Christmas break news 2024

05 January 2025 - Press release

5/1/25 - Key news, features and more have been moved to the daily email, dated 6 January.

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BUSINESS
Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management is closing out an investment fund that held a stake in Universal Music Group and is distributing 47m shares of the music company to the fund’s co-investors. (MBW)

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NEWS
Drake claims Spotify helped UMG boost Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us', but Spotify now says the action is a "subversion" of the legal system and never should have been filed. (Billboard, MusicAlly)

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DIGITAL
Why Tidal is focusing on building new DJ tools and content in 2025. (MusicTech)

Is Amazon Music joining Spotify in implementing a 1,000-stream royalties minimum? (DMN)

So long, Kingship — Bored Ape ‘supergroup’ deletes social handles, YouTube channel, and website as NFT fallout continues. (DMN)

Spotify shuts down ‘Unwrapped’ artist royalty calculator with legal threats. (DMN)

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MEDIA
Zoe Ball thanks Radio 2 listeners for ‘special intimate relationship’ and signs off with message of female empowerment. (Guardian) Richie Anderson has also confirmed he will be leaving, as he moves to afternoons on Radio 2. (Sun)

Johnnie Walker was like a big brother to me. (Telegraph - Paul Gambaccini)

Radio 2 listeners vote 'Suspicious Minds' as their favourite Elvis song. (BBC) 

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FEATURES
The Top 50 albums of 2024 (Sun) David Gilmour's 'Luck and Strange' tops the list.

Secrets of the best Christmas hits — by the stars who wrote them. (Times - Blanca Schofield)

Mud’s Rob Davis on Keir Starmer, Kylie and the legacy of Lonely This Christmas. (Telegraph - James Hall) 

How Spotify and Apple killed the Christmas Number One. (Telegraph - James Hall) 

Phil Collins’s physical decline has never been a secret. But a new documentary on his struggles makes for sobering viewing. (Telegraph - Neil McCormick) 

How the Oasis reunion tour is fuelling a comeback for the Britpop look. (Observer - Lauren Cochrane)

From Beyoncé awards snub to Brat summer: This year's biggest cultural moments. (BBC) 

Singer Alex Kapranos: 'Fatherhood's like the early days of Franz Ferdinand'. (BBC - Jonathan Geddes)

Will Slowthai be 'cancelled for the rest of time'? (BBC - Ethan Gudge)

TikTok is awash with would-be rock stars paying homage to the Beatles in their viral videos. (Times) 

The Worst Songs of 2024. (Variety)

New music for 2025 (Guardian)

Inside the making of Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown. (Guardian - Alexis Petridis)

My family call it Old Lady Clubbing, but my giddy ‘nights out’ have lit up a dismal 2024. (Guardian - Gaby Hinsliff)

The precipitous decline of UK nightclubs. (Guardian - Rob Davies)

Es Devlin: I didn’t fall out with Adele over her Las Vegas show. (Times - Richard Morrison)

The title of Charli XCX’s hit album heralded the return of recession pop and a new vibe for Gen Z (FT - Srinidhi Balakrishnan)

In the same way that the Boss became the poet of the working man, Taylor Swift’s secret is her ability to read the mind of the modern woman. (Telegraph - Neil McCormick)

How Co-op Live bounced back from chaotic launch. (Guardian - Hannah Al-Othman)

How Jay-Z’s bombshell rape case has cast a shadow over Beyonce’s bid to make lookalike daughter Blue Ivy a superstar. (Sun)

Better Man: How the film turned Robbie Williams into a chimp. (SundayTimes - Emily Prescott)

What music stars were really listening to in 2024. (Guardian - Michael Cragg)

Clubbing has changed dramatically in the past 25 years: is the party over, or just getting started? (Guardian - Joe Muggs) 

‘We’ve been through the wringer’: Doves on addiction, breakdowns – and touring without singer Jimi Goodwin. (Guardian - Dave Simpson)

If popular culture is anything to go by, 2024 is the year we simply gave up. (Guardian - Kirsty Major)

Obituary: Alfa Anderson - singer best known for Chic’s Le Freak (Times)

Music to listen out for in 2025. (Guardian - Alexis Petridis)

Scissor Sisters on their reunion, rightwing reactionaries – and riotous origins. (Guardian - Kate Solomon)

Ranked: Petula Clark’s 20 best songs (Guardian - Alexis Petridis)

My shooting music stars of 2025 - and they're all Brits. (Mail - Adrian Thrills)

Back with a new solo album, Gary Kemp reveals why he wants to ‘die without enemies’. (Times - Michael Odell)

Is The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones the greatest rock chronicle? (Times - Adrian Sibley)

Franz Ferdinand discuss their rapid rise to fame in the early Noughties, reconciliation and writing about existential fears in their latest album. (Times - Will Hodgkinson)

How Bob Dylan is capturing gen Z. (Observer - Matt Thorne)

A Life in The Day: Bonnie Tyler (SundayTimes)

Debbie Harry opens up about fame, fashion — and dating at 79. (SundayTimes - Julia Llewellyn Smith)

Myles Smith talks about his musical hero Ed Sheeran, being on the president’s playlist and his Luton roots. (SundayTimes - Blanca Schofield)

Bob Harris says Johnnie Walker's warmth and adventurous spirit set the bar for broadcasting. (SundayTimes) 

Will Timothée Chalamet’s biopic A Complete Unknown win over Bob Dylan’s diehard fans? (SundayTimes - Jonathan Dean)

Q&A: Julian Lennon (Observer)

My holidays: Rachel Stevens (SundayTimes)

Life of a Song: I Will Survive (FT - Neil Armstrong)

Laufey speaks about learning to love her distinct voice, her pivot to Christmas music – and her chance encounter with Hollywood star Bill Murray. (Independent - Ellie Muir) 

Jade on Little Mix, going solo, and her candid new single ‘IT Girl’. (Independent - Annabel Nugent) 

What Oasis can learn from the Stone Roses reunion. (Independent - Ed Power) 

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SHOWBIZ & NEWS
Stormzy has been given a nine month driving ban for using his mobile phone while driving. (Guardian)

The Robbie Williams song 'Forbidden Road' from Better Man, shortlisted for best original song at the Oscars, has been disqualified, as it “incorporates material from an existing song that was not written for the film”. (Variety)

Court hears Digga D supplied cannabis to entourage. (BBC)

City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra hopes to attract new audiences with the likes of Lady Leshurr and Big Dog Yogo — after relaxing its rules on the filming of performances on phones. (Times)

R&B singer and songwriter Muni Long claimed that a high-ranking executive at Atlantic Records requested she write soul music for non-Black artists, an offer she immediately declined. (Vibe)

Live Aid campaigner Bob Geldof was ‘scathing about African leaders’, files reveal. (Guardian)

Speech Debelle has been ordered to compensate Arts Council England after an employment tribunal dismissed her claims of racial discrimination and harassment. (Times)

A dark web dealer who stole unreleased music and sold it has been given a suspended 21-month jail sentence. (Guardian) She had illegally accessed cloud storage accounts linked to the artists.

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REVIEWS

Albums
Moonchild Sanelly (FT - 3* Ludovic Hunter-Tilney)

Ethel Cain (Guardian - 3* Alexis Petridis)

Film
Better Man — Robbie Williams (Times - 1* Kevin Mahar, Telegraph - 4* Robbie Collin, FT - 4* Danny Leigh, Mail - 4* Brian Viner, Guardian - 3* Peter Bradshaw, Observer - Wendy Ide)

Becoming Madonna (Guardian - 3* Peter Bradshaw)

Live
Paul McCartney - O2 arena, London (Observer - 4* Kitty Empire)

Beyonce - NFL Christmas Gameday (Guardian - 4* Ben Beaumont-Thomas, Telegraph - 4* Ed Power)

 

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INTERNATIONAL
Plans for concerts at Real Madrid’s stadium are on hold following ‘noisy neighbour’ complaints. (FT)