Vol 53 - Something evil's lurking in your inbox

Happy Halloween 🎃,

Things get scary at Amazon & Paramount, UMG settles, performative males on tour & Mariah isn’t defrosting just yet.

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 Florence + The Machine, Oklou, Sevdaliza, Saba, Kodak Black, The Belair Lip Bombs, strongboi, Luvcat, Outkast, Mikayla Geier, Daniel Avery…

♪ Notable singles from ROSALÍA, Björk, Yves Tumor, Tyler, The Creator, Brent Faiyaz, flowerovlove, Masego, Mitchell Tenpenny, Orville Peck, Kelly Lee Owens, Pink Siifu…

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

#1 - ROSALÍA is back and gearing up for her upcoming album Lux. Her latest single ‘Berghain’ featuring Björk and Yves Tumor, dropped this Monday.

#3 - Florence + The Machine taps Danny L Harle for some writing & production help on ‘Sympathy Magic’, with Florence unveiling their full new album, Everybody Scream.

#10 - After revealing she’ll open for MARINA in Europe next year, Mikayla Geier releases her 2nd album HOT POT! with ‘ego of a man’ in the top 10 this week.

#21 - Outkast celebrate the 25th anniversary of Stankonia with an album re-release, featuring NMF track (and originally part of the Angelina Jolie Tomb Raider soundtrack) ‘Speedballin’.

#22 - The Belair Lip Bombs are from ‘Another World’ on their newest track; the buzzy Australian indie outfit recently signed with Concord ANZ.

#31 - After getting stood up for the first time, Grace Enger turned it into ‘Running Back To You,’ a single produced with friend Ryan Raines.

#32 - It’s been a quiet year for Mitchell Tenpenny, who gifts us his 2nd solo release of 2025 with ‘Therapy.’

#36 - R&B’s Saint Harison gets into the Halloween mood with ‘ghosted.’

⭐ #43 - Hotly tipped songwriter/producer turned artist Ella Boh releases ‘SERiAL KiLLER’ on Halloween via Bamboo Artists.

#54 - Nightly drop new album The Void, featuring NMF track ‘THE SHIVERS’ and other Halloween-esque titled tracks like ‘haunted house’ and ‘WEREWOLF.’

#79 - NOTION & Willow Kayne officially drop ‘WAITING’ after building up hype for several months online.

#88 - Cash Cash and Hayley Kiyoko team up on ‘Sadness.’

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

ROSALÍA, Del Water Gap, Whitney, Mavis Staples, Danny Brown, Portugal. The Man, Armand Hammer & The Alchemist, Stella Donnelly, The Mountain Goats, White Lies, Westerman, Sorry, Insecure Men, Hatchie, The Dears, Midlake all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Mumford & Sons, Megadeth, Tyler Halverson, The Soft Pink Truth, Geologist, Ratboys, Navy Blue, eill all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Amazon laid off 14,000+ employees this week “to help make the company leaner and less bureaucratic.” Paramount laid off 1,000 employees, with plans to lay off 1,000 more. The U.S. TikTok sale is expected to be completed this week. UMG settled its copyright infringement lawsuit against Udio. The founder of Kakao Corporation was found not guilty in a trial about the bidding war against HYBE for SM Entertainment. Drake appealed the judge’s decision to dismiss his lawsuit against UMG and Kendrick Lamar. The remaining assets of Utopia Music are up for sale via the bankruptcy office in Switzerland. Triller group received a delisting determination letter from the NASDAQ earlier in October after failing to file financial reports on time. Diddy is expected to be released from prison on May 8, 2028. Drake, Adin Ross and online casino company Stake were sued in Missouri for allegedly promoting illegal and predatory gambling. RAYE’s stolen car was recovered, with all of her songwriting books intact and safe!

Mariah says it’s not time to defrost for Christmas… NOT YET!

NewJeans plan to appeal the court decision to uphold their Ador label contract through 2029. HYBE partnered with LAFC to sponsor the 1st Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoff home game in LA. The Jamaican man who stole and resold 900+ Taylor Swift tix for over $635K pled guilty in court and could face up to 15 years in prison. Tina Knowles shared that before breast cancer surgery last year, Beyoncé and Solange sang her gospel song ‘Walk With Me.’ Carrie Underwood was named the highest RIAA-certified Female country artist of all time. Flavor Flav will reprise his Olympics hype man role in 2026 as the official sponsor of the U.S. bobsled and skeleton team. Maluma and Roselyn Sanchez will host the 2025 Latin GRAMMYs.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Bandsintown launched the Bandsintown for Artists Marketplace; see the partners HERE

• Notes.fm launches to uncover unclaimed ‘Black Box’ royalties

• Adobe’s Firefly now crafts custom, fully licensed AI music for video

• DistroKid debuts artist-to-fan merch platform

• Reports suggest OpenAI is working on a generative AI music tool

• Spotify increases prices in the UK and Switzerland

• MNGRS.AI lands $2.1M to bring AI smarts to artist management

• Pitchfork adds reader scores to album reviews

• UAE’s collective management organization Music Nation commences operations

• GM will eliminate Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from future vehicles

• YouTube is developing a new AI likeness detection tool

• Suno releases an updated free version of its music-making tool

• Pythagoras Music Fund acquires catalogs from Peter Sinfield and Joe Janiak

• Open Door Management evolves into Immortal Music Group

Group Chat

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

Happy Halloween to everyone except these guys, iykyk

1/3

2/3

3/3

Ate that

Thoughts on the sombr situation?

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ It's all part of The System (28%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ ROLE MODEL > (19%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️ d4vd still hasn't been arrested (44%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Idc we stan Ty Stiklorius (9%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Morgan Wallen, Demi Lovato, Lily Allen, Miguel, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter performed his first DJ set in 16 years alongside Fred again.. at the 20th anniversary party for French record label Because Music.

Morgan Wallen announced 21 dates for his stadium tour Still The Problem with special guests Brooks & Dunn, Thomas Rhett, Ella Langely, HARDY & more.

VENU partnered with Primary Wave to bring “artist-inspired” programming and immersive content to its venues worldwide. Primary Wave represents >200 catalogs of artists and estates, which the venue operator and hospitality destination provider seeks to integrate into a “scalable pipeline of premium content.” VENU’s Founder & CEO J.W. Roth explained how developing a “multi-dimensional content strategy in-house to include residencies, theatrical performances, and other original productions is a top priority for us.”

Billie Eilish pledged $11.5M of earnings from her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour to food equity and climate justice organizations.

Live Nation announced new Nashville venue The Truth to open next fall. The 4.4K capacity space will feature a flexible floor plan with 3 levels to accommodate seating and standing.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Primavera Sound Porto unveiled its lineup with The xx, Gorillaz & Massive Attack set to headline

• We Belong Here announced its debut Palm Beach edition with headliners Kaskade, Axwell, SG Lewis & Oliver Heldens

• Puerto Rico’s debut Fifth Element Festival will feature headliners Carl Craig, Seth Troxler, Nicole Moudaber, Danny Tanaglia & Ricardo Villalobos

• Post Malone & Jelly Roll will headline Boots In The Park Albuquerque next May

❌ Cancellations:

• Lollapalooza Paris has been cancelled, citing economic difficulties, a lack of headliners & a restrictive regulatory framework

• Reneé Rapp cancelled the last 3 shows on her Bite Me Tour due to vocal stress

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

After taking a three-year hiatus and reuniting in November 2024, The Neighbourhood announced plans for a new album (((((ultraSOUND))))) dropping in 2 weeks via new label partner Warner Records.

After a 15-year hiatus, Clipse recently reunited and dropped an album, which they’re on the hunt for a GRAMMY Album nod. Now Pusha T & Clipse have signed with for new touring representation at CAA with Christian Carino, Mac Clark, Jacqueline Reynolds-Drumm, Emma Banks, Claudio Lillo and Ryan Thomson helping out alongside Alex DePersia & Kevin McMullan at By The Way on the management front

IDRIS aka the multi-talented Idris Elba, extended his worldwide publishing deal with UMPG. The writer/producer/actor got into music in 2022 and already has performed at festivals like Coachella (b2b with Kaskade), Glastonbury + all over Ibiza.

Bedroom pop artist mxmtoon landed with ATC Management with Jackson Perry & Andrew Morro signing on. The AWAL artist dropped her album liminal space in November & spent the year touring worldwide. 

The raspy-voiced duo Buffalo Traffic Jam signed with Mason Romm & Nate Fenningdorf of PLAYDATE MGMT. The Montana boys just put out their first studio project, Take Me Home via Arista and are currently on the road supporting Dylan Gossett.

Former One Fiinix Live agent Jess Kinn joined the newly-formed company ROAM alongside artists like Olly Alexander (Years & Years), Mallrat, Ruby Waters & others.

+100 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Primary Wave Music has announced two promotions across its creative and sync divisions, elevating Peter Kurczaba to VP, Creative Sync, and Cleome Barber to Director, Creative A&R.

BMG has announced promotions for five U.S.-based executives to VP roles across Frontline Recordings, Pop, R&B/Hip-Hop, Brand Partnerships, and Legal including Camille Kenny as VP A&R BMG Nashville, Diallobe Johnson as VP Marketing, Quinn Bauducco as VP Business & Legal Affairs, Daron Moore as VP Brand Partnerships, and Edwin Camacho as VP Marketing Pop.

Eleonora Rubini and Marco Masoli take on Label Director roles as Warner Music Italy launches Warner Records Italy and Atlantic Records Italy, alongside multiple new senior hires across A&R, Marketing, and Promotions.

Dan Rosen takes on an expanded role as President of Warner Music Australasia & Southeast Asia, now leading the company’s recorded music business across six Southeast Asian markets. SeatGeek names Matt Herman Chief Marketing Officer. Thilo Elsner named Managing Director of Florida Touring. North Chapel Music has added Joe Dan Cornett as Creative Director and appointed Wendy Buckner to the role of Sr. Creative Director. H.Read Davis leaves his position of VP, Digital at Big Loud after three years at the company while Lucy Bartozzi also leaves her role as VP, Marketing at Big Loud Records.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Marketing Director at ATG Group in Los Angeles

• Ticketing Director at Belly Up Aspen in Colorado

• Sr. Director, Fan Engagement (US) at WMG in Los Angeles

• Business Development Director at Live Nation in Australia

• Digital Marketing Coordinator at Black Box in Los Angeles

↗ Find these and 420+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR