Vol 31 - My manager called me, said, 'Where's the newsletter?'

Happy Friday,

Measles takes over Shakira show, gatekeepers gonna gatekeep, AAR throw some house parties & Reputation (Taylor’s Version) coming soon?

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 Myles Smith, Joe Jonas, Gabito Ballesteros, Rob49, Love Spells, House of Protection, Julia Michaels, rusowsky, i-dle…

♪ Notable singles from mgk, Alex Warren & Jelly Roll, Burna Boy & Travis Scott, Turnstile, Wednesday, Remy Bond, Feid, 42 Dugg, Jon Bellion & Luke Combs…

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

#3 - Reneé Rapp is back with ‘Leave Me Alone,’ co-written with Julian Bunetta, Omer Fedi and more.

#5 - KAROL G drops her first official release of 2025, ‘LATINA FOREVER,’ blending pop and reggaeton.

#8 - Fresh off his EDC performance, Mau P drops two teased tracks with ‘Like I Like It’ landing on NMF.

#17 - In the latest release from the upcoming F1 The Movie, Chris Stapleton wrote and performed ‘Bad As I Used To Be,’ co-produced with Dave Cobb.

#18 - Written by superstars Aaron Dessner, Amy Allen, Blake Slatkin and Jon Bellion, Jon and Luke Combs drop ‘WHY.’

#39 - PlaqueBoyMax drops his second location-based EP, this time ATLANTA with features from Quavo (with ‘glacier’ landing on NMF), Flo Milli, DJ Drama & others.

#42 - Julia Wolf releases her pop-core album & lands ‘Kill You Off.’

#62 - Japanese pop artist Kyra Machida drops pop banger ‘DNA.’

#63 - The collab we needed: ‘Bésame’ from Alejandro Sanz and Shakira.

#64 - Enigmatic rommulas drops his debut track ‘left to right’ alongside collaborator 2hollis.

⭐ #71 - R&B riser Reggie Becton releases his first single of the year with ‘Die Young.’

#84- Arriving ahead of Father’s Day, Nate Smith drops ‘Dad’s Don’t Die,’ what he calls his most meaningful cut yet, written by Emily Weisband, Marc Beeson & Allen Shamblin.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Miley Cyrus, yeule, Aesop Rock, Garbage, Ty Segall, illuminati hotties, Foxwarren, Mt. Joy, Obongjayar, Goldlink, Ovrkast., Luh Tyler, Ben Kweller, Kyle Dion, Anderson East all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Twenty One Pilots, Robbie Williams, Conan Gray, Isabella Lovestory, Winter & Laura Stevenson all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Sound Talent Group founder and CEO Dave Shapiro and Daniel Williams, the former drummer of The Devil Wears Prada, died in a plane crash in San Diego, California yesterday. Up to 4 other people are reported to have been on the plane but their names have not yet been released. Our thoughts go out to the STG team, friends and family ❤️.

Taylor Swift premiered ‘Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s Version)’ on the latest episode of The Handmaid’s Tale ahead of her Reputation re-release (Date still TBD, but fans think it will drop during the AMAs on Monday night). The Who fired drummer Zak Starkey for a 2nd time, 2 weeks after being reinstated from when he was first dismissed. The Foo Fighters also fired their drummer Josh Freese, calling him to let him know they decided “to go in a different direction…”; Josh listed 10 hilarious reasons why. Salt-N-Pepa sued UMG, claiming the label is in breach of copyright laws and will not let them reclaim ownership of their masters. Fans who attended Shakira’s May 15th show in New Jersey may have been exposed to measles. Music Biz announced that next year’s conference will take place in Atlanta again. Austrian performer Johannes Pietsch won this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Longtime Foreigner lead singer Kelly Hansen confirmed his exit from the band. DaBaby won a dismissal of a lawsuit brought against him by DaniLeigh’s brother from a brawl in 2022. Martina McBride spoke to the US Senate in support of the bipartisan NO FAKES Act, seeking to create federal protections for an artist’s voice, likeness and image from unauthorized AI deepfakes. 37 years after it was stolen from his Paris gravesite, the bust of Jim Morrison was found. Jennifer Lopez was sued for posting photos of herself from a Golden Globes event without paying to license the photos from the photographer. Lil Nas X beat a copyright lawsuit from an Instagram user claiming he stole their poses and used them in his own posts.

Updates on Diddy:

• Justin Bieber spoke out

• Former bandmate Dawn Richards testified

• Kid Cudi was called to testify

UMG and Beastie Boys reached confidential settlements with Chili’s after the restaurant chain used their music in ads without permission. Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ biopic starring Jeremy Allen White is set to release in theaters this October. Brad Paisley partnered with Fender to revive the “Lost Paisley” Telecaster line of guitars. Apple TV+ will release the first Peanuts musical in 35 years in July with Ben Folds writing original music. Megan Thee Stallion, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo and 250 more public figures signed a letter of support for Planned Parenthood. Ed Sheeran’s lawyers, label and publisher are pushing for the US Supreme Court to reject a rehearing of the ‘Thinking Out Loud’ copyright case.

Miley Cyrus released the trailer for her new visual album, ‘Something Beautiful.’ Dua Lipa was named the U.K.’s most-played artist of 2024. Donald Trump called for an investigation into baseless allegations about Bruce Springsteen, Beyoncé, Bono and more being paid to support his presidential opponent Kamala Harris. A Judas Priest documentary is on the way, co-directed by Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello. Chris Brown was released on $6.7M bail as he faces allegations for beating a producer in a London nightclub in 2023. Rod Wave was arrested.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Udio launches mobile app with Apple’s in-app purchases system

• Soundcloud teams up with TikTok for ‘add to music app’ integration

• Spotify launches ‘Upcoming Releases Hub’ and countdown chart

• Wax Management celebrates five years with $30m in artist deals under its belt

• Fortnite publisher prevails in patent lawsuit over virtual concerts

• Fender launches new Fender Studio music-making app

• UMG’s GTS expands with acquisition of Latin music management company RLM

• Sound Royalties now offers financing to YouTube creators

• UMG to relocate New York offices to PENN 2 building in Manhattan, planning a ‘future premium retail experience dedicated to serving music superfans’

• Avex Music Group launches Toibox publishing joint venture with producer Elkan

• Cherry Red acquires UK label Dome Records from directors Peter and Santosh Robinson

• TikTok launches album campaigns for Jin of BTS, Avicii, and Damiano David

• Live Nation starts operating its first venue in Colombia through partnership with Grupo Páramo

Group Chat

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

We won’t glorify them with a mention here, but tea time has been interesting this last week…

Which constant affects a Penske list appearance the most?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Nepotism (60%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Collusion (20%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Editor lunches (13%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Non-promoted retaliation nomination (7%)

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Streaming star PlaqueBoyMax announced he signed to Capitol Records & Zack Bia's Field Trip Recordings. He recently released his debut EP & made two new songs with rapper Quavo during a livestream session.

Rising Argentinian singer Yami Safdie signed a record deal with Warner Music Latina. Her track ‘En Otra Vida’ hit #3 on Spotify’s Global Viral Chart and has collaborated with artists like Carin Leon, Camilo & Lasso.

Hopecore’s Flawed Mangoes joined Jbeau Lewis & Noah Friedlander’s UTA touring roster this week. The downtempo artist recently released his new album Anomaly III via APG.

DJ/Producer Marlon Hoffstadt (aka DJ Daddy Trance) signed to Capitol Records in partnership with Goodlife Management & MC3. His new double single ‘Supersonic/ Hands Up In The Sky’ via the new deal dropped today.

Toronto's SAFE assembled his new team with manager Ronald Nizamov of A Sapphire joining as well as signing to the Vancouver-based label Opposition.

Indie-pop singer Madilyn Mei has teamed up with Mercury Records for her new single ‘What’s Going On?!’ & is set to support AJR this summer alongside Quinn XCII, Chelsea Cutler & others. Independently, she has amassed over 100 million streams total.

+165 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Billie Eilish, Wolf Alice, Jon Batiste, Nation of Language, Falling In Reverse

Billie Eilish announced new dates in the US and Japan in support of her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour.

Las Vegas police are investigating two deaths that happened at EDC last weekend.

Bad Bunny is on track to break a number of records on his Debí Tirar Más Fotos tour across Europe, Australia & Latin America after bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars from selling 2.6 million tickets.

All-American Rejects want to play a concert at your house. The pop rock band have been throwing house parties near college campuses across the country in promo of their upcoming album.

Kanye West’s concert in South Korea was cancelled due to the recent controversies surrounding the rapper. The vendor didn’t explain which controversy caused the cancellation.

Music festival series Brockwell Live announced its events will go ahead following a legal battle against a residents’ group that opposed the events. The group, Protect Brockwell Park, claimed the events were “damaging Brockwell Park’s ecology” and its “heritage and community value.”

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• San Diego’s CRSSD announced its lineup with headliners John Summit, Empire Of The Sun, Chris Stussy, Cloonee & more

• CMA Fest’s Spotify House will feature performances from Riley Green, Shaboozey & Kelsea Ballerini

• Mariah Carey, Pitbull, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Jon & others will headline Australia’s Fridayz Live festival this October

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

GROUP SPEED marks its first birthday by hiring Jon Winchester as Artist & Streaming Marketing Lead (U.S.) bringing 10+ years of experience from roles including Director of Artist & Label Marketing at Virgin Music. Big Loud has elevated Tyler Waugh to SVP, Radio Promotion. Independent Artist Group promotes Nick Storch to Head of Global Artist Development. AEG Presents promotes Joe Jaeger to VP, Integrated Marketing and Strategy, within its Global Partnerships division. Peermusic Nash welcomes Jennifer Hall as Sr. Creative Director and promotes Matt Michiels to VP, Creative and Cameron Stutts to Sr. Creative Coordinator.

Warner Music Nash hires radio promo vet Paige Elliott as National Director for WEA and promotes Kayla Burnett to Manager, Radio. G Major Mgmt welcomes Emilie Gilbert as Insights and Fan Engagement Strategy Manager and Madeline “Sledge” Lary as Digital Manager, while promoting Samantha Thornton to Sr. Director of Marketing and Harry Lyons to Sr. Director of Business Ops. Karrie Dawley has been named Head of Creative at Anotherland. BBR Music Group/BMG Nash has promoted Allan Geiger to Sr. Director and Haley Wirthele to Manager of Content & Creative. Blackstone’s Recognition Music Group forms a Senior Advisory Group, naming Matt Spetzler as Chair, with Lisa Alter and David H. Johnson joining as members.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music (for serious people)

• Global Head of Social Media at Beatport in London

• Sr. Manager, Global Intelligence at CAA in Los Angeles

• Sr. Manager, Accounting at WMG (US Remote)

• Senior Data Scientist at Create Music Group in Vancouver

• VP, Data Science & Analytics at Roc Nation in New York

↗ Find these and 300+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR