Vol 62 - It's best you know what you don't, inbox lets the news in

Happy Friday,

GRAMMY parties begin, TikTok deal gets finalized, Kim Petras vs Republic & Sphere gets a sequel.

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 Wizkid & Asake, Ari Lennox, XG, Poppy, Yandel, Camper, Katie Tupper, IDK, The Paper Kites, Truman Sinclair, Kashus Culpepper, PHABO, The Format, Nija…

♪ Notable singles from Harry Styles, The Scythe, James Blake, oskar med k, Holly Humberstone, Ruby Waters, Jessie Ware, Snail Mail, Louis Tomlinson, Naomi Scott…

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

#1 - Fresh off announcing a WW tour, Harry Styles opens the ‘Aperture’ on his upcoming 4th studio album with the 5-minute, electronic, techno-leaning dance cut.

#9 - Holly Humberstone shares ‘To Love Somebody,’ the second single off her newest album accompanied by a Victorian-themed music video directed by Ethel Cain-collaborator Silken Weinberg.

#26 - Newly formed rap supergroup The Scythe – comprised of Denzel Curry, Tia Corine, Bktherula, A$AP Ferg & Key Nyata – drop their first collab single ‘LIT EFFECT’ via Loma Vista.

#28 - Snail Mail kicks off her album-roll out (her first in 5 years) with indie single “Dead End,” which releases via Matador Records.

#30 - Louis Tomlinson teams up with songwriting collaborator Dave Gibson again on ‘Imposter.’

#43 - Jelly Roll adds another soundtrack cut with ‘I’m Good,’ the lead single from Steph Curry’s upcoming animated film GOAT.

#59 - Naomi Scott announces debut album F.I.G. coming March 20th and releases new single ‘Losing You.’

#64 - T.I. releases new Pharrell-produced and co-written track ‘LET‘EM KNOW.’

#70 - Folk pop’s Adam Klobi, a recent signing of Darkroom, drops ‘FICTION’ co-written by Adam Melchor & Jonah Shy.

⭐ #90 - All his music made in a remote village in Italy, rising DJ & producer Noah Baine drops his third track ‘Fallin’’ as part of his forthcoming EP Balance.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

A.G. Cook, Jordan Ward, Labrinth, Softcult, Sébastien Tellier, The Soft Pink Truth, James Adrian Brown, Cast, Yumi Zouma, LIGHTS, Kula Shaker, Joyce Manor, Sophia Stel, Indira Paganotto, Cordovas, Infected Mushroom, all have new projects expected to come out next week.

RAYE, Snail Mail, Jenna Paulette, Jon Langston, the Scythe, The New Pornographers, Tenacious D (live album), The Milk Carton Kids, Joshua Chuquimia Crampton, Avalon Emerson all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Spotify, UMG, Warner and Sony sued Anna’s Archive over the scraping of 86M songs. ByteDance finalized the deal to avoid the U.S. ban on TikTok via a majority American owned JV. The UMG-Downtown deal will likely be approved by EU regulators. Kim Petras publicly asked her label Republic Records to drop her. AXS sued 3rd party web-based service SecureMyPass over alleged fake tickets. Sweden blocked a track from the country’s official charts after an investigation revealed that the song was created with AI by a Danish publisher. Taylor Swift became the youngest person to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame; Alanis Morisette and Kenny Loggins also joined. Liza Minnelli, Art Garfunkel and more contributed to an AI-generated album coming from ElevenLabs. A Canadian federal court suspended the order to shut down TikTok’s operations in the country. Drake filed an appeal after his lawsuit vs. UMG was dismissed. Drew Barrymore was sued for copyright infringement for using an uncleared track in a social media post. Green Day will kick off the Super Bowl LX opening ceremony in a few weeks. Take That’s three-part documentary series will premiere on Netflix January 27th. The Brit Awards nominations are here. So are the Oscar noms - see who’s in the running for Original Song and Original Score. Spotify launched a ‘prompted playlist’ feature in the US and Canada.

Taylor Swift was dragged back into the ‘It Ends With Us’ drama…

Make sure to check out jump.global’s GRAMMY Awards Event Guide ahead of next week’s show.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Udio strikes licensing deal with Merlin

• Duetti raises $200M for catalog acquisition and growth

• Believe UK and Tileyard Music launch Tenace Records

• UMG and NetEase Cloud Music sign multi-year licensing deal for China

• Splice acquires Kits AI, an AI-powered voice production platform

• Concord invests in Giant Music

• Def Jam expands into China

• Beatstars acquires Lemonaide AI, an “ethical” generative music startup

• Kobalt signs strategic partnership with India’s Madverse Music

• GEMA sells Zebralution to US-based investor Insight Holdings Group

• Tone debuts AI-powered contract analyzer

• Sony Music purchases Munich label F.A.M.E. Recordings

• Tiny Vinyl expands into Europe

• Independent music financing platform ‘Pipeline’ launches

Group Chat

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

We are Finn Wolfhard.

Not sure I see what the problem is, here? —Label Execs, probably

Just thought this was funny lol

Harry Styles' new album...

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Performative (28%)

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Sooo 2016 of him (11%)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Can almost guarantee a folk song on there (22%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Wait the guy from Stranger Things is Djo?? (39%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Harry Styles, A$AP Rocky, Peso Pluma, John Legend, Lord Huron, Oneohtrix Point Never

Harry Styles is back in a big way. The pop star announced his 7-city Together, Together Tour with multiple nights in each location including a whopping 30-date residency at Madison Square Garden, New York in support of his upcoming 4th studio album Kiss All the Time, Disco Occasionally.

After speculation that London or Abu Dhabi would host the second edition of the venue, Sphere Entertainment confirmed a second, smaller Sphere will be built in the Washington D.C. area. The 6K-capacity space will feature the same state-of-the-art visual and audio presentation as the original, and has already received $200M of funding from state, local and private incentives.

Meanwhile, Vegas' Sphere will be host to 6 additional dates for Kenny Chesney's summer residency in June.

Ho Chi Minh City is building a $5.5B complex, which will include a 70K-capacity stadium, a 10K-capacity conference center, indoor arenas, sports centers & more. The project will take ~8 years to complete and is expected to "jump-start Vietnam's event structure."

I wanna be where you are… in Ibiza that is. DJ / producer John Summit shared he will be a 2026 resident at Ibiza's mega-club [UNVRS], where he will play 9 nights each Monday from June to July.

Outside of the island, live music venues in Spain will be given a new aid package from the Spanish Ministry of Culture worth €1M, with the goal of improving infrastructure, upgrading equipment & more.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• London's Labyrinth On The Thames returns for its second year with electronic duo Overmono confirmed as the first headliner

• Pennsylvania-based Elements Festival unveiled phase one of its lineup including acts Chris Lake, Cloonee, KETTAMA, A-Trak, Kaleena Zanders & more

• BeachLife Festival will be headlined by Duran Duran, James Taylor & The Offspring at Redondo Beach this May

• Australian indie duo Lime Cordiale announced their inaugural climate-focused Lime Green Festival – a one-day, off-the-grid festival with the goal of placing environmental action center stage of the live music experience

❌ Cancellations:

• Poison's 40th anniversary tour has been called off due to a disagreement on the money split amongst the group's members

• Recent Warner / Sire signee Morrissey cancels yet another show on his North American tour, leaving only one remaining night on his route due to a continued "illness"

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

After recently joining Timeline Management, Bebe Rexha now enters her next label chapter with indie EMPIRE, following three albums with Warner Records. In the announcement, the singer-songwriter said about the new deal, “they believe in my vision and trust my instincts, which has refueled my creativity.”

GRAMMY-nominated writer-producer King Henry has joined The Core Entertainment for management. His work spans a wide range of artists, including Beyoncé, LANY, Maroon 5 and his wife, Sasha Alex Sloan.

Antdot, who is rising out of Brazil’s electronic music scene, has signed with Santiago Cruz & Rico Pedraza of WME for touring (NA, SA ex-Brazil). He’s already performed at major stages like Tomorrowland, and his tracks such as “Corpo e Canção” & “Your Love (Remix) have achieved Gold status in his home country.

Writer-producer Britten Newbill signed a publishing deal with Reservoir covering a portion of his catalog & future works. Nashville-born and now London-based, he has had cuts with Cat Burns, Olivia Dean, Daya & others. 

Recent XXL 2025 member 1900Rugrat locked in a publishing deal with Electric Feel. The rapper from West Palm Beach, Florida, released his debut album in November with features from Quavo, Kyle  Rich, Loe Shimmy & more. 

Philly-based management shop Better Artists announced that Chris Radwanski has joined the company. Known for his work as the founder of Born Loser Records, Chris brings with him Jaguar Sun, Bleary Eyed, Work Wife & producer Trey Frye to the roster. 

Austin-headquartered Ten Atoms added Howard Greynolds, previously at Overcoat Management, to their staff who will be based in Chicago. Along with him will be longtime clients Iron & Wine + Ken Pomeroy.

+160 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Jeff Toig has been promoted to CEO of Global Music Rights, with co-founder Randy Grimmett becoming Executive Chairman. WMG has named former Billboard Editor-in-Chief Hannah Karp as EVP and Chief Communications Officer, where she will lead global communications and brand marketing strategies beginning January 26. Bruno Crolot is leaving his role as President, Label & Artist Solutions at Believe after seven months to pursue a new challenge. Harri Davies has joined The Other Songs as Head of A&R, after most recently serving in the same role at RCA Records UK.

SESAC has named Karousel Music co-founder Chris Sheehan as VP, International, stepping into the role previously held by the late John Sweeney. Caldecott Music Group has promoted Dani Deahl to VP of Creator Policy & Corporate Affairs.

Sony Music UK has tapped Jerome Porritt as Head of A&R at RCA Records UK, tasking the former Warner and Parlophone A&R exec with leading artist signings and development after shaping multiple platinum releases. Maurice Slade has been named Head of Music at SoundCloud, where he will oversee global music strategy spanning artist development, cultural programming, and partnerships.

Melanie Geiger, a nine-year Warner Music veteran who previously led Hip-Hop at ADA and Warner’s distribution services, has been appointed Director of Atlantic Records Germany. Leila Cobo and Jason Lipshutz have been promoted to Co-Chief Content Officers of Billboard, overseeing editorial content, newsroom operations, and marquee franchises including Women in Music and Latin Music Week.

Chris Dashwood is GM of Tenace Records, the new Believe UK and Tileyard Music joint venture, launching with Pale Waves. BMG has named Jasper Niebuhr Managing Director, GSA, effective February 1, where he will oversee recorded music and publishing operations across Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, reporting to President Alistair Norbury. AEG Presents has promoted Tour Directors Caleb Merrell and Laurel Hilburn to Sr. Tour Directors while expanding its Global Touring team with the hires of Ryan Erickson as Sr. Director of Marketing and Emily Harenza as Director of Digital Marketing. Cassie Wright has been appointed Executive Director of the IBMA Foundation, effective April 1, as Nancy Cardwell retires following a decade with the Foundation and two decades at the International Bluegrass Music Association.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Financial Controller at Wise Music Group in NY

• Founding Engineer at Nero in San Francisco

• Director of Group Licensing at AllTrack (Remote)

• SVP, Catalog at UMG in Santa Monica

• Sr. Manager, Digital Marketing at BMG in NY

↗ Find these and 220+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR