Vol 35 - We can be everything you've ever read

Happy Friday,

Texts (Taylor’s Version), Ozzy’s back in a can, Robin in the thick again & Bonnarained out.

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 Benson Boone, HAIM, KAROL G, kwn, Sam Austins, Noah Rinker, PLUTO, Brett Young, Rocco, Olamide, S.G. Goodman, YUNGBLUD…

♪ Notable singles from sombr, Cardi B, Teddy Swims & BigXthaPlug, Lola Young, Megan Moroney, PinkPantheress, The Kid LAROI, Swedish House Mafia, Muse, Four Tet…

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

#3 - KAROL G sings in English and Spanish on ‘Papasito’ off of her new album Tropicoqueta.

#4 - Ed Sheeran performs on ‘Drive (From F1 The Movie)',’ written by Blake Slatkin and produced by Blake Slatkin and John Mayer.

#7 - HAIM are back with new album I quit, featuring NMF track ‘All over me.’

#9 - Fred again.. drops long-teased track ‘Victory Lap’ with Skepta & PlaqueBoyMax.

#16 - PinkPantheress returns with her new single ‘Close to you,’ following the release of her album Fancy That last month.

#17 - The Kid LAROI has 12 writers credited on his new single ‘HOW DOES IT FEEL?’

#28 - Four Tet shares ambient house track ‘Into Dust (Still Falling).’

#33 - Noah Rinker releases his 2nd EP Burning Daylight and lands focus track ‘99.’

#48 - Kesha wants a billionaire, but she’s already rich on new track ‘ATTENTION’ with Slayyyter and Rose Gray.

#51 - Jonas Brothers go full Bee Gees with ‘No Time to Talk,’ produced by Sabrina’s ‘Espresso’ hitmaker Julian Bunetta.

#63 - Keke Palmer drops new album Just Keke featuring NMF track ‘Misunderstood.’

#65 - Industry favs bar italia are back with their first release in over a year with ‘Cowbella’ - apparently you just “have to see it live.”

#69 - Kenya Grace’s first track this year ‘Mr. Cool’, co-produced with JOYRIDE, is out now.

#76 - mark william lewis releases ‘Still Above’ - his 2nd with A24 Music.

#77 - quannnic is back with ‘observer’ via manager Jesse Taconelli’s deadAir label (+Sony.)

#80 - SOPHIE’s Estate re-releases her PRODUCT album for the 10-year anniversary, including new unreleased single ‘OOH’. 

#83 - Eli makes their re-imagined artist project debut with pop song ‘Girl of your Dreams,’ written with Sean Kennedy.

⭐ #84 - Another industry fav, After, drop ‘Deep Diving’ - made with Good Luck Have Fun regulars Jeff Hazin & Ralph Castelli.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Lorde, Bruce Springsteen, Cole Swindell, BABYMETAL, Kevin Abstract, Motörhead, Pi'erre Bourne, Dayglow, Blonde Redhead, Tech N9ne, Wavves, Bktherula, Teddy Swims, Moore Kismet, GELO, Armin van Buuren, Charlotte Lawrence, Lauren Spencer-Smith & JP Saxe all have new projects expected to come out next week.

SG Lewis, Noah Cyrus, The Band CAMINO, Lola Young, Cass McCombs & Wednesday all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

TikTok’s US sale deadline was extended another 90 days to mid-September. The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Structured Asset Sales, who claimed Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’ violated the copyright on Marvin Gaye’s ‘Let’s Get It On.’ Country artist Tony Justice filed a lawsuit against Suno and Udio on behalf of independent artists who were left out of the lawsuit from major labels. Nas’ record label Mass Appeal settled a racism lawsuit from a white former employee. Ozzy Osbourne partnered with Liquid Death to sell a limited run of iced tea cans containing traces of his ACTUAL DNA. R. Kelly was hospitalized after prison officials allegedly administered an overdose of his medication, furthering his lawyers’ claim of an ongoing assassination plot. A judge ruled that Blake Lively must provide her texts with Taylor Swift in her ongoing lawsuit against Justin Baldoni, stating that these texts could “prove or disprove Lively’s harassment and retaliation claims.”

BTS will return as a complete group in March 2026. Mariah Carey confirmed she doesn’t believe in birthdays, but does believe in anniversaries. Robin Thicke was sued for posting unlicensed paparazzi photos of himself on Instagram. Liam Gallagher spoke out after the City of Edinburgh Council described Oasis fans as rowdy, intoxicated middle-aged men. X (Twitter) and Sony Pub, Universal Pub and Warner Chappell are close to a settlement in their 2 year old copyright infringement lawsuit. A Seoul High Court rejected an appeal from K-pop group NewJeanz in their ongoing legal battle with label Ador. Beverage startup The3rdBevco owes the SEC $1M+ after allegedly lying about talks to create a liquor brand called “RiRi Rum” with Rihanna’s brother.

Ringo Starr vs. The Who?

T.I. was sued over his upcoming film Situationships by a web series producer claiming the title was taken from their project. Anderson .Paak’s directorial debut, K-Pops!, was acquired by Aura Entertainment and will release in January 2026. Wiz Khalifa confirmed that he smokes about 30 joints a day while appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Becky G premiered her new documentary Rebbeca at the Tribeca Film Festival. Coi Leray and Trippie Redd welcomed their first child together. Dolly Parton will receive an Academy Honorary Reward in November.

Diddy over the last week:

• Kanye showed up?

• A juror was removed from the jury

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Spotify exec backs $1.73M funding round for music ad tech company BFM

• Apple Music’s global head calls out ad-supported streaming models

• Report suggests most AI-generated streams on Deezer could be fraudulent

• European Commission kicks off formal review of UMG’s Downtown acquisition

• Believe launches new label imprint ‘Mahra Tora’ in India

• Influential label Star Trak relaunches in partnership with Create Music

• German headphones maker Beyerdynamic has been sold to China’s Cosonic for $139M

• Tuned Global adds real-time tipping to its Social Radio platform

• OpenPlay adds Trolley payouts integration to its catalogue platform

Group Chat

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

Their take, which we don’t disagree with

Is it not clocking to you that Stem are standing on business??

Best thing about indie week in NY

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 No 20-something Silver Lake A&Rs (they all work for majors) (36%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Billboard journalists acting like they care about indies (13%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Skipping any panel where gamma. execs are speaking (19%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ "Indie" label presence whose funding comes from a major (15%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Don't have to make small talk with agents (17%)

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Muse has signed with Mark Gillespie of Three Six Zero for management. The trio also announced their first single in over three years with ‘Unravelling,’ out today. Muse kicked off their European tour in Helsinki last week, opening the set with a debut of the track.

New Zealand pop star BENEE has got herself some new BEST FRIENDS. for management, signing with Brandon Goodman, Clara Taroncher & Carolina Boltiansky. She just dropped her most recent single ‘Off The Rails’ today.

Memphis rapper NLE Choppa joined Shay Royale & Matt Adler’s touring roster at Wasserman Music. He also just penned his first children’s book Cricket Stop Cricking.

Nashville’s low-key singer-songwriter Joy Oladokun landed with Jay Saunders of ATC Management. She is set to appear in July for the Somerset House Summer Series, celebrating their 25th anniversary.

Japanese all-female band BABYMETAL have found themselves a new touring home at CAA with Mike Greek, David Ball, Jared Martin, Ryan Harlacher, Rick Roskin & Blair Adour all joining to represent. They are releasing their first original album in 6 years next week with METAL FORTH featuring artists like Tom Morello, Poppy & others.

Multi-instrumentalist producer corto.alto landed a record deal with Ninja Tune. The Glasgow artist has been nominated for the Mercury Prize and is slated for stops this year at Glastonbury, NYC, LA, Chicago & more.

+155 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Twenty One Pilots, Ava Max, Burna Boy, Addison Rae, PinkPantheress

Vans Warped Tour confirmed its return to Washington, D.C. in June 2026 after a successful 30th anniversary for the touring festival.

Meanwhile, Bonnaroo joins the growing list of cancelled festivals due to severe weather. The festival released a statement after day one of the four-day festival, explaining that increasing precipitation “will produce deteriorating camping and egress conditions […] we are beyond gutted, but we must make the safest decision and cancel the remainder of Bonnaroo.”

Tyler, The Creator, Olivia Rodrigo & Hozier were slated to perform the rest of the weekend, following a Luke Combs-led kickoff. However, Remi Wolf, who was slated to host her Bonnaroo Superjam on the festival grounds, quickly relocated to the Brooklyn Bowl in Nashville to bring performances from Hayley Williams, Mt. Joy, Gigi Perez, Grouplove & more. The make-up show was announced late Friday night and sold out by Saturday morning.

Beyoncé grossed >$60M across a 6-night run at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the largest club ground in London with a capacity of ~63K. According to the stadium’s operator, her performances surpassed all previous records for gross ticket revenue at the venue.

Oasis announced a series of nationwide pop-up stores throughout the U.K. & Ireland, allowing fans the chance to secure merch ahead of the shows starting in July.

Last week, Leicestershire Police urged Download festival attendees to disable emergency alerts on their smartwatches after the devices triggered ~700 false collision calls during the festival in 2023. The technology incorrectly interpreted moshpit activity as car crashes and automatically requested emergency services.

Katy Perry bought rounds of drinks for a Melbourne nightclub celebrating her music. The interstellar performer crashed the her-themed party following the final show of her Australian tour run.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit announced a 6-night residency at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville this October.

❌ (More) Cancellations:

• HARDY cancelled the EU leg of his Jim Bob World Tour. The country artist issued an apology on social media, but offered no explanation

• The Jonas Brothers announced 6 U.S. dates of their 20-year anniversary tour will be downgraded to smaller venues

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Head in the Clouds is heading to New York with ISOxo, Rich Brian & KUN headlining the 88rising-curated festival

• With a lineup soon to be announced, All Things Go expands to Toronto this October

• Wilco’s festival Sky Blue Sky returns with a 5-day event in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Alongside the band, Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman, Cameron Winter & others will perform

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Jan van Casteren named CEO at TicketSwap. Global has appointed Alex Duncan as its new CTO, effective in September. Believe promotes Romain Becker to the new role of Chief Product, Ops and Marketing Services Officer. Big Loud and Mercury Records have named Wes Donehower Sr. VP of A&R. Kate Bowling joins The Core Entertainment crew as Director of Creative. German ticketing and live events company CTS Eventim has launched Media House, a new marketing and content division, appointing Dr. Marc Schumacher to lead the initiative starting in July.

During a significant renovation of the Ingersoll Theater, VenuWorks has appointed Renee Crowell as Executive Director, part of a broader round of senior staffing updates. Vickie Gordon named Talent Buyer at MassConcerts focusing on markets in the Southeast and Midwestern U.S. Jeremy Vaughn steps into the role of Director of Entertainment & Experiential at Go West Creative.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Sr. Director, Data Analytics & Analytics Engineering at BMG in Nashville

• LN Venues, Director of PSS Regional Biz Dev at Live Nation in Beverly Hills

• Freelance Producer at Sofar Sounds in San Antonio

• Account Executive at DISCO in London

• Senior Day-to-Day Manager at Right Click Management in Los Angeles

↗ Find these and 280+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR