Vol 75 - Your newsletter pulls me right back in

Happy Friday,

HYBE under arrest, One Less Lonely Billie & d4vd sitch keeps getting worse and worse

Have thoughts on this week’s news? Just hit reply.

🎶 New albums and EPs from Noah Kahan, Kehlani, Demi Lovato, Conan Gray, The Kid LAROI, Trueno, Foo Fighters, Meghan Trainor, Mercer Henderson, Gia Margaret, Metric…

♪ Notable singles from Shaboozey, Madonna, Malcom Todd, Maisie Peters & Julia Michaels, jigitz, Sophia Stel, Lucy Dacus, Ruel, Smerz, Kim Petras, Infinity Song, Muse, Baauer…

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

#1 - Noah Kahan drops highly anticipated new album The Great Divide, featuring NMF track ‘Doors.’

#2 - With a sophomore album delivered just last week, Ella Langley is back with Morgan Wallen on duet ‘I Can’t Love You Anymore.’

#6 - Shaboozey releases ‘Born To Die,’ the first track from upcoming concept album The Outlaw Cheri Lee & Other Western Tales.

#10 - Madonna returns with ‘I Feel So Free,’ the first single from her upcoming album Confessions II, marking the start of a new era and a follow-up to the iconic dancefloor energy of Confessions on a Dance Floor.

#18 - Pop princess Maisie Peters teams up with songwriting aficionado Julia Michaels on ‘Kingmaker.’

#22 - Fresh off his Do Lab set at Coachella, jigitz drops ‘car crash’ featuring Charlotte Plank.

#32 - The Red Clay Strays continue to ramp up towards their album release June 5th, this time with single ‘Demons In Your Choir.’

⭐ #56 - Norwegian electronic music duo Smerz drop their first single of the 2026 with aptly named ‘Spring summer.’

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

Kacey Musgraves, The Black Keys, ERNEST, Young the Giant, Tori Amos, American Football, Modern Woman, Maya Hawke, Melanie C, Jessica Loop all have new projects expected to come out next week.

Drake, Thomas Bangalter, Tyla, Shaboozey, Suki Waterhouse, horsegiirL, The Red Clay Strays, Modest Mouse, Grimes, Old Crow Medicine Show, Beth Orton, aespa, Baauer, Ruth Garbus, Dante Spinetta, V, Tauren Wells, Tricky, Southall, Boards of Canada, Ian Sweet, Lenny Kaye all announced new albums this week.

d4vd was hit with first degree murder charges and officials discovered a large amount of child pornography on his phone. Seoul police are seeking a warrant to detain HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk. UMG and Concord sued Quince over copyright infringement on TikTok. The Tennessee State House rejected the Indie Venue Funding Bill that would have directed $2M to support indie venues around the state. Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed that he is a recovering alcoholic. A judge dismissed Diddy’s $100M lawsuit against NBC and Peacock over the 2025 documentary about him. The value of the global electronic music industry hit $15.1B. The Grateful Dead launched their own streaming platform. Shania Twain will host the ACM Awards for the first time. Taylor Momsen spent the night in a Mexico City hospital after a venomous spider but her on tour with AC/DC. Spotify launched AI credits, allowing artists to disclose AI use in their songs.

• Futures Music Group raises $6M to fund new approach to artist partnerships

• Creative technology company Tamber raises $5M

• Create Music Group partners with Jonny Shipes’ GoodTalk

• Danny Wimmer Presents expands with new concerts division

• Amazon Music introduces ‘Just Walk Out’ tech for BTS merch sales

• Peachtree bolsters leadership team with Live Nation veterans

• Bandsintown partners with Amazon Music to list concerts on artist profiles

• Warner Chappell Music launches India branch

• Deezer now receiving 75,000 AI-generated tracks per day

• Music Venue Trust announces new action items to support UK grassroots venues

• Reservoir Media’s MENA partner, PopArabia, acquires regional competitor Viral Wave

Group Chat

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

I just want to see Morgan Wallen in Vegas

Fucking dragged his ass. But I like the Julia Wolf remix.

We hear you, Lena

# Can Bieber perform his old catalog?

• Yes

• No, I read LinkedIn slop

• Defer to Kristin Robinson (fair)

• Was a cool set, no notes

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

• Fav (least fav) music biz collaboration

• 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Ticketmaster x OpenAI (33%)

• 🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Suno x Warner (14%)

• 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Usher x Chris Brown (24%)

• 🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Geese x Chaotic Good (24%)

• 🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ NIVA x Spotify (if you pick this one you're DONE) (5%)

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🎸 Biggest tours announced this week: KAROL G, Dominic Fike, Beck, Melanie Martinez, Nick Jonas

In typical Coachella fashion, the festival immediately announced its return in 2027 the weekends of April 9-11 and April 16-18.

Weekend 2 included some star-studded guest appearances including:

Madonna duetting 'Like A Prayer' & 'Vogue' with Sabrina Carpenter

SZA & Billie Eilish for Justin Bieber's set

Olivia Rodrigo joining Addison Rae's set to debut her new single 'drop dead'

Billy Idol taking the stage alongside sombr

Both J Balvin & Peso Pluma for KAROL G

LISA, Joji & Muse's Matt Belamy at Anyma's redemption act after winds cancelled his Weekend One set

And if you missed out, Coachella performers KAROL G, Geese, aespa & David Byrne have all announced new tour dates and/or extensions. Peep some in our hottest tours here.

In other news, No Music for Genocide released an open letter boycotting the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest due to its decision to allow Israel to compete. Brian Eno, Massive Attack, KNEECAP, Sigur Rós, Erika de Casier & Macklemore are amongst the signees.

🎟️ Festival Headlines:

• Arizona's FORM Arcosanti unveiled its lineup with headliners Disclosure, Lorde, Turnstile & Geese

• Thundercat, Angine de Poitrine, Herbie Hancock, Little Simz, Arlo Parks & more are set to play Newport Jazz Festival

• Morrissey, Patti Smith & Interpol will headline CBGB Festival in Brooklyn this September

• Country Calling in Maryland will be headlined by Lainey Wilson & Chris Stapleton

❌ Cancellations:

• Europe continues to cancel on Kanye, with Poland and Switzerland joining the growing list of countries denying his entry

• British rock outfit WU LYF postponed their upcoming US shows citing delays in processing travel visas

• Massive Attack, Miranda Lambert, The Hellp

Massive Attack has signed with Play It Again Sam, part of the [PIAS] Label Group, in the Bristol trio's first commercial release cycle in several years. New single 'Boots On The Ground' featuring Tom Waits launched the partnership on April 16 alongside a short film directed with artist thefinaleye, closed by Kenny Gates (executive chairman, [PIAS]) and Russell Crank (director of A&R, Play It Again Sam) ahead of the band's summer 2026 festival run.

Three-time Grammy winner Miranda Lambert has signed a new recording deal with MCA Nashville, joining labelmates Reba McEntire, Luke Bryan, and Keith Urban. Mike Harris (President & CEO, MCA) closed the deal, which follows Lambert's 2024 Republic/Big Loud release Postcards From Texas; she remains founder of Big Loud Texas and recently co-wrote and sang on Ella Langley's country radio chart-topper 'Choosin' Texas.'

UTA has signed Los Angeles electronic duo The Hellp — Noah Dillon and Chandler Lucy — for booking representation, moving the act from Wasserman Music. The pair remain with Atlantic Records imprint Anemoia and Red Light Management on the heels of their third album Riviera, released in November 2025.

Edinburgh-born, London-based DJ and producer sim0ne has signed with Muise Management, the UK firm founded by Sarah Mhamdi that also counts Shygirl and COBRAH on its roster. The move follows her DJ Mag-premiered March 2026 single 'lights down' and precedes a debut EP due later this year; sim0ne was named BBC Radio 1's Future Star of 2024 and the first female face of SoundCloud's First On campaign.

Milton Keynes rock trio Torus — frontman Alfie Glass, bassist Harry Quinn, and drummer Jack Orr — has signed a global recording deal with Nettwerk Music Group, joining the Vancouver indie's roster weeks after its $300 million management-led buyout backed by Create Music Group. The signing follows new single 'Fall On Me' as the band builds toward its debut full-length.

MAC Agency has signed Florida rapper Cochise (Terrell Cox) for booking representation, with James Gosnell III, Tanner Westimayer, and Andrew Lieber adding the 2022 XXL Freshman to a roster that includes Luh Tyler and Yuki Chiba. The move from WME follows Cochise's August 2025 independent recording deal with ONErpm and the platinum certification of 'Tell Em' with $NOT, a Billboard Hot 100 entry that has crossed 670 million Spotify streams.

+180 signings on ROSTR this week

Sam Hu has been appointed Managing Director of Universal Music China and SVP of Universal Music Greater China. A veteran of over two decades in the market, he previously held senior roles at Warner Music China, Sony Music Entertainment China and Taihe Music Group.

Matt Gralen steps up to CEO at Beatport, Helen Sartory takes on the President and COO role, and Robb McDaniels moves off into Executive Chairman.

John Ternus, Apple's SVP of Hardware Engineering, takes over as CEO in September 2026 while Tim Cook moves to Executive Chairman.

David Dibble steps up to Vice Chairman at Sphere Entertainment, having been with the company since 2016. He'll work closely with leadership on the tech side as Sphere pushes toward a global venue expansion.

Warner Chappell Music is officially launching in India. Jay Mehta, who has led Warner Music India since 2020, will oversee both recorded music and publishing across the region.

Elsewhere in the industry…

• Lauren Walters has been promoted to SVP at Surfdog/DKM, the indie entertainment company behind Surfdog Records and DKM Management.

• AEG Presents has named two new VPs in its marketing division Katie Mae Miller steps up as VP of Integrated Marketing for AEG Regions, while Chelsea Cloud joins as VP of Integrated Marketing at Goldenvoice.

• mtheory has promoted Ed Rivadavia to EVP of Marketing & Operations and Kaitlyn Moore to General Manager.

• Peachtree Entertainment has brought on Aaron Siuda as SVP of Marketing and Andrew Hingley as VP of Artist Relations and Development.

• Breakaway has tapped Megan Wise as VP of Brand Partnerships.

• Symphonic has tapped Michelle Garramone as Head of Strategic Partnerships, where she'll lead catalog acquisition efforts and manage relationships with rights holders and investors.

• Believe has promoted Akhila Shankar to Director of Artist Services for India and South Asia, filling the seat left by Shilpa Sharda.

• Executive Director at Music BC Industry Association in Vancouver, BC, Canada

• Global Head of Editorial & Marketing Partnerships at Believe in New York, NY

• Head of A&R at ANTI- Records in Los Angeles, CA

• Senior Manager of Digital & Commercial Strategy at Mick Management in New York, NY

• Box Office Manager at HI-FI / MOKB Presents in Indianapolis, IN

↗ Find these and 320+ open roles at ROSTR Jobs