Vol 64 - We sit on the fire escape, We write and read 'til dawn

Happy Friday,

GRAMMYs recap, Bad Bunny Bowl & Shakira’s tour numbers don’t lie.

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 J. Cole, Joji, Ella Mai, ILLENIUM, Nick Jonas, Freya Skye, Daphni, Michael Marcagi, RAAHiiM, John The Blind, ATEEZ, Lecrae, Ezra, Silversun Pickups…

♪ Notable singles from Mitski, Megan Moroney, ZAYN, Dua Saleh & Bon Iver, SOFI TUKKER & J Balvin, Feng, Puma Blue, Mercer Henderson, Mack Keane, Galdive, In Color…

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

#4 - JENNIE joins Tame Impala on the ‘Dracula - JENNIE Remix.’

#5 - Myles Smith and Niall Horan collab on ‘Drive Safe.’

#7 - Mitski promises ‘I’ll Change for You” on the second release from her upcoming album Nothing’s About to Happen to Me.

#19 - Nick Jonas drops gospel-influenced ‘Sweet to Me’ about navigating type 1 diabetes.

#22 - ZAYN’s back with new single ‘Die For Me’, giving us a preview from his upcoming album Konnakol.

#35 - Quadeca shares 5 new cuts on Vanisher, Horizon Scraper (The Extended Cut) with ‘MELISA’ landing on the playlist.

#43 - Mack Keane kicks off 2026 with ‘Ordinary Feelings,’ his second single released via StarTrak / broke.

#45 - KPop Demon Hunters’ EJAE drops her 2nd track, heartbreak anthem ‘Time After Time.’

#56 - Frequent Sab Carp collaborator and Big Family client, John The Blind, releases his first new music in 5 years with ‘Beautiful Thing’ off new EP Indicator.

⭐ #93 - Mandy, Indiana tap Billy Woods for ‘Sicko!’ off their new album URGH. The song’s video had seven different filmmakers work on it, 30-seconds a piece.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Charli xcx, Danny L Harle, Mumford & Sons, hemlocke springs, Backstreet Boys, Beck, Sarah Kinsley, Yellow Days, Lauren Spencer Smith, Gogol Bordello, Chet Faker, Claire Rosinkranz, Eric Church all have new projects expected to come out next week.

ZAYN, John Summit, Brent Faiyaz, The Black Keys, Dua Saleh, Mýa, Friko, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Mclusky, Kathryn Mohr, Boldy James, Nicholas Craven & Ransom all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

🏆 Bad Bunny won Album of the Year at the GRAMMYs, making history with the first-ever Spanish language album to win it. Kendrick Lamar became the most awarded hip-hop artist in GRAMMY history, taking home Record of the Year and Best Rap Album. Cher caused confusion when she announced Luther Vandross rather than ‘luther’ as the Record of the Year winner. Olivia Dean took Best New Artist and KPop Demon Hunters’ ‘Golden’ became the first KPop song to win a GRAMMY. 🏆 After 15 years, RCA has revived JIVE Records. Apple Music flagged about 2B fraudulent streams throughout 2025. Deezer made its AI-detection tool publicly available. Spotify will officially launch operations in Istanbul. Fred Armisen will host a new CNN exploration of UMG’s Archives.

Check out Jessica McDevitt’s Giving-Back Guide for Artists and Teams on Stack by ROSTR.

A former The Voice Nigeria contestant, Ifunanya Nwangene, died after getting bitten by a snake. Founder and CEO of Swishahouse Michael ‘5000’ Watts passed away at 52. Three Dog Night Co-Founder Chuck Negron passed away at 83. Veteran publicist Tracy Zamot passed away at 55.

Universal Pictures and Warner Music were sued by a former Warner employee claiming he is owed rights and royalties for his work on ‘Furious 7.’ Pandora settled a lawsuit with comedians over spoken-word content licensing. Ticketmaster will be fined over 5M pesos for reported irregularities relating to BTS ticket sales. Lorde donated $204K to the Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committee + Immigrant Defense Network. Disgraced pharmaceutical exec Martin Shrkeli filed a countersuit against RZA in the battle for copyright ownership of Wu-Tang Clan’s Once Upon a Time in Shaolin.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Indie streaming platform Vocana partners with Symphonic

• B2B music streamer Soundtrack acquires Tunify and Ambie

• Consumable acquires Radio.com and Mark Cuban’s Fireside

• SVCV to launch global music and video streaming platform

• Manager of AI musician Xania Monet to launch new label with Create Music Group

• Live Nation to acquire Italy’s ForumNet Group

• Sony Music acquires $200M in assets from Recognition Music Group

• PARMA Recordings acquires classical label MSR Classics

• South Korea’s CJ ENM forms joint venture with JYP China, Tencent Music

• Apple acquires AI audio company Q.ai

• BMG eyes potential Concord acquisition

• DistroKid weighs potential sale

• Avex Music taps The Orchard for global distribution

• LabelWorx launches publishing division

Group Chat

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

🤣

Idk team, I really don’t know

What's in your GRAMMY day survival kit?
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Weed gummies (6%)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Portable charger (13%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Cyanide capsule (19%)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Fireball shooters (0%) 👀
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 2 bottles of wine, a blanket & your couch (63%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Noah Kahan, Post Malone & Jelly Roll, Ella Langley, Don Toliver, Carín León, Freddie Gibbs

ZAYN unveiled dates for his biggest solo tour in support of his upcoming album Konnakol, with stops in the UK, North America & South America.

Noah Kahan also announced his first stadium tour this week – just 3 years ago he was still billed as an opening act. The Great Divide Tour will kick off this June across North America with tour support from Gigi Perez.

BTS have partnered with Netflix to stream their live comeback concert from Gwanghwamun in Seoul. The broadcast will take place March 21st and will preface a new documentary BTS: The Return, also exclusively on Netflix.

Colombian superstar Shakira made history with the highest grossing tour for a Latin artist ever. The singer grossed >$421M over 86 shows. Her La Mujeres Ya No Lloran Tour kicked off in Brazil last year with more dates scheduled for 2026.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Move Forward Music announced its inaugural Sounds That Move festival, taking place in Bushwick this May; the multi-venue, 3-day festival will feature panels, workshops, DJ & club programming and more

• LOCASH will headline the 15th annual Island Time Music Festival on Isla Mujeres this month

• Maryland’s DelFest announced its lineup with Alison Krauss & Union Station, The Del McCoury Band & Blackberry Smoke amongst others

❌ Cancellations:

• Barry Manilow postponed his Vegas residency this February following treatment for stage-one lung cancer

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Alongside announcing a new album release date (March 20th), Kanye West will deliver Bully via independent label gamma., headed by Larry Jackson. The project will be his 12th studio album & the controversial rapper spent last weekend performing live in Mexico City alongside his daughter North West. Amidst an apology from Ye for his antisemitic behavior, the deal is said to be in the seven figures.

In their first-ever major label deal, duo Sofi Tukker has signed with Republic Records. Their first release via the new agreement is today’s collaboration, ‘COOK’ that just dropped alongside J Balvin.

Returning to the GRAMMY stage after 27 years, Ms. Lauryn Hill also made moves by signing onto CAA’s roster for touring outside of North America. There she joins Tony Goldring who recently came over from WME.

Payday Music Publishing added two electronic powerhouses this week to their roster in Dombresky & Cassian. Dombresky sold out back-to-back nights in LA this past weekend, while Cassian looks to build on a big 2025, where he was the Musical Director for Anyma’s groundbreaking ‘The End of Genesys’ show at the iconic Sphere in Las Vegas.

2026 Stagecoach performer Willow Avalon adds to her management team with Electric Feel signing on alongside current manager Mark Shami of Moral Distaste. The country singer dropped her debut album Southern Bell Raisin’ Hell last year and is slated to hit Europe for a tour starting this month.

22-year-old Mexican-American rising pop artist Kristen Cruz has signed with Alex Kadvan, Dinah Decker & Griffin Schwab of Red Light Management. With a massive online following (9M on TikTok), she’s been hard at work on a new project coming soon.

Country artist Ian Munsick has teamed up with Triple Tigers alongside his own label WEST TO THE REST RECORDS. The deal will result “in a true 50/50 partnership made in country and western heaven” and his debut via the new pact ‘Geronimo’ dropped last Friday.

+150 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Universal Music Enterprises has promoted Bruce Resnikoff from President and CEO to Chairman, while Jamie Krents has been elevated to President and CEO of UMe, expanding his responsibilities alongside his role leading the Verve Label Group.

Jive Records returns with former UnitedMasters executives Mike Weiss and David Melhado as co-presidents.

• WMG adds Wan Yin Koh as VP, Biz Dev, Digital at Warner Chappell Music Asia Pacific.

• Legends Global has appointed Josh Kritzler President, NA Venues & Content.

• Abby Lin has joined The Jonas Group as Global Head of Sync, overseeing the company's global placement strategy across film, TV, and brand partnerships.

• Suno has added Sam Berger as Sr. Director of Artist Partnerships to strengthen its artist and industry relationships.

• Clayton Toney has joined Neon Coast as Artist Manager, where he'll continue managing Randall King alongside the Martha Earls-founded company.

• 72 Music Mgmt announces Producer & Engineer division and adds Gil Gastelum as VP & Artist Manager.

• TouchTunes names Angela Abbott VP of Music Licensing & Strategy.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Director, Experiential Partnerships at FRAUDULENT in NY

• Head of Brand Partnerships at Vitalize Projects (Remote, US)

• Director of Partnerships at Burwoodland in NY

• Director, People Business Partner at UMG in Santa Monica

• Senior Product Designer at Believe in London or Liverpool

↗ Find these and 240+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR