Vol 12 - Just met an uphill battle, it's okay we were made for this

Thinking of our friends here in LA affected by the fires + less important news from the start of the year.

January 10, 2025

Happy Friday,

Thinking of our friends here in LA affected by the fires.

Click here to find out how you can support fellow artists & industry members affected by the fires.

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

Japanese Breakfast

New Music Friday

What you need to know about today’s new releases

🎶 New albums and EPs from Bad Bunny, Nolan Taylor, Ethel Cain, Ringo Star, Franz Ferdinand, Banshee, Rio Da Yung Og, Otis Kane…

♪ Notable singles from Teddy Swims & Giveon, Mac Miller, Anyma, Japanese Breakfast, Rod Wave, Blondshell, Qing Madi, The Lumineers, Warren Zeiders, Bren Joy, Alan Walker, Kameron Marlowe…

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

#1 - Bad Bunny debuts his 6th studio album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, celebrating Puerto Rico. ‘NUEVAYoL’ is featured at 1 with ‘BAILE INoLVIDABLE’ sitting at 12.

#3 - Mac Miller’s estate releases ‘5 Dollar Pony Rides,’ the first and only single for his forthcoming album Balloonerism.

#4 - Ellie Goulding lends her vocal and songwriting prowess to ‘Hypnotized’ by Anyma, who just completed his NYE run at Vegas’ Sphere.

#14 - The Lumineers return with ‘Same Old Song.’

#17 - JADE kicks off 2025 with her 4th release as a solo artist, ‘IT girl,’ written by Cirkut & Lostboy.

#19 - Fresh off of their Call Her Daddy interview, Aly & AJ drop single ‘What It Feels Like.’

#21 - Indie artist Bren Joy returns with ‘NEVER WANNA LET YOU GO’ in preparation for his project SUNSET BLACK, which will be his first album released in 4 years.

#30 - Dark pop artist Snow Wife lands with new track ‘What Do Girls Do?’

#36 - Australia’s Dean Lewis is still in love ‘With You.’

#59 - Olly Alexander (Years & Years) releases ‘When We Kiss’ ahead of upcoming album POLARI.

#73 - Ringo Starr drops country album Look Up, with the title track featuring Molly Tuttle and co-written by legendary producer T Bone Burnett.

⭐ #81 - wolfacejoeyy drops his new album cupid as the rising artist is set to kick off his debut headline tour next week.

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

Mac Miller

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Mac Miller, BØRNS, David Gray, Ela Minus, Knock2 & The Weather Station all have new projects expected to come out next week.

serpentwithfeet, Blondshell & Youth Lagoon all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

TikTok confirmed it will shut down in the US on January 19th, unless the Supreme Court intervenes. Claude AI company Anthropic reached a deal with music publishers after a copyright infringement lawsuit over allegedly distributing protected song lyrics. A Blackstone-led investor group acquired tax/professional services firm Citrin Cooperman. Liam Payne’s cause of death was confirmed as polytrauma.

Our friends at NIVA have opened The State of Live survey - the 1st national economic research study of the independent live entertainment sector. Click here if you are interested in participating.

Amidst cancellations across the UK festival scene, Glastonbury more than doubled its profits in 2024. Speaking of Glastonbury, Neil Young WILL be there…

Even though the Beatles’ ‘Now and Then’ was nominated for 2 GRAMMYs, only Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are actually nominated. Sound Recordings from 1924 are now US public domain, including ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ and ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’ A.R. Rahman launched the Bharat Maestro Awards to celebrate Indian classical music. A judge rejected Danny Elfman’s request to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed against him.

Nicki Minaj was sued by her former manager for assault, battery and emotional distress. Jingle Punks and Audio Up Founder Jared Gutstadt was accused of sexual assault. Live Nation announced Rolling Loud, a film starring Owen Wilson and Matt Rife set at the hip-hop festival.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

Group Chat

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

Little bit of levity given the ongoing chaos in LA…

🎤🌱⁉️

Reasons why people think some artists are plants

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Samara Joy, Orville Peck, LAUREL

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Former GRAMMY winner for Best New Artist, Samara Joy, signed with Red Light Management & CAA for touring.

Canadian country artist Orville Peck, known for his distinctive masked persona, landed with new management at Crush Music.

Singer-songwriter Jack Garratt has teamed up with Cooking Vinyl who will release his third album later this year.

British singer LAUREL signed with 3 Vultures for management.

19-year-old Chilean artist FloyyMenor signed with IAG for touring. The singer had a big 2024 including his hit ‘Gata Only’ surpassing 1B streams on Spotify.

+70 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

As these horrific wildfires continue to spread through Los Angeles, here is an updating list of live events - music or otherwise - that have been postponed in the city.

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Lil Wayne, Chris Stapleton, Bailey Zimmerman, Japanese Breakfast

Festival Headlines:

  • Bonnaroo announced its 2025 lineup, with Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo, Luke Combs & Hozier as its headliners

  • A$AP Rocky, Playboi Carti & Peso Pluma will headline California’s Rolling Loud

  • Boston Calling’s lineup will include headliners Fall Out Boy, Dave Matthews Band, Vampire Weekend & more

  • Alanis Morissette, Lenny Kravitz & Sublime have been announced as headliners for BeachLife in Redondo Beach, CA

Learn how acts like Coldplay & Billie Eilish are leading the front on sustainable tours.

Weston Hebert, Rani Hancock, Mike Ceglio

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Kobalt names Rani Hancock Executive VP/Head of U.S. Creative. Emma Bownes promoted to SVP of Venue Programming at AEG Europe while AEG Presents hires Weston Hebert as VP of Global Touring. Jody Gerson, chairman and CEO of UMPG, has been elected to the board of directors of Project Healthy Minds, a mental health tech non-profit. Paul Trueman named Director of Artist Services at Believe UK. TuneCore names Mike Ceglio to the role of VP, Operations Strategy. Co-op Live appoints Ben Sharman as Director of Booking. Derek Chang named Prez & CEO of Liberty Media. Agent Chuck Manning joins Reliant Talent Agency & Lucy Atkinson joins ATC Live.

Sphere names Robert Langer CFO. Milly Olykan has joined Live Nation’s Concert division as SVP of Artist Development & Global Touring. Chad Stelly, a renowned turntable and audio specialist, has re-joined Acoustic Sounds. Steve Leeds, relaunched his music and entertainment consultancy firm, Neo Entertainment Inc. Industry veteran Brian Crews joins Jayson Entertainment Group (JEG) as Director of Biz Dev & Strategy.Concert Stuff Group names John Oot as its CMO. Lyndsay Cruz, Executive Director of ACM Lifting Lives since 2019, has stepped down. Brown Sellers Brown announces new hires & promotions, see here.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

  • Head of Marketing - IMS at Beatport in London

  • Marketing Director at Blue Note in LA

  • AVP of Marketing at Berklee College of Music in Boston

  • Director of Programming at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle

  • General Manager at Sofar Sounds in LA

↗ Find these and 100+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR.

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