Vol 72 - I'll always put you first, I'm your three letter word (NIF)

Happy Friday,

LISA live in Vegas, Bieber underplays LA, O-Rod is in her feels & Gucci Mane is safe.

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 Thundercat, Swae Lee, Chris Stussy, Dermot Kennedy, Sam Barber, Lekan, Lewis OfMan, Paul Cauthen, Philine Sonny, Emma Harner, MONSTA X, Baalti & Lapgan…

♪ Notable singles from Ravyn Lenae & Dominic Fike, Disclosure, Arlo Parks, The Army, The Navy, Luke Grimes, Jessie Mazie, Anyma, Jack White, Emei, Phillip Phillips…

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

#7 - English singer-songwriter Arlo Parks opens up on ‘Beams,’ the NMF placement off of her Baird-produced third LP Ambiguous Desire.

#10 - Thundercat and A$AP Rocky are ‘Funny Friends’ on the bassist/singer’s latest project Distracted, which drops today.

#11 - Ireland’s Dermot Kennedy releases his third album The Weight of the Woods with NMF track ‘Turnstile.’

#12 - Weezer are back with their first new original release in years with ‘Shine Again.’

#22 - Recent Nice Life/Atlantic signee Emei shares the lead and title track off her forthcoming EP Night at the Opera.

#38 - Disclosure kicks off 2026 with their new single ‘The Sun Comes Up Tremendous,’ featuring Howard Lawrence on vocals and an official music video shot along the LA coast.

#40 - ‘Home’ has become ‘Homesick’ for Phillip Phillips as he returns with his first single in two years.

#49 - The Army, The Navy drop ‘Pretty, Pink and Soft’ in tandem with announcing their debut album Fake Brave Life arriving June 12th.

⭐ #76 - After gaining lots of traction online, Jessie Mazin releases her debut single ‘the man with money in his hands.’

#97 - Yellowstone’s Luke Grimes drops new track ‘Come Home,’ co-written with Dave Cobb and Jessie Jo Dillon.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

Ella Langley, Holly Humberstone, Jessie Ware, Bilmuri, Laufey, Weezer, Snoop Dogg, Joe Jackson, WU LYF, Tenille Townes, Fantastic Cat, My New Band Believe, Lime Garden, Joyner Lucas all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Olivia Rodrigo, The Temper Trap, Kylie Morgan, The Army, The Navy, Converge, Thaiboy, Coleman Jennings, Chase Wright, Ted Lucas (box set), Jeff Parker, Born At Midnite, Russell Jamie Johnson, Loukeman, Of Montreal, Chxrry all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

Spotify and the major labels are seeking a $322M default judgement in the Anna’s Archive case. According to an annual report, the gender pay gap at UMG is 47.96%, with women making about half of what men make in the same role. Deezer licensed its AI detection solution to Hungary. Lola Young is in recovery six months after collapsing on stage. Taylor Swift was hit with a trademark lawsuit tied to The Life of a Showgirl. The Eurovision Song Contest is expanding to Asia. Brazilian Soccer/Football legend Ronaldinho launched his own record label. Megan Thee Stallion was rushed to the hospital after falling ill during her Broadway performance of ‘Moulin Rouge.’ HYBE India launched a nationwide talent search to form a new girl group. The creator of *NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’ dance sued Sony Music over Deadpool’s dance to the track in Deadpool & Wolverine. The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Cox Communications copyright case could reshape the copyright battle between X and major music publishers.

Olivia Rodrigo seems pretty sad for a girl so in love…

Rapper Pooh Shiesty was arrested on robbery and kidnapping charges that included Gucci Mane as one of three victims. Taylor Swift broke her own record at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, winning 7 of the 9 categories she was nominated for. Bandcamp debuted 3 new radio shows. Australian company Ticketek offered refunds to fans after advertising all members of Wu-Tang Clan would appear at Australian shows and several were no-shows. Fat Joe’s accuser dropped his claims of sex with underage girls and RICO in an updated lawsuit. A judge dismissed the lawsuit against Cardi B alleging her track ‘Enough (Miami)’ was copied from an earlier song. The Bob Marley estate is suing global cannabis company Tilray. Salt-N-Pepa filed an opening appellate brief to continue their fight with UMG over their copyrights.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Fender partners with Music Venue Trust

• Soundcloud now offers artists the option for follower-exclusive releases

• SeatGeek launches integration with ChatGPT

• WMG acquires independent distribution platform, Revelator

• CTS Eventim topped €3B revenue milestone in 2025

• Universal Music Group initiates €500M stock repurchase program

• Australia’s GYRO Group pushes into Latin America with Brazil expansion

• Dialled In Records launches to spotlight South Asian artists

• CTM Outlander acquires Matt Simons’ masters catalog

Group Chat

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

IYKYK

She could never

What's your excuse for not using LinkedIn?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Because that website absolutely sucks (25%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Cool music biz ppl don't use it (33%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ I just use ROSTR 🤷‍♂️ (25%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Forgot my log in & still says I work in the mail room at WME (17%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Daniel Caesar, Jungle, Shakira, Yeat, Benson Boone, Eagles, Jack White

BLACKPINK’S LISA announced her first residency “Viva La Lisa,” which will take place at the Colosseum for 2 weekends in November. She will be the first K-pop artist to have a Vegas residency.

1️⃣ One-Offs:

• With tickets that Los Angelenos definitely snapped up too quick, Kanye West played for the first time in the US in 5 years with 2 nights at SoFi Stadium this week

• At a private, fans-only event at The Roxy, Justin Bieber performed his first major US show in 4 years last Sunday; he played a 25-song setlist of tracks from the SWAG projects

• Hiatus Kaiyote will play the Sydney Opera House on July 12th to celebrate their 15th anniversary

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• The 2nd edition of John Summit’s Experts Only Festival dropped its first phase of artists including Prospa, Jackie Hollander & more

• Montreux Jazz Festival announced RAYE, PinkPantheress & Lewis Capaldi as headliners for the Swiss event this July

• Snow Machine unveiled its headliners for the Queenstown festival with Ninajirachi, Keli Holiday & Chet Faker amongst others

• Seattle’s Bumbershoot shared Death Cab for Cutie, Japanese Breakfast, Turnstile & more are set to play the festival

• The 5th Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix will feature performances from Zedd, Nelly, Marshmello, DJ Diesel, Loud Luxury & Kane Brown across the 3-day party

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

After nearly 20 years with manager Ty Stiklorius of Friends at Work, John Legend joined Roc Nation under CEO Jay Brown & Anthony Patterson. Stiklorius will continue as Legend's partner in non-music ventures while the Roc Nation roster - including Rihanna, A$AP Rocky, and Megan Thee Stallion - adds the "All of Me" singer currently on his A Night of Songs & Stories Tour.

Farruko signed a 360 co-management deal with WK Entertainment and Massivo Entertainment, teaming up Walter Kolm with longtime associate Oscar Paniagua. The Puerto Rican reggaetón star brings 15B catalog streams and six Billboard 100 hits to the partnership, which was announced following his Ultra Music Festival 2026 performance with Steve Aoki.

Longtime pop staple Sara Bareilles has joined Rick Roskin & Kate Arenson’s touring roster at CAA. Managed by Izvor Zivkovic (Split Second) and John Meneilly (Left/Right), Bareilles recently starred in Girls5eva and earned a Tony nomination as The Baker's Wife in the 2022 Into The Woods revival.

Disney Descendants star Kylie Cantrall inked with Republic Records in partnership with APG and Heroine Music. The actress-singer released debut EP B.O.Y. via APG last year and sold out 40 North American arenas on the Descendants/Zombies: Worlds Collide Tour. First single under the Republic deal, ‘Carrie Bradshaw,’ drops this spring.

Buzzy South London singer-songwriter fliss signed a worldwide publishing deal with PULSE Music Group. Only two songs out, her releases have already landed her some Spotify playlist covers and will be appearing at Reading Festival this summer.

Following their recent publishing deal with UMPG, Future Islands have logged another move, this time teaming up with Alex Bruford & Will Church of ROAM for touring representation WW (ex-CAN/USA). The band will release their forthcoming album From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth next month via 4AD.

+155 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Ezekiel Lewis has been officially named Chairman/CEO of Epic Records. He's been at the Sony-owned label since 2018, rising from EVP and Head of A&R to President.

Devin Landau has joined CAA as an Agent in the Global Touring division, working out of Los Angeles. Landau co-founded TBA Agency.

Brian Miller steps up to Chief Business Officer at TuneCore, taking on oversight of all global business for the Believe-owned platform.

Shane Knotts has been promoted to SVP, Global Royalties at Sony Music Publishing. Knotts joined SMP in 1994 building his entire career at the company across more than three decades.

Kevin Mayer, former TikTok CEO and Disney executive, has been appointed to HYBE's board as a non-executive director, bringing extensive global entertainment experience.

UMG made three appointments across its Latin America and US Latino operations under chairman Jesús López: Alfredo Delgadillo promoted to CEO & President of Universal Music Latin Entertainment; Angel Kaminsky named President of A&R and Artist Relations for Latin America and Iberian Peninsula and Daniel Luna joining as GM of Universal Music Latino.

Big Machine Records / Nashville Harbor Records & Entertainment made four hires: Jay Cruze as National Director of Promotion & Marketing, Carly Leach as Promotion & Marketing Coordinator, Christina Hunt as Manager of Digital Marketing, and Claudia Deters as Label Coordinator and EA to President/CEO Jimmy Harnen.

• Jon Baltz joins Symphonic as Head of UGC & Rights Management as part of the company's acquisition of YouTube monetization platform Distro Nation

• Blake Foster joins HYBE America as Head of Business Intelligence, coming from WMG where he was SVP of Business Intelligence.

• Allen Lo joins Madison Square Garden Entertainment and Sphere Entertainment as EVP and Chief Legal Officer, coming from VP of Legal and Deputy General Counsel at Meta.

• Claudia Namukasa and Charlotte Hancock have joined specialist music publisher Dynamite Songs as Catalog Manager and Rights Acquisition Manager. 

• Evan Winiker has been promoted to Managing Partner at Range Media Partners. Cameron Lutz rises to Partner, having joined in 2021 as SVP of Marketing before shifting into management.

• Kakao Entertainment named JungHee Ko co-CEO alongside existing co-CEO Joseph Chang; Ko will lead the company's new CPO unit.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• VP, Publishing A&R at BMG in Los Angeles, CA

• Tour Marketing Director at Mick Management in Los Angeles, CA

• Merchandise Operations Lead at 237 Global in Nashville, TN

• Ticketing Manager at Since Entertainment in New York, NY

• Digital Marketing, Manager at Nebula17 in Los Angeles, CA

↗ Find these and 320+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR