Vol 22 - I wish it was just us in this inbox

Happy Friday,

A week of teases - Is Radiohead touring? Is Queen dropping? Is SX dead?

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 Selena Gomez & benny blanco, Japanese Breakfast, Bathe, A Day To Remember, Dutch Interior, Greentea Peng, Jay Wheeler, Kevin Gates, Lily Meola, Men I Trust, Money Man, Moses Bliss, nimino, NMIXX, Ryan Hurd, YHWH Nailgun…

♪ Notable singles from Jack Harlow & Doja Cat, Morgan Wallen, Jonas Brothers, Artemas, sombr, FISHER, mgk, Noah Cyrus & Fleet Foxes, j-hope, Lil Nas X, Avery Anna, DESTIN CONRAD, Moneybagg Yo, Isabel LaRosa, Good Neighbours, YUNGBLUD…

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

#1 - Jack Harlow & Doja Cat hop on ‘Just Like Us’ together accompanied by a music video dinner party with the likes of Matt Damon, John Mayer, Nicholas Braun & more.

#4 - The Jonas Brothers celebrate 20 years as a band with new track ‘Love Me To Heaven’ ahead of this weekend’s JonasCon in New Jersey where they will announce dates for their Living the Dream tour.

#11 - Noah Cyrus taps into her folk side with Fleet Foxes on ‘Don’t Put It All On Me’ - a song written by her brother, Braison.

#16 - Men I Trust dropped their latest project Equus Asinus on Wednesday, with ‘I Come With Mud’ landing on this week’s NMF.

#28 - City Girls’ JT releases ‘Ran Out,’ her first single of the year.

#34 - A Day To Remember drop their Big Ole Album Vol.1 on streaming, with ‘All My Friends’ landing on NMF.

#52 - Indie’s Kacy Hill lands with ‘When In Rome’ alongside writing help from friend and artist John Vincent.

#62 - Jon Bellion drops ‘WASH,’ his first release of 2025.

#68 - Dream pop darlings Luna Li & Raveena join forces on aptly named ‘Fantasy.’

#71 - Maddie & Tae sing about the kindness and support of ‘Drunk Girls in Bathrooms,’ produced by Tae’s husband Josh Kerr.

#74 - The Knocks & Dragonette team up once again for ‘Foolish Pleasure.’

⭐ #85 - Rising folk artist Dylan Hughes finally releases ‘Ivory’ after teasing the track on social media.

#94 - Sofia Reyes and Alan Walker collab on ‘Guaro con Ron.’

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Mumford & Sons, Perfume Genius, Deafheaven, SPELLLING, Mos Def, Destroyer, NAV, Lil Durk, Lucy Dacus, Wallows, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Polo & Pan, Backxwash, Busta Rhymes, chloe moriondo, Jessie Reyez, Will Smith, grentperez, Nemzzz & Logic1000 all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Blake Shelton, Shamir, Kali Uchis, Billie Marten, Will Smith, Lil Durk, Low’s Alan Sparhawk, Deerhoof & Cuco all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

TikTok will be banned in the US on April 5th unless ByteDance sells it. Reports have emerged that Oracle is in talks with the White House to run the US business. A federal judge denied Live Nation's request to dismiss two parts of the antitrust lawsuit brought by the US Department of Justice. UMG filed a motion asking the court to dismiss the defamation lawsuit Drake brought against the label, saying “one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated.” Atlantic asked a court in TX to dismiss a lawsuit against Cardi B's 'Enough (Miami),' claiming the claimants had forgotten to register their composition with the US Copyright Office. A new charter aiming to provide support for trans and non-binary people working in music is set to launch in May, led by activist and podcaster Saskhia Menendez.

Global recorded music revenues grew 4.8% in 2024, to $29.6B. Spotify certified its first two entirely AI-generated albums on the platform. A former Eminem employee was charged with stealing and selling unreleased music from the rapper that leaked earlier this year. Ticketmaster and Irish venues warned ticket buyers about a fake ticket seller in Dublin who has already scammed fans out of "large sums of money." Diddy pled not guilty in federal court ahead of his May trial. ABC News plans to launch a podcast premiering March 25 and will run through the trial. Karol G was accused of ripping off a beat on track 'Gatúbela.' Beyoncé's mom Tina Knowles is going on tour - a book tour for her new memoir Matriarch.

Is Queen prepping their first new single in 30 years?

The copyright lawsuit over Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' was dismissed. Miley Cyrus' motion to dismiss a lawsuit over 'Flowers' was denied. Limp Bizkit's lawsuit against UMG allegedly withholding $200M in royalties is moving forward. Tool fans are considering suing the band after being promised unique setlists for each day of 'Tool Live in the Sand' and four songs were repeated. Iggy Azalea accused UMG of failing to pay her millions in royalties from international sales. James Taylor is developing "Fire and Rain," a stage musical based on his many hits. The Latin GRAMMYs added Visual Media as its own field, renamed the pop, urban fusion and children's music categories, and made more updates.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Primary Wave secured a stake in Biggie Smalls' catalog in a $200 million estate deal

• EMPIRE announced official launch in South Africa

• ARK launched to safeguard music intellectual property in the AI era, backed by investments from BMI and Claritas Capital

• Collabhouse 'Campaigns' will bridge musicians and influencers

• Gaming startup Reactional Music secured deal with Ninja Tune

• Independent-music firm Empire partnered with Audioshake for catalogue-wide stems and lyrics

• Times Music acquired two Indian labels following Primary Wave deal

• Tuned Global teamed up with AI data analytics firm Zetaris to monetize streaming data

• GuitarGym emerges as the latest gamified music education startup

Group Chat

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

Alright, try and follow us here…

1. Brian Hobbs, Director of Music Programming at SXSW (owned by Penske Media), taking shots at The Hollywood Reporter (also owned by Penske Media), who then later re-wrote their entire original story:

2. Brian then commends Rolling Stone (also owned by Penske Media) for their reporting on the matter:

3. Brian then sends out this banger:

Probably the best comment ever, courtesy of Max Alper:

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Ahead of her fifth studio album, Sincerely, Kali Uchis signed with Capitol Records. The new deal will work in partnership under the new banner of Interscope Capitol Labels Group.

Iranian-Dutch artist Sevdaliza, who found TikTok success with her track ‘Alibi’, landed a publishing deal with Sony Music. The singer-songwriter also announced last week the news of her 4-stop tour in the US, Mexico & Brazil.

Pop Rock band Two Door Cinema Club looks to get back on the road after signing with Charlie Myatt of 13 Artists (WW ex-NA/SA).

Tipped singer Amelia Moore signed a new record deal with Republic Records. Her first single with them ‘fuck, marry, kill’ dropped yesterday and was accompanied by a music video that took 14 hours to film.

Latin music powerhouse Ryan Castro agreed to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music, a week after also adding Joaquina to the roster.

Former WME agent Doug Singer has officially joined Wasserman Music where he'll be working on projects like SiR, Vince Staples, Majid Jordan & more.

Artist managers Jay Saunders, Dev Drawford & Sami Posner have all joined ATC Management. Artists coming along on the move include Kacy Hill, Kara Jackson, Earl Sweatshirt & Fana Hues.

Formerly of FMLY Agency, agent Alasdair Howie joined the team at Arcade Talent Agency alongside his roster of clients including Jitwarm, Hercules & Love Affair, Session Victim & others.

+145 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Will Smith, The Black Keys, John Legend, Def Leppard, Glass Animals

Austin's SXSW will be truncating its event by 2 days next year, with the Film & TV Festival running concurrently with the Music Festival. Additionally, AEG announced plans to build a 4k-capacity indoor venue in Austin.

Radiohead's management seemed to confirm an upcoming tour after donating 4 tickets to a "Radiohead concert of your choice" towards a LA fire relief auction this week. This follows news of the group's 5 members forming a new LLP, which historically has alluded to new music from the English rock band.

All-around great guy Will Smith announced an EU tour in support of his upcoming album Based on a True Story. It has been 20+ years since the actor/singer's last headlining tour.

Just a month after pre-sales began, Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Tour is at 94% capacity across all dates. The demand led to additional shows announced in Atlanta, London & most recently Las Vegas.

Neil Young banned Ticketmaster's dynamic ticketing practice for his upcoming tour, thanking Cure frontman Robert Smith for inspiring his decision.

Eagles have added 4 shows to their Sphere residency for a total of 36 shows over 18 weekends starting this September.

Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder joined Jack White for a surprise encore performance at his Tokyo show. The pair performed Neil Young's 'Rockin' in the Free World.'

Everyone’s favorite busker Ed Sheeran played a surprise acoustic set at an Irish pub in Boston on St. Patrick's Day.

Brandi Carlile & Elton John's upcoming concert in London will be filmed by CBS and air on April 6th.

Fontaines D.C. cancelled a run of dates in Mexico and South America after vocalist Grian Chatten suffered a herniated disc.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Lollapalooza announced its lineup with Olivia Rodrigo, Tyler, The Creator, Sabrina Carpenter, Doechii & more slated to headline. This also marks the first time a country act will headline the festival as Luke Combs is set to take the main stage

• J. Cole's Dreamville Festival’s 5th and final installment will feature Lil Wayne, 21 Savage & Erykah Badu as headliners

• Coachella revealed the lineup for its newest stage Quasar, which debuted last year. 2025 will bring acts like Kaskade, Alesso, Barry Can't Swim, salute & more to the outdoor stage

• Stevie Wonder has been added to the growing list of headliners for London's BST Hyde Park, which currently touts acts like Zach Bryan, Noah Kahan, Gracie Abrams & others

• New Jersey's Sea.Hear.Now will be headlined by Hozier & blink-182 in September

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

David Kramer will become UTA’s CEO on June 1, 2025, as Jeremy Zimmer steps down after 13 years to transition to executive chairman. Steve Lewis has been promoted to Sr. Director, UGC & Video at Symphonic Distribution. Spotify has appointed Netflix alumnus Chris Whiteley to MD for Northern Europe. Rachel Brittain has joined CAA's Nash office as an Executive in its Music Brand Partnerships division. Creed Media focuses on LA expansion and appoints Lauren Camp as Head of Strategic Partnerships. Wasserman has announced the hire of three key executives: Tim Beeding as SVP, Fairs & Festivals (Nashville), Doug Singer as VP on the global agent team (Los Angeles) and Chloe Garcia as Director of Tour Marketing (Los Angeles).

Stem, the distribution platform for independent artists, is expanding in Nash with Courtney Daly joining as Director of Artist & Label Strategy. Following a reorg, Audacy named Kelli Turner as prez and CEO, Chris Oliviero as chief business officer, and Bob Philips as CRO. Industry veteran Bob Barbiere appointed EVP and GM of OpenPlay Reach. SMACK welcomes Mak Symmonds as the new Director of Marketing. ATC Group has promoted Ric Salmon to the newly-created position of chief growth officer. Zach Siegal-Eisman has joined The Core Records as Head of Audience Development & Insights. Ewout Swart is stepping down as Co-President of Spinnin’ Records after 16 years, with Niels Walboomers expanding his role to oversee the label while it continues to operate independently of Warner Music Benelux.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Sr. Director of Talent & Partnerships at FlyteVu Agency in Nashville

• VP, Business Development at AXS in LA

• Financial Controller at Ramova Theatre in Chicago

• Sr. Artist Manager at Supernature in London

• Account Manager at Play MPE in Vancouver

↗ Find these and 230+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR