NEWS & PRESS
Blossoms, Dave among latest British music acts to benefit from MEGS funding to grow their careers overseas
The latest round of Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) funding has seen £250,000 awarded in support of 20 British acts drawn mainly from the vibrant UK music indie scene. The BPI-run scheme is funded through the Department for International Trade as...more
Tileyard Music has appointed Neil Hughes as its new Managing Director
Neil Hughes will be working with the co-founders of the business Michael Harwood, Charlie Arme, Paul Kempe and Nick Keynes to continue to grow the business into one of the leading independent music companies in the world. Prior to joining Tileyard...more
The 2019 Hyundai Mercury Prize
Awards Show is on Thursday, 19 September 2019 at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith Awards Show to be hosted by BBC Music's Lauren Laverne and broadcast on BBC TV and radio 2019 Hyundai Mercury Prize announces initial line-up of live performances for the...more
Warner Chappell Music has signed a worldwide deal with UK artist, songwriter, DJ and producer Afro B.
Warner Chappell Music, the music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, has signed a worldwide deal with UK artist, songwriter, DJ and producer Afro B. Afro B has been a prominent figure in the rise of the afrowave scene, drawing on...more
Paris Electronic Week announces key panels and speakers for 2019 edition.
From 25 to 29 September 2019, Paris Electronic Week will celebrate its 7th edition and take over the capital with a plethora of events in clubs, record shops and ephemeral venues of all kinds. A hybrid and multidisciplinary festival, PEW...more
Sean Paul shares how he brought Dancehall to the world stage in new BBC Radio 1Xtra documentary
In a new documentary for BBC iPlayer, 1Xtra’s Yasmin Evans follows Sean Paul from Jamaica to the UK to discover more about the man behind the music and how his catalogue of hits brought Dancehall to the mainstream. Yasmin learns more...more
Kobalt has promoted Ann Tausis to the position of CEO, Kobalt Neighbouring Rights.
Kobalt has promoted Ann Tausis to the position of CEO, Kobalt Neighbouring Rights. Based in Kobalt’s London office, Tausis has led Neighbouring Rights’ continued growth and expansion since 2013. Under Tausis, Kobalt’s Neighbouring Rights (KNR) division has distributed over $250M to...more
Honeyblood, Rachael Dadd, Squid and Tawiah among the latest 17 artists to receive support from PRS Foundation’s Momentum Music Fund
Next deadline for applications is 11th September 2019PRS Foundation, the UK’s leading charitable funder of new music and talent development, together with PPL, Creative Scotland, Arts Council of Wales, Welsh Government, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Invest NI, Spotify and...more
AWAL Partners With Indie Label Juicebox Recordings & Signs Franc Moody & Joe Hertz
London’s Prolific Tastemaker Label and Brand, Juicebox Recordings Signs Multi-faceted Deal With AWAL Recordings AWAL, Kobalt’s recording company, today announced worldwide recordings deals with artists Franc Moody and Joe Hertz formalising AWAL's partnership with Juicebox Recordings. The deal will leverage...more
Ditto Music announces global Ditto X Conference Tour for 2019
DITTO CEO LEE PARSONS & SPECIAL GUESTS TO MEET WITH & COACH LOCAL UNSIGNED ARTISTS IN 25 CITIES WORLDWIDE INITIAL SPEAKERS INCLUDE BBC INTRODUCING’S SHELL ZENNER | AJ TRACY’S MANAGER ANDY MUSGRAVE | MOSTACK’S MANAGER SHANE MIZERMILLI | DITTO MUSIC CEO LEE...more
BBC announces exclusive film with Dolly Parton as part of a Country Music season this autumn
With exclusive access, Dolly’s Country (working title) comes to BBC Two this autumn as part of a season of programmes putting a spotlight on country music. On BBC Four, Country Music is a star-studded eight-part series by Ken Burns. Highlights...more
Stormzy, Charli XCX and HAIM added to bill for Radio 1's Live Lounge Month 2019
The full line up for Radio 1’s Live Lounge Month 2019 has been unveiled, with Stormzy, Charli XCX and HAIM among the raft of incredible acts set to perform throughout September. The latest additions join the bill alongside Taylor Swift, Lana...more
The Orchard launches Tokyo office
Expansion provides substantial growth opportunity for the independent sector in second-largest global music marketThe Orchard, the global leader in independent music distribution and artist and label services, announced today that it is expanding into Japan, the second largest music market...more
Beatsource Welcomes World Renowned DJ and Producer, A-Trak, to Board
Beatsource, the new digital music service for open-format DJs, announced that Alain Macklovitch (pka A-Trak) has joined its Board of Managers. Beatsource, a joint venture between Beatport and DJcity, is launching its online download store in September.“Genre-specific stores don’t reflect...more
Seven UK acts will play at this year’s Zandari Festa as part of Sound City Korea 2019.
Seven UK acts will play at this year’s Zandari Festa as part of Sound City Korea 2019. The Sherlocks, Wooze, Too Many T’s, TXT, The Tea Street Band, Scarlet and Two Weeks In Nashville have all been chosen to make the...more
Hipgnosis acquires catalogue from The Chainsmokers
Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited (“Hipgnosis” or the “Company”) Acquisition of Music Catalogue The Board of Hipgnosis Songs Fund Limited and its Investment Adviser, The Family (Music) Limited, are pleased to announce that the Company has acquired a music catalogue from The Chainsmokers, ...more
Apple Music launches Shazam Discovery Top 50 Chart
Apple Music today launched Shazam Discovery Top 50 (link), a weekly global ranking of 50 artists on the move and their trending track. With 20 million Shazams each day and over 1 billion downloads of its app across the world, Shazam...more
Spotify announces the launch of its upgraded Spotify Premium Family plan
Spotify announces the launch of its upgraded Spotify Premium Family plan that gives families even more ways to make enjoying music as a family even better -- and all for the same price of $/£14.99. The updated Spotify Premium Family...more
Faber Music joins IMPEL
Faber Music - one of the most influential publishers of contemporary classical music in the world – has joined IMPEL. Founded in 1965 as a sister company to the distinguished book publisher Faber And Faber, Faber Music is now one of...more
Pivotal music conference announces its full line-up of panels
Pivotal has now announced it’s full lineup of panels featuring content from ACM, The Association of Independent Music (AIM), The Featured Artists Coalition, AWAL, Complete Music Update (CMU), The Music Producers Guild (MPG) and VS Podcast. The panels include topics...more
The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award announce the highly anticipated 2019 shortlist
TEN ALBUMS NOW IN THE RUNNING FOR £20K PRIZE AND COVETED TITLE OF SCOTTISH ALBUM OF THE YEAR The Shortlist for this year’s Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award has been officially revealed ahead of next month’s final award ceremony at the Assembly Rooms in...more
CD Baby and Bandzoogle announce new partnership
CD Baby’s HostBaby is partnering with leading music-oriented web hosting provider Bandzoogle. It’s a perfect match: Two committed independent music companies, founded and run by musicians, whose mission is to better serve the DIY and self-managed artists in a shifting digital...more
PUMA takes over Spotify's Who We Be podcast and drops exclusive athlete playlists in platform first.
Spotify is bringing together the best of music and sports culture with a new, first-to-market partnership with global sports brand PUMA. The multifaceted takeover, ‘Find Your Flow’, creates a space on Spotify for audiences to engage with PUMA and their network...more
AWAL inks partnership with Brian Kelley and Tyle Hubbard's newly-formed Round Here Records.
AWAL, Kobalt’s recording company, today announced a worldwide partnership with Round Here Records, a newly-formed label created by trailblazing Florida Georgia Line superstars Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard. Founded as a new branch of the creative vision which also includes Kelley...more
CCUK Get It Right next phase consumer education campaign
- Caspar Lee & Snoochie Shy kick off new video series highlighting our shared love of creative content and the true cost of piracy- Creative industries initiative encouraging fans to value the creative process and to access content legallyGet It...more
Bauer Media launch further seven radio stations and KISS Life podcast series
Bauer Media are today unveiling the next step in their digital audio innovation product strategy, launching seven new radio stations from existing brands; KISS, Kerrang! Radio and heat Radio, and a brand-new KISS topical podcast series.Providing a deeper genre-specific listen or distinctive...more
UK Music warns A-level figures reveal “deepening crisis†facing music teaching and UK’s world-leading orchestras
UK Music chief executive Michael Dugher warned of a “deepening crisis” facing A-level music after the latest results today (Thursday) revealed a 5.8 per cent drop in the number of pupils taking the subject in England.The new figures from examinations...more
Dave Pichilingi has added to his role at Modern Sky Entertainment to head up the company’s US operation alongside the UK office
Dave Pichilingi has added to his role at Modern Sky Entertainment to head up the company’s US operation alongside the UK office. With the new title of CEO UK & North America, Pichilingi will divide his time between Modern Sky’s Liverpool...more
Independent Venue Week (IVW) launches a new one-day event, Independents Day in partnership with Harman
The team behind Independent Venue Week (IVW) launches a new one-day event, Independents Day in partnership with Harman, in London on Tuesday 20th August 2019. Created in response to recent requests from participating venues to be able to meet up with...more
Sony/ATV signs deal to represent Scott Weiland’s Stone Temple Pilots song catalog
Sony/ATV Music Publishing has signed a worldwide deal to represent the late Scott Weiland’s song catalog with Stone Temple Pilots. Weiland co-founded the influential California alternative rock band and was the co-writer and frontman for their first six albums. This sequence...more
THE HEADLINES
Audiomack announces first major label licensing deal with Warner Music Group (see Digital)
Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) awards £250k to 20 British acts (see News)
Hasbro acquires Entertainment One (see Business)
Spotify extends free trial to three months (see Digital)
Eminem's publisher Eight Mile Style files lawsuit against Spotify for "copyright infringement" (see News)
Taylor Swift confirms plans to re-record old songs (see News)
Neil Hughes appointed Managing Director of Tileyard Music (see Business)
Apple Music launches Shazam Discovery Top 50 (see Digital)
Spotify tests 'Stories' for its Playlists (see Digital)
Spotify upgrades Premium Family plan (see Digital)
Hipgnosis acquires catalogue from the Chainsmokers (see Deals)
Superstruct Entertainment invests in Germany’s International Concert Service (ICS) (see Business)
Chance the Rapper hits 1bn streams on SoundCloud (see Digital)
Kiss Group Programme Director Andy Roberts leaves Bauer (see Media)
Streaming services file appeal over Copyright Royalty Board's mechanical rate determination (see News)
RIAA research highlights scale of counterfeiting via online store sales (see News)
Bauer Media launch seven new radio stations (see Media)
Plácido Domingo accused of sexual harassment (see News)
Tencent Music Entertainment Group announced Q2 financial results (see Business)
HMV’s unsecured creditors to receive almost nothing following 2018 administration (see Business)
HMV's market share for physical entertainment products dropped 3.3% in Q2 (see News)