Vol 69 - I would ask you how you've been, it's all over NIF

Happy Friday,

Live Nation vs DOJ, Wass becomes THE·TEAM, Morrissleepy & let's protect Rihanna at all costs.

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 James Blake, Jack Harlow, Leven Kali, Haute & Freddy, Yahritza Y Su Escencia, LANY, Avery Anna, Kris R., E L U C I D & Sebb Bash, Colton Bowlin…

♪ Notable singles from Kacey Musgraves, Noah Kahan, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, The Pussycat Dolls, beabadoobee & The Marías, Bleachers, Kenya Grace, Chris Stussy…

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

#1 - Kacey Musgraves is back with frequent writing collaborators Luke Laird, Shane McAnally and Josh Osborne, dropping ‘Dry Spell.’

#2 - Noah Kahan and Aaron Dessner team up to write Noah’s latest track ‘Porch Light.’ Fun fact - Dessner plays ELEVEN different instruments on the track.

#3 - Dream collab with beabadoobee teaming up with The Marías on ‘All I Did Was Dream of You.’

#6 - James Blake tries to get us through these ‘Trying Times,’ releasing his newest album of the same name via a shared-investment model that will see Blake and other contributors like Good Boy Records, Virgin Music Group & Stellar Music benefit from its success.

#18 - Dutch-born singer, producer & multi-instrumentalist Leven Kali shares the smooth ‘Starlet’ off his new project LK99.

#30 - Lykke Li releases their second single with Neon Gold: ‘Knife In The Heart.’

#41 - The Stuss has officially been upped as Chris Stussy drops his first single ‘Darkness’ towards his forthcoming debut album Lost, Found & Forgotten.

⭐ #60 - Violet Grohl, Dave Grohl’s eldest daughter, releases her third single ‘595’ via UMG.

#95 - CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso & Jack Black are babies on ‘Goo Goo Ga Ga.’

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

BTS, CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso, Central Cee, Luke Combs, Kanye West, Manchester Orchestra, Naomi Scott, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Mike WiLL Made-It, Grace Ives, ZHU, Avalon Emerson, Yeek, Alex Isley, Band of Horses all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Kacey Musgraves, Dogstar, Josh Groban, Rostam, Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, Surf Gang, Katie Alice Greer, Angélique Kidjo, Francis of Delirium, Johnny Greenwood, Shye Ben Tzur, The Rajasthan Express, Violet Grohl, Andrew Sa, Olof Dreijer, Amy Shark, Tucker Zimmerman, CFCF, Bad Gyal all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Live Nation and the DOJ agreed to a settlement in the antitrust lawsuit, stalling a sale of Ticketmaster but not signaling a complete end to the suit. Wasserman rebranded to THE·TEAM. Concord acquired indie label Ninja Tune. Indie artists filed a suit against Google over Lyria 3 training. Universal Music Nordics unified its operations in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Baltics into “One Nordic.” PRS for Music filed a legal claim against the gaming distribution service Steam. Shazam launched on ChatGPT. TikTok is allowed to continue operating in Canada. Spotify says more than 13.8K artists generated over $100K on platform in 2025. GEMA vs. Suno continues… A woman was arrested for attempted murder after shooting at Rihanna’s Beverly Hills home while the star was inside. A US federal judge dismissed the copyright infringement lawsuit against Bad Bunny for track ‘Enséñame a Bailer’ after the plaintiff allegedly abandoned the case. Dr. Dre is finally a billionaire. Fender secured a legal ruling to protect its Stratocaster design. A jury found Kanye West guilty in a trial over claims from a man who was allegedly seriously injured and wrongfully fired while working on Kanye’s Malibu mansion in 2021.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Apple Music and TikTok launch “Play Full Song” integration

• Feid announces his new record label, Grabaciones Los Poderosos

• Primary Wave inks catalog deal with Kool & the Gang’s Robert “Kool” Bell

• Warner Chappell extends global deal with Stromae’s Mosaert Label

• Hans Zimmer signs global publishing admin deal with Reservoir Media

• Spotify and HYBE form new partnership to host K-pop video podcasts

• See Tickets Switzerland integrates into Ticketcorner

• Kobalt Music Group signs worldwide deal with Sync Music Global

• Openplay unveils Connect App Exchange for B2B music services

Group Chat

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

So weeepyyyy

Here for the Euphoria shade

Variety out here doing real, hard-nosed journalism

Yikes

No for real though

Had to

What needs to be in your music biz professional care plan?

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Constant reminders that you don't work for FEMA (14%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Strict wfh (14%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Muting Scooter Braun on IG (14%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Camera off during video calls (21%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Salary ranges listed for new jobs you're applying for (36%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: The Pussycat Dolls, Empire Of The Sun, Jacob Collier, Jill Scott, Arlo Parks, Lucy Dacus, Rick Ross, Thomas Rhett

After circling rumors of a reunion following a signing with CAA late last year, The Pussycat Dolls have confirmed a 53-date "PCD Forever" tour across North America and Europe this year.

As Glastonbury lies in its fallow year, event organizer Sound City announced an alternative for music goers in Liverpool Summer of Music 2026, a series of live performances, cultural events and community activity running from June to August throughout the city.

Similarly capitalizing on the Glastonbury-sized gap for festivals this summer, UK's Music Venue Trust in collaboration with The National Lottery unveiled country-wide festival Everywhere At Once. The event aims to support grassroots music venues the last weekend of June. More than 500 music venues will participate.

In support of his upcoming album, Kanye West is set to play LA's SoFi Stadium on April 3rd, his first show in the United States in nearly a decade.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Goldenvoice shared the lineup for new Indio Valley-based dance music festival Head Trip, which boasts massive acts like Calvin Harris, Skrillex, Swedish House Mafia, FISHER, Chris Lake & more

• Vans Warped Tour is returning to DC for 2 days of its 5 day run with over 90 acts confirmed along with 3 mystery sets; Coheed and Cambria, Hoobastank, Taking Back Sunday, and more will be featured

• Chicago's ARC Music Festival expands to 4 days this year, featuring performances from Sara Landry, Chris Stussy, Anyma, Cloonee & Chase & Status amongst others

• Phase 2 of Pennsylvania's Elements 2026 is here, with Big Gigantic, Chris Lorenzo, A-Trak, Louis The Child, Matroda & more announced

• NYC’s We Belong Here unveiled Kx5 (Kaskade + deadmau5), Above & Beyond, Eli Brown & more will play in June at Brooklyn Army Terminal

• With no shortage of boots-themed festival names, the inaugural Boots On The Bend announced Eric Church & HARDY as the headliners for its South Bend, Indiana edition

❌ Cancellations:

• Linkin Park shared they were not able to play last night's scheduled Adelaide performance in Australia "due to an illness in the band;" the 8-date AU tour is scheduled to continue as planned tomorrow

• With a 24% cancellation rate, you can now track how many shows Morrissey has cancelled across his career; he most recently ended his show in Spain early due to lack of sleep leaving him in a "catatonic state"

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Skylar Grey has joined Casual Media Partners for management with Founder/CEO Heather Vassar ahead of her May album Wasted Potential. Her total catalog has amassed over 19B career streams, including writing credits on Eminem and Rihanna's megahit ‘Love The Way You Lie’ and Fort Minor's ‘Where'd You Go.’

Brad Paisley signed on as the flagship artist of newly formed Domain Artist Management, a Nashville venture between managers Bill Simmons, Kendal Marcy and songwriter Chris DuBois. The three-time GRAMMY winner reunites with longtime collaborators Marcy, who has been a partner of Pasiley’s since 1999, and DuBois, who co-founded Sea Gayle Music with the country music star.

Baile funk artist MC Meno K has signed with Warner Music Brasil after becoming Brazil's most-streamed male artist on Spotify at 23M monthly listeners. Born Kauan Soares in Porto Alegre, the artist's signing was announced alongside new single ‘Motivos Pra Sorrir’ featuring MC Brinquedo and DJ Oreila.

Rico Nasty has teamed up with agents Kevin Jergenson, Sara Schoch, Zach Iser, Ken Fermaglich, Aaron Arkin, Jon Briks & Caroline Yim of UTA for global representation. The signing comes on the heels of her LETHAL-ER deluxe album, released late last year and the rapper is set to make her acting debut in the Apple TV series Margo’s Got Money Troubles alongside Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman.

Oklahoma artist Wyatt Flores expanded his deal as MCA Nashville has now jumped onboard alongside current label Island Records for upcoming releases. Flores has generated over 1B career streams from debut Welcome To The Plains and is set to embark on his Drive All Night Tour later this month.

+300 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Lucy Dickins is heading to CAA after her departure from WME last week. The former Global Head of Contemporary Music & Touring will join the agency's Managing Director committee and continue working with high-level artists, based out of Los Angeles starting mid-April.

Tips Music CEO Hari Nair will depart the India-based entertainment company on April 30 after less than two years in the role. Girish Taurani and CFO Sushant Dalmia will step in as interim co-leaders while the Mumbai company searches for a permanent replacement.

beatBread has brought on Christine Barnum, Michael Poole, and Jameson Toole in fractional leadership roles. Barnum comes from nearly 20 years at CD Baby as COO and CRO and will serve as Head of Financial Operations. Poole joins as CFO and Toole, a former Staff Machine Learning Engineer at Spotify, comes aboard as Board Advisor on AI and Machine Learning.

AEG International promoted nine across its Global Partnerships division. Georgina Iceton, Will Dowdy, and Matthew Zweck all move into SVP roles, while Laura Palairet, Matt Botten, Liana Mellotte, Ollie Blake, Carla Morini, and Katie Cavanagh were promoted to VP.

Universal Music Nordics is replacing its country-by-country leadership model with a unified "One Nordic" structure across five markets. Joakim Johansson continues as President, with Bjørn Rogstad, Jimmi Riise, Casper Bengtson, and Jael Steinberg heading up the new divisions.

LVRN Records, home to Summer Walker and 6LACK, has named three new executives. Erica Grayson joins as SVP of Global A&R after a career that includes Interscope under Jimmy Iovine, while Selitta Legrand takes on Head of Business and Legal Affairs and Angela Alvino joins as VP of Accounting & Operations.

• Warner Chappell Music has named Edward Matthew as VP, International A&R and Head of Creative for Scandinavia. Matthew founded Stockholm-based publishing and management company Lilly Raye Music, which has been in a joint venture with WCM since 2019.

• London-based multimedia platform Whynow has brought on former BMG president Fred Casimir and former Bravado MD David Boyne as senior advisors.

• Claire Haffenden, formerly of Universal Music UK, has joined the board of trustees at Music Support, the UK charity supporting music industry professionals with mental health and addiction challenges.

• Matt Vandini, formerly of Sony Music and Ultra Records, joins 1916 Enterprises as Marketing Director alongside Matt Nardone, who comes over from Kobalt Music as A&R. The company also promoted Mikey Alessie and Bella Ronzio into expanded roles.

• Kathlyn Jeffords has joined Nashville management company Neon Coast as Management Assistant, working across a roster that includes Kane Brown and Restless Road.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Director of Marketing & Management at Anonymous Company, remote

• Ticketing Director at Belly Up Aspen in Aspen, CO

• Business Development Manager at Tixel in Los Angeles, CA

• Booking & Event Manager at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, CA

• Sr. Manager, Viral Marketing at BMG in Los Angeles, CA

↗ Find these and 270+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR