Vol 39 - Trust me, this how the news should sound

Happy Friday,

R.I.P. Ozzy 🦇, UMG's US IPO 💰, artist royalties paying off debt 🤑 & Chappell Roan pop-ups 🐴

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 Tyler, The Creator, Indigo De Souza, jigitz, Quadeca, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Tyler Childers, Hudson Westbrook, quinnie, Alessi Rose, Quinn XCII…

♪ Notable singles from Lola Young, Tame Impala, Sam Smith, Kim Petras, Jamie xx, Mac DeMarco, Daniel Caesar, Khamari, Audrey Hobert, Royel Otis, Say She She…

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

#1 - Drake album on the way? After teasing his next project, he releases ‘Which One’ with Central Cee.

#5 - Luke Combs teases next album with new single ‘Back In The Saddle.’

#7 - Tame Impala return with 7-minute epic ‘End of Summer,’ 5 years after their last project The Slow Rush.

#22 - mgk inches closer to his next studio album, lost americana, after an impressive rollout with ‘miss sunshine’ — the album drops in 2 weeks.

#23 - Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham release the 1st track off of their upcoming Buckingham Nicks reissue. This will be the album’s first release on streaming platforms.

#24 - Mariah Carey, Shenseea and Kehlani collab on ‘Sugar Sweet.’

⭐ #27 - quinnie releases her 2nd album paper doll with focus track ‘my secret’ via Shane Boose’s (sombr’s) The System.

#31 - Quadeca lands with ‘DANCING WITHOUT MOVING’ off his new album Vanisher, Horizon Scraper, distributed by Toronto-based music marketing platform co:brand.

#76 - Sebastian Ingrosso drops ‘A New Day,’ sampling Céline Dion’s classic ‘A New Day Has Come.’

#81 - boylife continues his comeback with his 3rd single of the year, ‘Baby Chop,’ featuring No Rome & keshi.

#90 - Jennifer Lopez drops ‘BIRTHDAY’ to celebrate her July 24th birthday via Hundred Days.

#95 - The Band Camino are back with their first album in 2 years, NeverAlways, with NMF track ‘What You Can’t Have.’

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Maren Morris, Ali Sethi, BETWEEN FRIENDS, Wisp, Sofia Kourtesis, DEBBY FRIDAY, Reneé Rapp, Return to Dust, $uicideboy$, Elvis Presley, The Armed, Emily Hines, Fit For A King all have new projects expected to come out next week

Mariah Carey, Imogen Heap, Flock of Dimes, Madi Diaz, araabMUZIK & more announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Ozzy Osbourne passed away at 76. Police raided HYBE’s headquarters as part of an ongoing investigation into the company chairman’s alleged stock fraud. Blackstone has left the group of investors who were looking to buy TikTok US. The Jonas Brothers sold part of their catalog to Jonas Entertainment Group (aka their dad’s company). UMG filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought by Salt-N-Pepa in May, which accused the label of refusing to return control of their master recordings. Snoop Dogg became the latest celeb to invest in sports, purchasing a stake in Welsh football club, Swansea City. Martin Solveig announced he is retiring from DJing, but not from making music. OVG founder and former CEO Tim Leiweke pleaded not guilty to his federal criminal conspiracy charge.

GloRilla was arrested on felony drug charges last Saturday following a burglary of her home, was still able to perform at the WNBA All-Star game that night, and then surrendered to authorities again on Tuesday. David Geffen’s estranged husband sued him for breach of contract, claiming that Geffen treated him like a “living social experiment.” The Rapper Cash Out was found guilty of racketeering and sexual assault and was sentenced to life+70 years in prison. Sean Kingston’s mom asked a federal judge to shorten her sentence to 30 months; she and Sean were convicted of running fraudulent scheme stealing cars, jewelry and other luxury goods. The composer of the Tomb Raider video games was sentenced to 16 months in prison for COVID loan fraud in the UK. Jimmy Buffett’s widow accused the co-trustee of her husband’s estate of using the estate to bankroll his legal battle for control.

Justin Timberlake did NOT win over Romania…

Sabrina Carpenter revealed the Man’s Best Friend’s tracklist with a golden retriever puppy. Billie Eilish announced she’s working on a project with James Cameron. Hans Zimmer will score season 3 of ‘Euphoria.’ Prince’s 1987 live film ‘Sign O’ The Times’ will be screened in IMAX theatres for the first time in August. Shia LaBoeuf settled the abuse lawsuit brought against him by ex FKA twigs. A fan sued Cardi B for assault and battery after Cardi threw a microphone at them for splashing her with a drink during a 2023 show.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Royalties from Shakira and Justin Bieber are backing a new $372M bond deal

• Concord closes a $1.77B asset-backed securities deal

• UMG moves closer to US stock listing

• Secretly Distribution announces global distribution deal with Org Music

• Five Finger Death Punch re-record catalog after sale of original masters

• Symphonic forms new strategic alliance with Korea’s Abyss Company

• UMG plans to significantly expand its portfolio of AI technology patents

• Lil Wayne teams up with Hook and SoundCloud to launch a new remix challenge

• ElevenLabs names SourceAudio as its preferred music licensing partner

• European Commission launches a full investigation into UMG’s acquisition of Downtown Music

• UK’s Royal Albert Hall will donate £1 from every ticket sold to support grassroots venues

• BandLab partners with artists from Phantogram and Broken Social Scene to provide new sample packs

Group Chat

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

ok tea 🍵

What's worse than getting caught cheating at a concert?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Wasserman poaching your successful long-term client (57%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ No playlisting on your client's release despite drinks with editors (25%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ No pub reversion (14%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Fan/seed accounts retainer not paying off (7%)

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Tame Impala, the psychedelic-rock project of Australian songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker, signed with Columbia Records. The signing was announced in tandem with the release of the heavily teased, 7-minute track ‘End of Summer.’

Millenial indie favorite Passion Pit has landed with new management, now with Ben Baruch & Dan Rucinski of 11E1even Group. Michael Angelakos has been back performing this year after a five-year hiatus. 

Electronic music’s nimino, whose song ‘I Only Smoke When I Drink’ has been going viral, signed with Nate Sokolski & Jay Moss of Wasserman Music for touring. He’ll be hitting both the US & EU for tour this fall. 

DJ and producer Simone Benussi, aka MACE, reached a record deal with Warner Music Italy. The artist who helped transform the Italian hip-hop & electronic scenes over the years, also formed the duo La Crème with Jack The Smoker & co-founded Reset! In Milan. 

Artist manager Ryan “Bing” Bingham, previously with Fly South Music Group, has officially joined 3 Vultures as General Manager, bringing over breakout heavy metal act Teeth.

+145 signings on ROSTR this week

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Chappell Roan, Giveon, Lil Tecca, Jeremy Zucker, LeAnn Rimes, Kenny G

Chappell Roan announced a limited series of pop-up shows promoting her upcoming album with stops in her native Missouri, New York & California.

Stage pieces from Metallica’s European tour were airlifted overnight from Austria to Belgium to replace Tomorrowland’s main stage following the fire that nearly destroyed the set.

KNEECAP have been banned from entering Hungary for 3 years. Government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs stated the trio’s performance at Budapest’s Sziget Festival “posed a national security threat.”

Miranda Lambert & Parker McCollum will host “Band Together Texas,” a benefit concert for the ongoing relief efforts in Texas. Kelly Clarkson, Cody Johnson & more are slated to perform later this August.

Alan Walker will headline Sphere in September for Insomniac & Tomorrowland’s joint series UNITY.

Discontinued festival Grass Is Greener is facing legal issues from an investor pursuing a debt recovery claim of seven figures.

Darius Rucker leaned on his audience to finish ‘Wagon Wheel’ after losing his voice mid-set last week. The Hootie & The Blowfish frontman confirmed he will continue touring following the cancellation of that performance.

Def Leppard announced the band’s third Vegas residency kicking off in February.

Tool announced a one-off performance in Honolulu this December, their first show in Hawaii in nearly 15 years.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Global Citizen announced headliners The Weeknd & Shakira for their annual free benefit concert in September

• San Diego’s Dia de los Deftones announced Clipse, 2hollis, Deafheaven, Rico Nasty & more will play alongside the band in November

• Spilt Milk is expanding in Australia with new country festival Strummingbird. The lineup will be announced soon with the festival taking place in October

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Jim King promoted to CEO, UK & European Festivals at AEG Presents, as Steve Homer steps in as President of UK Touring. Tom Conrad named CEO of Sonos. Alejandro Duque steps into dual President roles at ADA and Warner Latin as Cat Kreidich exits after four years. Nicki Shamel has been appointed as TuneCore’s U.S. Head. Kobalt ups Derek Cournoyer to SVP, Global Digital Business. Atomic Music Group expands agent team with Bill Hutchison. Christian Conant has been promoted to Sr. Director, A&R at Prescription Songs. Holly Salazar has been tapped to lead Publishing and Rights Management at WieRok Entertainment. Julien’s Auctions Hires Shanna Strassberg as Director of Music Biz Dev. RESULTS GLOBAL adds Molly Fisher, Jessica Vitou, Samantha Parrish and Cami Cradock to their Nashville team.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• SVP, Global Digital Marketing at BMG in London

• Creative Director at Please & Thank You in Nashville

• Talent Partnerships/Sales Lead - Consultant (Pop Music Focus) at Fandiem (Anywhere)

• Network Engineer at UMG in New York

• Product Management at Bamboo Artists in Berlin

↗ Find these and 310+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR