Vol 68 - Read All The Time. Email, Occasionally.

Happy Friday,

Harry’s Netflix’s guy, Puth goes AI, Britney gets a DUI & Lucy Dickins says bye.

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 Harry Styles, Yebba, War Child Records, waterbaby, The Brook & The Bluff, Flying Lotus, Truman Sinclair, Juanes, Nettspend, slayr, ERRA…

♪ Notable singles from Fcukers, Ayra Starr, ivri, Isaia Huron, Channel Tres, John Vincent III, Friko, Ringo Starr, Dutch Interior, rusowsky, Nia Smith, it’s murph, The Army, The Navy…

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

#1 - Harry Styles’ fourth LP arrives today, claiming his friends are in love with ‘American Girls.’

#10 - Juice WLRD drops another posthumous collab, this time with Marshmello for ‘We Don’t Get Along.’

#11 - JYP Entertainment and Republic Records’ girl group GIRLSET release ‘Tweak.’

#30 - J Balvin, Amber Mark, Steve Vai and Travis Barker collab on the Coca-Cola Anthem for the FIFA World Cup 26^TM , ‘Jump.’

#41 - Channel Tres announces “it’s Channel season” on his first single of the year ‘Medicine.’

#62 - Frequent Fred again.. collaborators (with writing and production credits on Actual Life 3) PARISI step out with the UK producer and Eyelar on ‘This Is Real (Disappear).’

#67 - Brazilian DJ and producer RHR delivers ‘SYRINX,’ a collaboration with Skrillex, Me Jesmay, and Lucas Swatch, as part of his new EP GÍRIA.

⭐ #70 - Rising R&B Londoner Nia Smith taps DESTIN CONRAD for a ‘Tough’ duo.

#75 - Ringo Starr releases the first single from his forthcoming album Long Long Road with ‘It’s Been Too Long’ featuring Molly Tuttle and Sarah Jarosz.

#79 - Madrid-based multi-instrumentalist rusowsky shares bonus track ‘barquito’ from his 2025 LP DAISY.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

James Blake, Jack Harlow, The Fray, PUP, Gavin Adcock, P1Harmony, Quarters, Sweet Pill, Tinariwen, Kim Gordon, The Sophs, Lamb of God, Kungs, Johnny Blue Skies & the Dark Clouds, ASIA, Blessing Jolie, Dream Theater, The Black Crowes all have new projects expected to come out next week.

underscores, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Maya Hawke, Friko, Charlotte Cornfield, Loraine James, Aldous Harding, Greg Mendez, zzzahara, Gia Margaret, Hammok, Lucy Liyou, Seefeel, Octo Octa, Devon Gilfillian, Ray Bull all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Suno passed 2M subscribers. Spotify launched audiobook charts in the U.S. and U.K. Diddy will get out of prison earlier than expected. Live Nation’s antitrust trial began earlier this week. Anna’s Archive lost its .org domain. Charlie Puth joined AI platform Moises as Chief Music Officer. The band Lit sued Sony Music for an alleged $800K in unpaid royalties. Apple Music introduced Transparency Tags allowing labels and distributors to apply them to their new content. Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl penned a letter to shareholders.

Britney Spears was arrested for a DUI.

Harry Styles will release a Netflix concert film along with the release of new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. the singer was also recently interviewed by legendary Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami in Runners World. Olivia Dean was appointed ambassador for Record Store Day UK this year after winning four awards at the Brits. Nicki Minaj was dropped by her lawyer in a $10M defamation lawsuit filed by a former fan against her. Will Smith asked a lawsuit brought against him by a tour violinist to be dropped. Justin Timberlake sued to stop the release of his 2024 DWI arrest video. Singer-Songwriter Neil Sedaka passed away at 86.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Pipeline acquires music valuation company Clarty

• WMG partners with South Korean management agency, MAINSTREAM

• Kobalt signs global publishing agreement with Sync Music

• MusicInfra partners with The Royalty Network to optimize YouTube rights management

• Ticketing app that “puts the box office in your pocket” launches

• Create Music Group raises $450M in new round of funding

• TAIT acquires Silent House to expand live experience empire

• Eventbrite shareholders greenlight merger with Bending Spoons

• BIGC partners with Bauer Lab to expand k-pop in the Middle East

• Beatport and Beatsource are merging into one DJ marketplace

• Bridgepoint and GoldState partner to invest in music-oriented businesses

• Irenic reportedly launches $1.2B unsolicited bid for Reservoir

Group Chat

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

This is who you’re mad at for getting your grown up feelings hurt in Group Chat

people who work in music, except it’s not endearing

same, can’t believe he really posted this.

girl, the war…

No notes.

Say that!!

Favorite normiemaxxing milennial music professional trait

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Tagging friends on the artist's team in your IG story from the concert (54%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Going to Japan (15%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ "Haha yeah I was actually talking to my therapist about this last week" (15%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Falling for the Miley Cyrus driving around LA as Hannah Montana PR stunt (15%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Gorillaz, Smerz, underscores, Tash Sultana, Charley Crockett

NIVA, along with the rest of the Fix The Tix coalition, demanded in an open letter to the Senate there be a ban on reselling a ticket above its original total cost and for a 10% cap on all resale fees.

Ticketmaster announced it is working with Harry Styles' team to cancel listings on unauthorized resale ticketing sites for the artist's 'One Night Only' show in Manchester happening tonight.

Metallica tripled the number of dates at their Sphere residency with 16 more shows added going into 2027.

🏆 Record Breakers:

• Shakira broke the record for attendance at her free Zócalo show in Mexico City with 400K fans in the audience

• Bad Bunny set the record for the highest number of tickets sold at Sydney's ENGIE Stadium with 89K fans across two sold-out shows

• Additionally, Roc Nation announced Bad Bunny's halftime performance racked up >4B views in 24 hours, combining traditional broadcasts, social media, international platforms & YouTube views

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• SF's Outside Lands unveiled its lineup with headlining sets from Charli xcx, The Strokes, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Baby Keem, Turnstile, The xx & more

• Framework In The Desert – Coachella Weekend One afterparty – announced the lineup for its 5th edition with sets from Disclosure, Mochakk, Armin Van Buuren & others

• Electric Forest continues to grow its lineup with Lane 8, Galantis, Yaeji & more set to perform

• Oceans Calling 2026 in Maryland announced Dave Matthews Band, Twenty One Pilots, Mumford & Sons, Hootie & The Blowfish, Gwen Stefani & Matchbox Twenty as headliners

• Bogotá's Baum Festival unveiled its lineup with special performances from Disclosure & Underworld

• My Chemical Romance, Tool, Limp Bizkit & Pierce The Veil will headline Sacramento festival Aftershock this October

• Love Supreme Jazz Festival continues to add to its lineup with De La Soul, DJ Pee .Wee, Free Nationals, Sister Sledge & more

❌ Cancellations:

• Festival organizers for Vegas' punk and emo festival When We Were Young announced it will be skipping this year, with a promise to return in 2027; no reason for the decision was given, the organizers explaining they want to give "the festival the care it deserves"

• Charlotte de Witte revealed she cancelled her upcoming Australian shows, citing that the recent conflict in the Middle East has made it difficult "to risk free reroute travel for myself and my crew"

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Jamiroquai have landed at BMG for a worldwide recording agreement, bringing three decades of funk innovation to the label's eclectic UK roster. The group have spent two years developing new material frontman Jay Kay believes ranks among their strongest work since emerging in the early 1990s with albums like Emergency on Planet Earth, Travelling Without Moving, and A Funk Odyssey.

After celebrating her four-year music debut last week, Ari Abdul has joined Foundations with Dawn Barger signing on for management duties. Her track ‘BABYDOLL’ has racked up over 300M streams and just released her newest single ‘So Good’ via Slumbo Labs/RCA last month. 

In the midst of a European tour opening for sombr, Charlotte Lawrence has signed with Anika Capozza of Front Row Management. The singer, who is engaged to superproducer Andrew Watt, has also written for major pop artists and appeared in fashion campaigns for brands like Marc Jacobs and Saks.

Ohio metalcore band Beartooth moved to Fearless Records after years at Red Bull Records, dropping debut single ‘Free’ to mark the shift. Their 2023 release The Surface hit #1 on Billboard's Hard Rock Albums chart while spawning back-to-back Active Rock radio toppers, adding to 1.3B career streams, one Platinum and one Gold plaque.

Atlanta duo Coco & Clair Clair have partnered with Bronwyn Ford & Bryan Ling of New Community Management. The pair earned attention with viral hit ‘Pretty’ – which Clairo featured in a Soundcloud mix – and will look to build on their 2024 album Girl.

After releasing sophomore album Midwest Rock & Roll through Big Machine Records in March 2025, Ryan Hurd has now signed with Jeff Krones, Katie Germano & Darin Murphy of CAA for touring. The two-time GRAMMY nominee has written Platinum #1s for Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, and Lady A while racking up over one billion streams as an artist.

+155 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Lucy Dickins is stepping down from her role as co-head of WME’s contemporary music and touring division after four years.

Damon Whiteside is stepping down as ACM CEO after six-and-a-half years, with his official exit set for June 30. The organization has formed a search committee to identify his successor.

UK collection society PRS for Music announced Thursday that CEO Andrea Czapary Martin will step down at the end of 2026. Martin joined in 2019 and leaves having guided the organization to record royalty distributions of over £1 billion.

Universal Music Netherlands has tapped 8Ball Music founder Tony van de Berkt as its new CEO, effective immediately. He takes the reins from retiring CEO Kees van der Hoeven and will report to Frank Briegmann, Chairman & CEO of Universal Music Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon.

Electric Feel Entertainment has promoted Jamie Lierk to COO, tapping the seven-year company veteran to oversee operations across its Los Angeles and Nashville offices and help lead the buildout of its forthcoming Miami expansion.

• Madison House Booking Agency is merging into Dynamic Talent International, adding Adam Bauer and Jennaya Ramirez as partners and pushing the agency's roster to 600+ clients.

• Position Music appointed Garrett Ream and Mikelle Schwartz as co-heads of its label division, with Ream leading creative and Schwartz overseeing marketing.

• Better Noise Music promoted Michael Lombardi to CCO and Erick Charles to VP of Marketing, and added Sarah Sigro as a Nashville-based marketing hire.

• Sony Music Publishing named Stephanie Ortiz, formerly Believe's head of label, as GM of its new Philippines division.

• Sony Music Publishing also promoted Michael Riggs to SVP, Licensing & Income Tracking, where he'll continue to lead the Licensing, Sync Administration, Global Income Tracking, and Client Audit teams.

• Symphonic Distribution upped Guji Lorenzana to Director, A&R and Client Development, APAC, and brought on Arie Legowo and Abegail Ungab to round out the regional team.

• BMI named John Powenski as SVP & Chief Human Resources Officer, based in Nashville.

• Conway Entertainment Group hired Sherry May as Talent Buyer and Venue Consultant, supporting the launch of its new CEG Live consulting division.

• The Syndicate hired Stevie Heckert as Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing and Jaymie Lunt as Jr. Designer.

• Ground Control Touring signed Nashville-based agent Tommy Alexander, who joins from Wasserman.

• Lucky Group added five across its management and agency divisions with Alex Tate and Charley Pope joining Teamwrk Management as Artist Managers, Tom Morrey coming aboard Lucky Agency as Sr. Agent, and Charlton Tran and Oliver Stitt as Junior Agents.

• Nashville's Richlynn Group promoted Tyler Phillips, Emma Eyre, and Carly Scognamiglio to Account Manager roles.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Vice President of Marketing at Z2 Entertainment in Boulder, CO

• Director, Account Management at Firebird in New York, NY

• Executive Director at SFF Presents in Sisters, OR

• Sync & Brand Manager at [PIAS] in London, England, UK

• Promoter at Lucky Group in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

↗ Find these and 280+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR