Vol 48 - Loaded the magazine, they throwin' the news at me

Happy Friday,

GRAMMYs get randomized, HYBE & AWAL plot world takeovers & an early festival lineup overload.

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 Doja Cat, Olivia Dean, Geese, Feid, Cameron Whitcomb, HARDY, glaive, Zara Larsson, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Night Tapes…

♪ Notable singles from Tate McRae, 5 Seconds of Summer, Florence + The Machine, Disclosure, Mariah Carey, Magdalena Bay, Sexyy Red, Myles Smith, Ice Spice…

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

#1 - Doja Cat’s ‘Gorgeous’ snags the top spot, alongside the release of her new album Vie.

#2 - Olivia Dean grabs the 2nd spot with ‘So Easy (To Fall In Love),’ co-written with Amy Allen, John Ryan and Max Wolfgang.

#3 - Mid-tour, Tate McRae sneaks in a new single ‘TIT FOR TAT,’ co-written with Julia Michaels, Ryan Tedder, Grant Boutin, and Tate herself.

#6 - Cameron Winter-led American rock band Geese share ‘Cobra’ off their third studio album Getting Killed, which releases today via Partisan / Play It Again Sam.

#10 - After signing with Repbulic Records, 5 Seconds of Summer release ‘NOT OK,’ the first single from upcoming album EVERYONE’S A STAR, releasing November 14th.

#15 - Magdalena Bay follow up their groundbreaking album Imaginal Disk with double single release ‘Second Sleep’ & ‘Star Eyes.’

#20 - Daniel Caesar gets the Justin Vernon-treatment with ‘Moon (feat. Bon Iver).’

#23 - Zara Larsson drops her new album Midnight Sun with NMF love song ‘Blue Moon.’

#35 - Khalid rebrands (!) on swagger-filled ‘out of body.’

#38 - Mikayla Geier is back with ‘diva,’ which gets packed into a two-fer with her viral single ‘piano in the sky.’

#40 - Collab queen Maggie Lindemann releases ‘2022’ with Julia Wolf, who’s hot off her recent single with Drake & Yeat.

#41 - Madeon returns for his first single in two years with ‘Hi!’ alongside an interactive art installation in LA promoting the new track.

#49 - Milennial-loved The Starting Line release their first album in 4 years, Eternal Youth, with NMF track ‘I See How It Is.’

⭐️ #52 - Hotly-tipped atmospheric dream pop group Night Tapes drop debut album portals//polarities via Nettwerk, with ‘leave it all behind, Mike’ securing a spot on NMF.

#55 - Danny Brown drops titular track off upcoming album Starburst and announces an upcoming NA tour.

#83 - Coachella 2026’s WHATMORE drop ‘jenny’s’ ahead of their upcoming project Eastside W My Dogs, which landed on the New York Times’ most anticipated picks for the fall.

#88 - ‘Broke’ singer Samm Henshaw teams up with powerhouse vocalist Tori Kelly for ethereal ‘Find My Love.’

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Taylor Swift, Sparks, Snõõper, Rachael Yamagata, Richard Ashcroft, Thrice, Upchuck, Idlewild, AFI, The Deep Dark Woods all have new projects expected to come out next week.

5 Seconds of Summer, FKA twigs (deluxe), Cooper Alan, Juana Molina, Nep, The Fiery Furnaces, Ryan Charles, Chloe Flower all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

‘Jesus Take the Wheel’ songwriter Brett James died in a plane crash in North Carolina. The bodies of Colombian musicians B-King and Regio Clown were found in Mexico after the artists had been reported missing for a week. Trump signed an executive order basically approving the sale of TikTok’s US ops to a US investor group. Major labels updated their lawsuit against Suno to include piracy claims. For the first time, digital GRAMMY ballots will be listed in randomized order for voters. A man was arrested after trying to serve Taylor Swift deposition papers at her fiancé’s house on behalf of Justin Baldoni. HYBE opened its 5th global HQ in Mumbai, India, while AWAL launched AWAL Middle East. Diddy’s lawyers asked a federal judge to reduce his prison sentence to only 14 months. Later in the week, he faced a new sexual abuse lawsuit from his longtime stylist. UK trip-hop outfit Massive Attack intend to remove their music from Spotify.

After losing a bet, Elton John gave Lola Young the keys to his house.

Taylor Swift will host an 89-minute Official Release Party of a Showgirl starting October 3rd to celebrate her new album around the world. Meta responded to the copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the company by Eight Mile Style, Eminem’s publisher. Mike Tyson settled a lawsuit that claimed he illegally used the Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule track ‘Murdergram.’ Mark Ronson will score Greta Gerwig and Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of The Chronicles of Narnia. Metro Boomin was found not liable at his civil sexual assault trial. Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil revealed that he has suffered four strokes throughout the years. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ turned 50. Harry Styles ran the Berlin Marathon last weekend in less than 3 hours.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Serato announces Spotify integration

• ElevenLabs lands NVIDIA investment

• IFPI highlights 9.1% surge in EU recorded music revenues

• Armada Music launches new London creative hub

• Music rights company MusicInfra raises $5M in funding round

• Even has announced its newest direct-to-fan partnership with Too Lost

• Spotify unveils its latest measures against AI music, spam, and deepfakes

Group Chat

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

What are you manifesting?

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Coachella artist pass (18%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Approved guest list for ROSTR party in October (47%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ HITS Noisemaker (0%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️⬜️ Billboard 50 under 50 (35%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Trending on ROSTR (0%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Camilo, My Chemical Romance, Fred again.., Amaarae, Danny Brown

Both Coachella weekends for 2026 have officially sold out. Given their early ticket sale date, Goldenvoice gave itself a cushion of 7 months to sell the 250K tickets for the two weekend festival, which struggled to sell out the past two years. The festival sold out in 3 days 🧐.

Glastonbury confirmed its return for 2027, sharing 2026 would be its fallow year (they’re allowing the farm grounds to recover) [British boss made us put in “fallow”]. The next edition will take place June 23-27.

Following an investigation by the UK’s CMA after the ticketing fiasco with the Oasis reunion tour, Ticketmaster agreed to provide fans with advanced information around ticket prices and whether it is using a tiered pricing system or not.

Fred again.. unveiled he will play 10 shows in 10 different cities across 10 weeks in support of his next USB project.

French electronic duo Daft Punk will join Fortnite’s immersive music world, adding 31 songs from their catalog to the game.

Metallica partnered with Australia Red Cross Lifeblood for a blood donation campaign during their upcoming Australian tour.

ZAYN announced his Las Vegas residency at Park MGM next January, which will run for 7 nights.

Neil Young has tapped Lana Del Rey & Beck for his third annual Harvest Moon charity concert in California this October.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Stagecoach 2026 announced Lainey Wilson, Post Malone & Cody Johnson as its headliners

• The Cure, Doja Cat, Gorillaz, Massive Attack, Skrillex, The xx, Addison Rae & more will headline Primavera Sound Barcelona next June

• C2C 2026 unveiled its headliners with Brooks & Dunn, Keith Urban & Zach Top

• Luke Bryan’s Crash My Playa festival will feature Dierks Bentley, Riley Green & Parker McCollum as headliners

• Lil Wayne announced the 10th anniversary of Lil’ WeezyAna Fest will take place this November

• Chris Stapleton and Brooks & Dunn were announced as headliners for Two Step Inn Festival in Texas next April

🏟️ Venue News:

• EMPIRE has partnered with Elevation Sky Park San Francisco, a $6.5M project billed as the Bay Area’s first large-scale immersive entertainment venue. Programming will include EMPIRE’s artist roster across multiple venues that will host >2K people

• Live Nation Middle East partnered with Expo City Dubai to manage 3 venues in the city with the help of UAE-based events company BRAG

• Indie dance label Armada will open a creative hub in London for its roster. The space will have 6 floors, recording studios, event space, listening rooms & more

❌ Cancellations:

• “Due to personal reasons,” The Weeknd shared he is unable to perform at Global Citizen Festival, which was set for this Saturday. Cardi B will replace him as the headliner

• NBA YoungBoy’s Chicago performance was abruptly cancelled two days before the event with no explanation

• St. Louis emo outfit Foxing announced they will go on hiatus following their 2025 tour citing their “relationship with music, each other, and […] sense of self without the band has eroded”

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Event production company Mammoth Live officially launched its management arm this week, Challenger Artists. The new venture headed by Peyton Marek & Hank Wiedel boasts a roster of The Wrecks, TOLEDO, Post Sex Nachos & more.

Former Capitol Music execs Michelle Jubelirer & Arjun Pulijal have launched new management & media collective, Soft Shock. Managers Mookie Singermann & Cameron Parkins have also joined, along with their artists Emile Mosseri, Caroline Polachek, Albert Hammond Jr. & others.

Multi-platinum British star PinkPantheress signed with new booking agents Brent Smith & Lauren Marker of Wasserman Music. The artist and writer/producer heads out on a NA tour next month, including two nights at the Wiltern in LA. 

Vibey Texas trio Khruangbin joined Jason Colton’s Red Light Management roster. 15 years in, the band released their newest acclaimed album A LA SALA last year.

Colombian star Jessi Uribe signed a global publishing deal with UMPG after building up his international reach with hits like ‘Dulce Pecado’ and ‘OK.’

Country’s Mackenzie Carpenter landed with new management at Brendan Rich’s Rich MGMT (Darren Kiely, George Birge). After cutting her teeth as a songwriter, the now tipped artist released her debut album, Hey Country Queen, this spring.

+100 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Sylvia Rhone will step down as Chair & CEO of Epic Records at the end of September, concluding a six-year run leading the label. Capitol Records names Ian Holder and Tariq Stewart SVPs of A&R. Absolute Label Services appoints Paul Purcell as Director of Platform to spearhead the company’s recently announced Anthology portal. Don Elford is parting ways with Legends Global, leaving his role as Director, Global Partnerships (APAC) on October 3rd. Jose Cedeño has been elevated to EVP/GM of Interscope Capitol Miami. Alisa Coleman has been elected as a publisher member to the ASCAP Board of Directors. BMG has elevated Matt Vieira to Sr. Director Promotion, Western US.

Universal Music UK appoints Tom Lewis as President of the relaunched Fontana label, with Laura Monks now serving as sole President of Decca Records. ORCA announces Patrick Clifton as new Executive Director to lead global indie music initiatives. Outback Presents names Jackie Naparlo SVP of Entertainment Strategy & Development. Mark Chipello has been promoted to President of Position Music. Warner Chappell Music Nashville elevates Kayce Russell to Manager, Creative Services and A&R Operations, putting her in charge of digital strategies for artist development across the roster. Lauren Davis has joined Gutt Law, PLLC as a new attorney, coming from Big Machine where she worked as an in-house attorney across both recorded music and publishing divisions. Sydney Hildebrandt joins boutique management firm LoyalT as Artist Manager and Head of Marketing. Donna Duncan, VP of CMT Music & Talent, has stepped down from her role.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Sr. Director Digital at HYBE America in Santa Monica

• Sr. Project Manager at 4Wall Entertainment in Simi Valley

• Manager - Digital Marketing (Catalogue Recordings) at BMG in London

• Manager of Operations at Genni in Nashville

• Head of Marketing at Love Alliance in East London

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