Vol 83 - Arе you the one that’s gon' read my news?

Happy Friday,

GRAMMYs add new categories, Uptown Records relaunches, NO FAKES Act incoming & people wearing diapers to O-Rod?

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 YG, Key Glock, Kashus Culpepper, Tierra Whack, Dreamer Isioma, Cochise, Glenn Lewis, The War And Treaty…

♪ Notable singles from Tyla, Myles Smith, Channel Tres, Arin Ray, Masego, Syd, PLUTO, AZ Chike, Ne-Yo, Kyle Dion & Duckwrth, UCHE YARA…

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

#1 - Ahead of her forthcoming A POP album due out next month, Tyla shares another single ‘IS IT LOVE.’

#9 - FKA twigs and Lil Yachty team up on ‘On Your Mind,’ a new single born from the challenges surrounding the visa issues that disrupted her Eusexua tour plans last year.

#11 - Kelela has teamed up with A.K. Paul for her latest single, ‘outta time,’ the newest preview of her upcoming album new avatar, arriving July 10 through Warp Records.

#22 - Wife x Husband duo The War And Treaty drop their album The Story of Michael and Tanya featuring ‘You Can’t Hurt Me Anymore’ on NMF.

#49 - Kyle Dion taps Duckwrth for ‘Vanilla Skies’ on his SOULAR (Deluxe) album.

⭐ #78 - Lance Skiiiwalker releases his first single in three years, ‘keep it on!!’ alongside TDE friendly ScHoolboy Q and Pink Siifu.

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

The Schedule

Notable upcoming releases

The Strokes, Ryan Beatty, Madeon, Chanel Beads, Beth Orton, Cody Johnson, Goose, Muse, Switchfoot, Temples, The Butthole Surfers, Morrissey, ATEEZ, Naomi Sharon, Debbii Dawson, pluko & kwn all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Future, Rod Wave, T.I., Two Shell, Bella Kay, Maxo Kream, Johnny Marr, Squirrel Flower, Blossoms, Ceremony & Carly Simon all announced new albums this week.

ICYMI

Industry news that mattered this week

The GRAMMY Awards added five new categories including Best Asian Music Pop Performance, Best Latin Song and more; The Academy also updated guidelines for Best New Artist and Best Album. Senate Judiciary Committee approved the NO FAKES Act, advancing the proposed federal law to ban AI-powered voice cloning and deepfakes. MSG Entertainment is getting sued for an alleged data breach of 26 million records, including personal information and “threat assessment profiles” for venue visitors and celebrity attendees. NITO elected new officers. Boy George launched an AI venture to help artists reclaim their hits. Ariana Grande launched the Brighter Days Ahead Foundation. Diddy’s prison release date has been moved up to February 23, 2028. Historic Hip-Hop and R&B label Uptown Records is relaunching. French streaming platform Qobuz announced 45.7% revenue growth in 2025.

The U.S. federal appeals court revived a lawsuit against Ricky Martin involving alleged copyright infringement over his 2014 track ‘Vida’ from One Love, One Rhythm - The 2014 FIFA World Cup Official Anthem. John Fogerty revealed a biopic is in the works. A new documentary on Allman Brothers Band’s co-founder Gregg Allman is coming to theaters. Mystikal was sentenced to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping a woman in 2022. A judge ruled that Russell Simmons can be sued for rape even though he now lives in Indonesia. Jaded founder, Jing Wang, and president Cathleen Cher discuss their mission to normalize Asian excellence in the music industry.

‘Life Goes On’ and ‘Miss You’ singer Oliver Tree died in a helicopter crash at 32. Tay Keith, the Memphis-born producer behind 'Sicko Mode' and other hits, died at 29. Chicago co-founder Walter Parazaider passed away at 81.

small print

Updates on companies, acquisitions, takeovers and more

• Bose launches record label and content studio

• SoundCloud selects RepostExchange as its first community promotion partner

• Tonada raises $3M for AI-driven background music business

• Live event content data platform, swsh, raises $4M

• Warner Music India partners with SVF Entertainment, grows regional footprint

• Billy Jones Forever Foundation launches to support emerging music professionals

• Many Hats Distribution hits $50M milestone in artist payouts

• Indigo launches to strengthen artist-superfan connections

• Malachite Group launches new agency, TMG Talent, focusing on African artists

• Toronto launches first official indie trade association: Live Music Toronto

Group Chat

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

No words

And??

Noah makes another appearance; he’s on a roll

Worst part about attending music conferences

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Attending (20%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ "Office hours" (7%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Record label ppl (7%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️ The pile of actual work to do once it's over (47%)
🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ They're actually quite fun & insightful u pessimistic S.O.B. (20%)

The Live World

Tour, festival and other live news

🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: ROLE MODEL, Isaiah Rashad, Ibeyi, Neko Case, Sleeping With Sirens, Born of Osiris

Live Nation took a majority stake in Movistar Arena Buenos Aires, the 15,000-capacity venue that hosts more than 250 events and 2.5 million fans a year. Former owner La Nación stays on as a minority shareholder, and the deal deepens Live Nation's push into Latin America.

Bad Bunny became the first Latin artist to pass $1 billion in career touring, reaching $1.08 billion across 260 shows and 6.4 million tickets. His Debí Tirar Más Fotos World Tour accounts for $360 million of that and now ranks as the biggest tour ever staged without a US date.

Spotify launched Reserved in the US, a feature that sets aside two presale tickets for an artist's top listeners to buy during an early window at no extra cost. It runs through a multi-year deal with Live Nation on Ticketmaster, with ROLE MODEL as the first artist; his Reserved presale opens June 23.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Summerfest opens its first weekend in Milwaukee (June 18-20) after Garth Brooks kickoff shows June 16 and 17, with 150-plus acts including Megadeth, Third Eye Blind, Flo Rida & Audrey Nuna

• France's Hellfest runs June 18-21 in Clisson, headlined by Iron Maiden, Bring Me the Horizon & The Offspring

Fresh Ink

Interesting artist signings

After 14 years with ie:music, Robbie Williams has signed with ATC Management with Brian Message & Ric Salmon taking over duties. The official FIFA Music Ambassador (co-writing and recording the first ever FIFA anthem), also joined the WME roster with Keith Sarkisian, Phil Raskind, Josh Javor, Rob Markus, Dave Tamaroff teaming up. Touring behind January 2026's BRITPOP, Williams joins an ATC roster alongside Nick Cave, Radiohead, and PJ Harvey.

Independent rapper Russ has joined the Range Music homestead for management with Matt Graham, Tyler Henry & Ben Lichtenstein signing on. The news comes on the heels of him announcing his premium hair care brand Palermo, inspired by his commitment to maintaining healthy curls.

Less than a week after dropping her new album DIRTY BLONDE via EMPIRE, Bebe Rexha has landed with Jenna Adler & Chris Ibbs at CAA for touring worldwide. It’s the first time the pop star has released an album as an independent artist in 12 years.  

After recently adding Roddy Ricch to its roster, The Shalizi Group has now also inked a new management deal with American music producer and DJ Dillon Francis with Moe Shalizi & Steven Pahel at the helm. Francis is in the middle of his DILLSTRADAMUS tour (B2B with Flosstradamus) and has recently released tracks with Space Laces, Allenora & American Foster.  

Nashville singer-songwriter Ryan Hurd has signed with Combustion Masters, the label arm of Combustion Music. A two-time GRAMMY-nominated artist with over 1B career streams, Hurd brings a songwriter's catalog of No. 1 cuts for Blake Shelton, Maren Morris, Jordan Davis, and Lady A - published through Big Machine Music.

+200 signings on ROSTR this week

On The Move

New hires, exec moves and other people news

Uptown Records has relaunched under Republic Collective, appointing Danielle Price Sanders as President and Natina Nimene as EVP of Urban Audience & Artist Relations. The roster includes G Herbo, Yung Miami, Trap Dickey, and producer ATL Jacob.

The National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) has elected a new slate of officers. Wayne Forte has been re-elected President, with Stormy Shepherd named Vice President, Amy Butterer as Secretary, and Nelly Neben as Treasurer.

Trip Brown has joined Universal Attractions Agency’s rock and pop division after nine years at New Frontier Touring and will be based in Nashville.

Symphonic has announced multiple executive appointments, Janette Berrios as SVP, Corporate Marketing; Taylor Garland as EVP & CFO; Lane Roney as SVP, Finance; and Ed Poston as SVP, Head of A&R.

Amy Mackie has been appointed Managing Director, Ticketing at TEG, bringing 17 years of industry experience to the role.

Elsewhere in the industry…

• Genius has promoted Jackie Vignone to Chief Revenue Officer, where she will oversee growth across data, licensing, and partnerships.

• Greenhouse Management has named Matt Schneider Tour Director. His past work includes Travis Denning, Niko Moon, Jameson Rodgers, and ERNEST.

• Serenade has hired Zoe Warshaw as Senior Partnerships and Marketing Manager and promoted Matt Drayton to Head of Strategic Partnerships.

• Tape Room Music has hired Jenna Wilson as Coordinator, reporting to Director of A&R Caroline Hodson.

Dope Jobs

Interesting jobs in music

• VP, Tax at Create Music Group in Los Angeles, CA

• Director, Experience at THE·TEAM in Brooklyn, NY

• Director of Programming (Kings Theatre) at ATG Entertainment in New York, NY

• Personal Assistant to Musician at ACLMTE Agency in Los Angeles, CA

• Digital Marketing and Audience Development Manager at Six Shooter Records in Toronto, ON, Canada

↗ Find these and 390+ open roles at ROSTR Jobs