Vol 73 - If you're gonna read me, better read me to the moon and back

Happy Friday,

Coachella weekend 1 is here, Wire(less) gets cut & what’s going on with UMG?

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 Ella Langley, Holly Humberstone, Momo Boyd & Infinity Song, Laufey, Isaia Huron, DESTIN CONRAD, Joyner Lucas, Manuel Turizo…

♪ Notable singles from Lady Gaga & Doechii, The Strokes, KATSEYE, Royel Otis, Jensen McRae, Tiny Habits, Alabama Shakes, Tiffany Stringer, Dua Saleh, 54 Ultra…

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

#1 - Fresh off the top spot of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, Ella Langley releases her new album Dandelion.

#2 - Lady Gaga and Doechii team up for ‘Runway,’ music from the upcoming highly anticipated The Devil Wears Prada 2. The track was co-written by Bruno Mars, Andrew Watt and more.

#3 - Kehlani and Missy Elliott collab on new track ‘Back and Forth.’

#7 - Never a Cruel World when Holly Humberstone releases a new album… ‘Beauty Pageant’ lands on NMF today.

#11 - 6 years later, The Strokes are ‘Going Shopping’ on the Rick Rubin-produced lead single from their forthcoming 7th studio album carried by an autotuned Julian Casablancas singing about the pitfalls of modernity.

#16 - Isaia Huron glides on ‘side slider’ off his new RCA-released LP Mr. Lovebomb.

#19 - Marshmello + Thomas Rhett = perfection on ‘Where We Go.’

#41 - Global powerhouses Anitta and Shakira team up on ‘Choka Choka,’ singing in Portuguese and Spanish.

⭐ #75 - Kylie Cantrall releases her debut with Republic ‘Carrie Bradshaw.’

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

ZAYN, Honey Dijon, M.I.A., Yaya Bey, This Is Lorelei, Teen Suicide, Arkells, Vanessa Carlton, Marc Broussard, Skindred, Anne Hathaway, Yot Club all have new projects expected to come out next week.

The Strokes, The Rolling Stones, Anitta & Shakira, Nine Inch Nails & Boys Noize, Kurt Vile, Ben Platt & Rachel Zegler (live album), Dari Bay, Alex Amen all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

It’s finally time for Coachella - check out the lineup and learn more with The Data Behind Coachella 2026.

IEBA and ROSTR announced a new partnership.

Pershing Square made a $64M bid to purchase UMG; UMG responded. Music publishers moved to dismiss X’s antitrust suit. UMG settled a massive copyright lawsuit against Believe. Licensing negotiations between Suno and the major labels have stalled. Pepsi and Viagogo withdrew their sponsorships from Wireless Festival after Kanye was booked to perform; Then, West was blocked from entering the UK, forcing Wireless Festival to cancel. The International Festival Forum announced their expansion into LA. Offset was shot and hospitalized in Florida; Lil Tjay was arrested in connection. Pooh Shiesty was denied bail in the Gucci Mane kidnapping case. Leonard Cohen’s manager was exonerated of any financial wrongdoing after a 10 day trial. Queen Latifah will host the 2026 AMAs. Charli xcx’s team responded after Sky Ferreira suggested her old demos were used in Charli’s Wuthering Heights soundtrack. Folk singer-songwriter Murphy Campbell discovered that AI-generated covers of her music were uploaded onto her Spotify profile without her consent. A 50 Cent documentary series is set to premiere on Hulu.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Sony Music and Universal Music Group partner up to produce music festivals in Asia

• Secretly Distribution acquires Entertainment Intelligence and Babel Ops

• Virgin Music Group partners with Suede Records

• Ticketmaster grows face value resale program with CashorTrade

• OpenWav launches indie financing platform ‘OpenWav Artist Bank’

• Atlantic Music Group and Fader Label begin new “multi-level partnership”

• HYBE to curate new Indian girl group

• Key Production brings injection moulded records and tiny vinyl to Europe

• SBI Holdings negotiating to build Sphere replica in Japan

Group Chat

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

The concept of being “verified by pollstar” 🤣

Lmfao

Facts

Which one isn't true?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Prep School Street Team cease & desisted by Def Jam (46%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ROSTR introduced "Lists" (8%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Olivia Rodrigo dropping an album with more than 1 word as the title (23%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Gucci Mane kidnapped by Pooh Shiesty (23%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Young Miko, Parcels, Jason Derulo, Kurt Vile, Courtney Barnett, Johnny Blue Skies

Coachella kicks off today with a headlining set from Sabrina Carpenter, Anyma's immersive live experience ÆDEN, and the debut of Radiohead's 17K square-foot audiovisual installation 'Motion Picture House: Kid A Mnesia.' We'll be recapping the biggest moments from Weekend One in next week's edition. Do your homework on who booked Coachella here.

Ahead of The xx's summer festival run, they made their return after 8 years with three nights playing Pepsi Center in Mexico City.

Céline Dion added 6 dates to her Paris residency for a total of 16 shows at La Défense Arena.

Björk is hosting a solar eclipse rave in Iceland this August with Arca + others performing.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Harry Styles, this year's Meltdown Festival curator, unveiled the lineup for the 2026 edition with performances from Blood Orange, Nilüfer Yanya, Kamasi Washington, Ninajirachi & more

• The Coachella valley, invite-only REVOLVE Festival shared Don Toliver, Kehlani, Mustard, Baby J + others will take the stage this weekend

• Riley Green, Tucker Wetmore, Diplo & Jon Pardi will headline the inaugural country, Cabo-based Splash Festival

❌ Cancellations:

• Wireless Festival has officially been cancelled following the controversial booking of Kanye West as headliner. The rapper’s entry visa was denied by the UK. Tickets will be fully refunded

• Due to a respiratory infection, Lady Gaga cancelled her Montreal show on Monday

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

Two-time GRAMMY winner Laufey has renewed her global publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music, first signed in August 2023. The Icelandic-Chinese artist and youngest-ever Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album recipient is slated to drop her deluxe A Matter of Time: The Final Hour on April 10, just ahead of her sold-out 22-country world tour.

UTA locked up a deal with ten-time GRAMMY-nominated singer Janelle Monáe across touring, media, brand partnerships and more. After receiving a 2024 nod for Album of the Year, the entertainer has been busy acting and is set to appear in several upcoming projects, including the new Amazon movie Is God Is and Netflix adult animation series Bass X Machina.

Ahead of his forthcoming sixth studio album, Venezuelan artist Lasso signed with Interscope Records. The singer-songwriter just released his newest single ‘p0rn0grafía’ and has had recent collaborations with Ha*Ash, Piso 21 and Corina Smith.

Hot off the heels of his Heated Rivalry success, composer Peter Peter (real name Peter Jones) has signed with Range Music for management. The company first launched its composer division last year with Jeff Jernigan as the first hire who also represents talent like Tom Howe (Ted Lasso) & Brandon Roberts (Andor).

Texas country artist Dylan Gossett has found a new team at TMWRK for management, with Andrew McInnes, Paddy Scace, and Sydney Clarke handling the multi-platinum singer-songwriter behind ‘Coal.’ The Austin native released self-produced debut Westward in 2025 via Big Loud Texas/Mercury Records, selling over 100,000 headline tickets across the past two years alongside festival appearances at Stagecoach, SXSW, and Austin City Limits.

American pop singer-songwriter Ella Boh has joined Vector Management with Ken Levitan and Nicki Loranger signing on. The rising artist just wrapped tours supporting Artemas in the US, Ari Abdul in Europe and is about to drop her new EP Blurry.

+150 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Tuma Basa is leaving YouTube after eight years as Director of Black Music & Culture. No next move announced.

Kevin Shivers has been promoted to Co-President of Music at THE·TEAM (formerly Wasserman), where he'll partner with Lee Anderson to lead global strategy and operations across the live business.

Ann Marie Licata is now CEO of iHeartMedia's Multiplatform Group, the company's largest segment, covering 860+ local broadcast stations, live events, and the Premiere and TTWN networks.

Miles Gersh has been promoted to EVP, A&R at Warner Records, stepping up from VP. He'll continue reporting to CEO Aaron Bay-Schuck and working alongside Karen Kwak and Gregg Nadel.

Chad Doerge joins Round Hill Music as President & Deputy CEO, bringing a finance and fintech background to the 200,000+ copyright catalog company.

Elsewhere in the industry:

• ATG Entertainment launched a dedicated live music and events division, ATG Live, naming Erik Newson as SVP to lead it.

• Andre Belcourt and Will Marshall join WME's contemporary music team in London. 

• Jamie Cutburth joins iHeartMedia as EVP of Marketing, arriving from NBCUniversal.

• Angela Barkan takes over as CEO of Shore Fire Media as founder Marilyn Laverty moves to Chairman. Co-president Mark Satlof also exits after 40 years at the firm.

• David Ryan Harris joins Spirit Music as VP of A&R and joint venture partner via his company Peace Pourage, Inc.

• Beth Kessenich joins whynow Media as VP of Sales & Business Development, North America, where she'll lead label, streaming, and artist partnerships.

• Ignition added three to its Nashville team: Vanessa Menzo as Artist Relations & Director of Digital and Social Media, Kennedy Fisher as Manager of Operations & Creative/Digital Strategy, and Tayler Burke as Day-to-Day Manager for rising country artist Tyra Madison.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• Director, Global Catalog Recordings at BMG in Los Angeles, CA

• Director, Digital Marketing at Universal Music Group in Nashville, TN

• Head of Finance and Operations at EarthPercent in London, England, UK

• Senior Income Tracker at Wise Music Group in New York, NY / Los Angeles, CA

• Personal Assistant to High-Profile Music Artist at Career Group in Los Angeles, CA / Malibu, CA

↗ Find these and 310+ open roles at Jobs by ROSTR