 'Not Like Us' (spoiler: iHeart proved they did nothing wrong). In other Drake legal news, a federal judge declined a request from UMG to postpone a trial in hearing Drake's defamation lawsuit over 'Not Like Us.'

Japanese artist Ado's music was sent into space as part of SpaceX and Cannes Gala's "Bandwagon 2" project, which aims to bring music to the moon. Snoop Dogg is set to become the face of Web3 streamer Tune.FM, saying he's done with Spotify. A Japanese woman faced charges from South Korean authorities for allegedly kissing BTS' Jin without consent. Suge Knight’s request to overturn his 28-year manslaughter sentence was denied.

Alexis Ohanian joined "The People's Bid" to acquire TikTok's US Operations as a strategic advisor. Paul McCartney asked the Rock Hall of Fame to induct Joe Cocker. Jay-Z sued his Jane Doe rape accuser and her lawyers, claiming defamation. Kevin Liles is being sued for allegedly raping a woman at Def Jam in the early 2000s. Buffy Sainte-Marie was asked to return her Order of Canada medal after her lineage was called into question (she said she never claimed to be Canadian.) Young Thug settled with AEG over claims that he owed $5M+ under a 2017 touring deal. Diddy was charged with 4 new lawsuits alleging sexual assault. His mother was sued by former Bad Boy President Kirk Burrowes for allegedly coordinating with Diddy to strip Kirk of his label ownership. LyricFind sued MusixMatch, alleging 8 antitrust violations.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

Group Chat

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

Bumpin’ that, bumpin’ that beat

Meanwhile…

Wrong, we won’t stop, it’s still cool, f*ck off

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Magdalena Bay, Vince Staples, Mansionair

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Vince Staples has made his way over to Wasserman Music for touring alongside his agents James Rubin & Kevin Shivers. After a nationwide tour in the fall, the rapper is gearing up for Season 2 of The Vince Staples Show on Netflix.

LA-based alternative pop duo Magdalena Bay join Ben Coles’ roster at CAA for ASIA/AUS/EU. They are kicking off a big year of touring down under currently after releasing their album Imaginal Disk in 2024.

Previously with Sony Music Publishing, Ryan Tedder signed a publishing deal with Runner Music, a company he co-founded with Ron Laffitte (who also manages him) and Andrew Sparkler.

Sydney electronic trio Mansionair signed with Sony Music worldwide with label partners RCA in the UK and Arista in the US.

Grabbitz has teamed up with Will Tenney at SunPop for management, joining the current team of Shawn Dailey at Red Light. The electronic artist released his most recent album Big Epic Nothing last Friday.

Booking agency PlayBook Artists has announced they have shut down operations. Each of the agents are headed elsewhere with Eleanor McGuinness, Duncan Smith & Arthur Janssen joining the team at Earth Agency, Paul McGivern to Pitch & Smith & Nikita Lavrinenko is launching new agency SIGNAL & WAVE. Their respective clients will be joining each agent at their new homes.

+300 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Bring Me The Horizon, Brad Paisley, Beck, Tash Sultana, Spacey Jane

Hackers stole hundreds of concert tickets from Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and sold them for >$600K. Two individuals have since been arrested in New York and were charged with grand larceny, computer tampering & more.

Neil Young will kick-off his tour in Europe with a free show in Ukraine.

Additionally, Post Malone revealed he will host 10 free "Travelin' Tailgate" parties at select dates of his Big Ass Stadium Tour. The open-to-the-public parties will offer fans exclusive merch, games, a DJ set & more.

Coldplay's Chris Martin & band manager Phil Harvey will help select artists for the 2026 FIFA World Cup's halftime performance.

Diplo's Run Club - the producer's 5K & mini music fest series - is expanding nationwide this year with events in Philadelphia, Miami, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles & more.

Alanis Morissette announced a Vegas residency at Caesars Palace this fall.

Meanwhile, both Shakira & Gracie Abrams cancelled shows again, citing production issues and an unspecified illness, respectively.

Sphere, Las Vegas

Sphere shared its quarterly revenue surpassed over $300M after performances from Eagles, Anyma & Vegas Grand Prix. While this is lower than earnings a year ago, CEO James Dolan reported the company reduced operating loss by ~$17M (they still lost $142.9M overall).

Dolan explained that this year's focus is improving how Sphere operates its business, but longer term, "the expansion of more Spheres is what is going to deliver the most [return]."

📌 One-Offs:

After 13 years, mega star Lady Gaga will return to Mexico for a stadium concert on April 26 in support of her new album Mayhem, which dropped today.

Similarly, Vybz Kartel will play his first U.S. show in over 20 years at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY this month.

Offset confirmed his performance in Russia this April, despite parent label Universal Music Group suspending all operations there due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In other one-off show news, Kacey Musgraves christened Nashville's newest venue The Pinnacle with a sold-out show last week. The 4.5K capacity venue will play host to acts like Killswitch Engage, deadmau5 & more this month.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

  • The 1975, Neil Young & Olivia Rodrigo will headline Glastonbury 2025

  • Los Angeles' HARD Summer announced it will be headlined by Dom Dolla, Kaytranada, Gesaffelstein & Sara Landry

  • Aftershock Festival 2025 will feature headliners blink-182, Korn & Bring Me The Horizon

  • Seattle math-rock outfit Minus the Bear will reunite to headline Best Friends Forever Festival in Vegas this October

  • Napa Valley unveiled its lineup for Live In The Vineyard Goes Country with acts like Brett Young, RaeLynn, Stephen Wilson Jr. & others

  • Australia's Esoteric Festival was cancelled due to its application for a Place of Public Entertainment being rejected by the Council's Municipal Building surveyor, who cited 33 grounds of refusal

Ben Adelson, Tyler Arnold, Julie Greenwald, Adam Holt, Myra Hemara, Matt Kidd

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Mercury Records promoted Tyler Arnold to chairman & CEO and Ben Adelson to president & COO. UMG New Zealand MD and Chairman Adam Holt retired after 24 years in the role. Myra Hemara and Matt Kidd are set to become Co-Managing Directors on May 1. Julie Greenwald was named Executive-in-Residence at NYU's Clive Davis Institute for Spring 2025. Rachel Whitney exited her role as Head of Editorial, Nashville at Spotify to take a sabbatical.

Richard Vega and Stephen Schulcz were promoted to Partners at WME in the music division. Adrian Pope was named EVP, Digital Business & Global Partner Relations at Virgin Music Group. Lauren Kilgore joined Sony Music Nash and Provident as SVP, Legal & Business Affairs. Andrew Klein was promoted to President of Global Partnerships at AEG Presents. Michael Lewan was appointed as the first Exec. Director of The Music Fights Fraud Alliance (MFFA). Annie DeConto was promoted to Director of Business Development at music rights firm Catch Point Rights Partners. Colin Rice was appointed Director, Catalogue Marketing at Chrysalis Records. Street Mob Records hired Gustavo López as its new president. Gyrostream appointed Dan Gibson Head of Publishing and Sync and Nathan Tito Publicity & Partnerships Manager.

Jody Williams Songs promoted Nina Jenkins Fisher to VP/GM and Tenasie Courtright to Creative Director. Jodi Dawes was appointed VP of Publicity & Comms at Big Machine Label Group. Brian Wagner was named Executive Director at IEBA as Pam Matthews retires after 10 years in the role. Hazel Savage joined EDM edu platform Syntho as CEO. Marty Elliott joined Peachtree Entertainment as VP, University Relations while Andrew Goldberg joined as VP, Strategic Partnerships. Leo33 hired Joseph Manzo as Marketing Coordinator and Ana Shabeer as Director, Business Intelligence. Musicians On Call promoted 11 people.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

  • Head of Creative Brand at Beatport - London

  • Account Director, Marketing at FlyteVu Agency - Nashville

  • Director of Marketing at Opendate - Remote

  • Manager, Marketing at Nettwerk - Nashville or Toronto

  • Office Administrator at Top Drawer Merch - LA

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

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