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- Vol 77 - I think the newsroom is dead
Vol 77 - I think the newsroom is dead
Q1 reports are in, Met Gala shenanigans, ROSTR celebrates independent business week & blue dot fever cases are rising.
Happy Friday,
Q1 reports are in, Met Gala shenanigans, ROSTR celebrates independent business week & blue dot fever cases are rising.
Have thoughts on this week’s news? Just hit reply.
After
New Music Friday
What you need to know about today’s new releases
🎶 New albums and EPs from Carín León, Lykke Li, MUNA, Stephen Sanchez, Chris Brown, Trap Dickey, Basement, hey, nothing, Ashley McBryde, Deb Never…
♪ Notable singles from Charli xcx, After, The Rolling Stones, Boards of Canada, Cash Cobain, Russell Dickerson & Fetty Wap, Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr…
Each week, we go through Spotify’s New Music Friday playlists to highlight releases you should know about…
#1 - Charli xcx drops new track ‘Rock Music’ after teasing a new album with more guitars and less auto-tune vocals.
#10 - After cannot miss — releasing another single ‘Promise (When You Go)’ this Wednesday.
#17 - Ahead of their upcoming 25th studio album release Foreign Tongues, The Rolling Stones drop new single ‘In The Stars,’ written of course by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
#22 - On the verge of releasing their first album in 13 years, duo Boards of Canada drop two new songs, with ‘Prophecy At 1420 MHz’ landing NMF.
#27 - Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr team up once again on ‘Home To Us’ ahead of McCartney’s upcoming album The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
#65 - Russell Dickerson and Fetty Wap collab on ‘Boots.’
#68 - Cash Cobain gets some Mike Dean production assistance on ‘I Wanna Rock.’
#72 - Linda Perry unveils her first solo project in over 25 years, Let It Die, with ‘Feathers In A Storm’ landing on NMF.
⭐ #100 - Making music with code’s DJ_Dave drops ‘Fail-saife’, just on the heels of being announced as the opener for horsegiirL’s new tour.
⭐ = our pick of the week. Usually an under the radar artist to keep an eye on.
Keith Urban
The Schedule
Notable upcoming releases
Drake, Maluma, Peter Frampton, Rostam, Towa Bird, Dua Saleh, 49 Winchester, The All-American Rejects, Maisie Peters, Daisy Grenade, Kevin Morby, Genesis Owusu, PARTYOF2, Trousdale all have new projects expected to come out next week.
Keith Urban, The Rolling Stones, Tori Kelly, FLO, Adam Lambert, PNAU, Allison Russell, La Roux, Yard Act, Koe Wetzel, The War And Treaty, Kelela, Graham Barham, Brantley Gilbert, Blake Whiten, Midland, Ashley Cooke, Lara Somogyi, Tasha, Turnover, Breakfield all announced new albums this week.
ICYMI
Industry news that mattered this week
Some Q1 reporting:
ROSTR celebrated Independent Business Week with IEBA, A2IM, NIVA and NITO. If you're a member, sign up here for exclusive discounts & more.
Udio admitted to scraping YouTube audio to train its AI models. NITO elected a new board of directors. A federal judge in New York halted a proposed class action suit against Spotify over accused pay-for-play. Live nation disclosed $450M in legal accruals from the recent antitrust trial loss. The Met Gala took place Monday with many artists in attendance including Bad Bunny, Katy Perry, Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter whose Jonathan Anderson of Dior dress was completely made of film stills from the 1954 film ‘Sabrina.’ Britney Spears pled guilty in her DUI case and was sentenced to 12 months probation. ABKCO settled with Behr Paint over the unlicensed us of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It, Black.’ Kanye West’s trial over an uncleared sample in ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Moon’ began earlier this week. Taylor Swift’s texts will not be revealed in court after Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni settled their legal battle over ‘It Ends With Us.’ Kodak Black was arrested on charges of drug trafficking.
Check out Laylo CEO Alec Ellin’s curated list and get 25% off when you create a Laylo Pro account today by using code ROSTR25.
small print
Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more
Believe partners with Google to bring 'flow music' AI tool to artists
UK music sector urges government to honor ticket scalping pledge
Sony Music broadens partnership with German rap label Two Sides
Indie music community rails against copyright office over 43% fee hike
Suno prepares series D fundraise targeting $5B+ valuation and is making moves with Songkick for user data
The Orchard acquires Brazilian distributor and record label OniMusic
AEG partners with North American comedy promoter, Outback Presents
Napalm Death guitarist unveils new touring marketplace, TourFlip
Octiive and Sound Royalties partner to fast-track advances for indie artists
Ticketmaster launches end-to-end venue app in the UK
Group Chat
The section that’ll probably get us in trouble one of these days
Yikes — all around yikes
He was quite clear.
Finally something positive we can say about Katy - love 🥹
What's causing blue dot fever? |
Is BMG the 4th major?
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ No, you don't get it - they're "strengthening their independence"! (0%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Lol I hate it here (27%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️⬜️ Major labels don't have offices in mid city (36%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️⬜️ Yes but like, not as cool (36%)
Ninajirachi, Suki Waterhouse, horsegiirL
The Live World
Tour, festival and other live news
🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: Ninajirachi, Suki Waterhouse, horsegiirL, ZHU, Interpol
Harry Styles announced a one-off orchestral performance this June to support London's Southbank Centre. The performer is serving as this year's curator for Meltdown, which will be hosted at Southbank Centre.
🎟️ Festival Headlines:
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Austin City Limits unveiled its lineup with headliners Charli xcx, RÜFÜS DU SOL, Lorde, Skrillex, Twenty One Pilots, Kings of Leon & The xx
Post Malone is set to headline Australia's festival Strummingbird this October
❌ Cancellations:
While the European dates are still set to happen, The Pussycat Dolls cancelled the North American leg of their reunion tour without explanation
Dolly Parton revealed she is cancelling her Vegas residency due to an ongoing illness, but is responding well to treatment
Kid Cudi booted M.I.A. from his tour after the opener made offensive remarks at their Dallas show
Post Malone has called off the first six dates of his stadium run with Jelly Roll, stating he needed time to finish his upcoming album
Bea Miller, Riley Green, Bella Poarch
Fresh Ink
Interesting artist signings
Singer-songwriter Bea Miller has signed with Republic Records and just released her first single 'Depressed on the Internet' co-written with longtime collaborator Justin Tranter, this Friday. After first gaining recognition on X Factor in 2012, the pop artist dropped notable tracks like ‘THAT BITCH’ and ‘feel something.’
TikTok star Bella Poarch has launched her own imprint M TO THE BEE under exclusive license to Last Gang Records/MNRK Music Group, debuting with single 'Ribcage' from forthcoming album Picnic at the Cemetery dropping this fall. The social media personality departed Warner Records after her 2022 debut EP Dolls, which featured 'Build a Bitch.'
Alabama country artist Riley Green has renewed his global publishing agreement with Warner Chappell Music Nashville. The ACM Best New Male Artist (2020) scored a CMA Awards sweep in 2025 with Ella Langley collaboration 'you look like you love me,' taking Single, Song, and Music Video of the Year.
R&B artist Mariah the Scientist has signed a worldwide publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group. Her album Hearts Sold Separately hit No. 1 on the R&B Albums chart and platinum single 'Burning Blue' became her first Hot 100 Top 40 entry, with a global tour selling out venues across four continents.
Canadian singer-songwriter TALK (Nicholas Durocher) has signed with Big Loud Rock, releasing comeback single 'Time Machine' after a three-year hiatus. The JUNO Award-winning artist's 2021 breakthrough 'Run Away To Mars' surpassed 500M streams, topped Billboard Adult Alternative Airplay, and earned RIAA gold certification.
MAGIC!, the Canadian pop-reggae band living in LA, has found new management at Cornerman with Dave Morris signing on. The trio is one of the few on Spotify who have eclipsed the 2B streams mark with their 2013 release of ‘Rude.’
+175 signings on ROSTR this week
Julia May, Rick Levy, Leslie Ahrens
On The Move
New hires, exec moves and other people news
Rick Levy has been named CEO of Paladin Artists as the independent booking agency enters advanced discussions to acquire New York-based Entourage Talent Associates.
THE·TEAM has made three hires across three continents. Julia May steps in as SVP of Business Development in New York, Sarah Thia joins as VP of Tour Marketing for Asia, based in Singapore and London-based Sheila Mukasa takes on the role of Senior Manager of Pricing & Ticketing.
UnitedMasters has brought on Alessandro "Moz" Moro as Senior A&R to lead its UK division, alongside A&R VP Jesse Morav. A 15-year vet with stints at Warner, Island, Platoon and EMPIRE, Moro arrives as the platform makes a bigger push in the UK market.
Kobalt has promoted Leslie Ahrens to MD and EVP, Creative, Latin America. She's led the region's creative work since 2014, with a roster that includes Karol G, Anuel AA, Enrique Iglesias and Carlos Vives.
AEG Presents has named Jonathan Lee as Managing Director of its newly opened Korea office, where he'll lead the company's K-Pop touring strategy out of Seoul. Lee comes from WPP Korea and will report to SVP of Global Touring Michael Harrison.
Allison Crutchfield and Hannah McElroy have joined Another Management Company. Crutchfield moves into management after seven years at ANTI- Records. McElroy joins as a Nashville-based day-to-day manager supporting Youth Lagoon and Twisted Teens.
Other notable moves…
Tour promoter Kate Lazzari has joined Messina Touring's Nashville office. She will support the company’s full artist roster while also contributing to new touring opportunities and strategic growth initiatives.
Noura Labbani has been named EU Label Manager as Dirty Hit opens its first continental European office, in Berlin.
Leighanna Martin joins Riser House as Manager, A&R + Publishing, working alongside SVP Brandon Perdue.
Alex Bellissimo is now VP of Marketing at LyricFind.
Bill Macky steps in as SVP of Promotion & Marketing at Quartz Hill Music Group, leading radio strategy across Quartz Hill Records and Stone Country Records.
Matt Harvey has joined UNIFIED Music Group as Senior Artist Manager, marking the Australian company's first expansion into New Zealand.
Dope Jobs
Interesting jobs in music
Vice President, Content Production at Universal Music Group in Philadelphia, PA
Digital Marketing Director at gamma. in West Hollywood, CA
Senior Product Manager (Distribution) at Roc Nation in New York, NY
Business Data Engineer at Beatport in Victoria, BC, Canada
Senior Manager of Digital & Commercial Strategy at Mick Management in New York, NY
↗ Find these and 350+ open roles at ROSTR Jobs
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