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One Liners: Drake & Headie One, Daphne Oram Trust, WondaGurl, more

By | Published on Tuesday 21 July 2020

Drake

COVID-19 SUPPORT INTIATIVES

The Daphne Oram Trust is offering six £500 grants for electronic music-makers facing financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Full details here.

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DEALS

Sony/ATV has signed producer WondaGurl to a worldwide publishing deal. “WondaGurl has been an incredible producer for years while shattering glass ceilings for women in music and entertainment”, says Sony/ATV Senior Director Creative Jennifer Drake.

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MANAGEMENT & FUNDING

London Music Fund and YouTube Music’s Amplify London programme has announced the first five grassroots music projects that it is backing. They are: Newham youth club Ambition Aspire Achieve’s new music studio and digital music-making workshops; Haringey-based Collage Voices’s Voice Against Hate songwriting competition; summer camps Girls Frock London in Hackney and School Ground Sounds in Brixton; and the Ruff Sqwad Arts Foundation in Tower Hamlets.

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APPOINTMENTS

Warner’s Atlantic Records in the US has named Keith ‘Keefa’ Parker Vice President of A&R. “Keefa was literally born into LA’s rap culture”, says Dallas Martin, Atlantic’s SVP of A&R. Which is a bit of a disturbing image.

Gerald Ang has been named as the new Managing Director of Warner Music Singapore. He joins from telecomms company Singtel. “I’m delighted to take the helm of Warner Music Singapore at such an exciting time for Warner Music”, says Ang. “We’re focused on driving business domestically by expanding our Chinese roster and we’re gearing up to welcome back our international acts and continue to build their profile in the region”.

Chris Atlas has been promoted to Executive Vice President, Urban Music & Marketing for Warner Records in the US. So Warner is still using that increasingly controversial genre term, if you’d been wondering. “I’m very proud of all that we’ve accomplished to build Warner Records’ presence throughout the urban and hip hop communities”, says Atlas. “I’m driven by our artists and their music, and blessed to be able to contribute to the culture, because I’m a student of it”.

Radio editor Rob Littlejohn is moving to Apple’s Beats 1 to produce Charlie Sloth’s ‘Rap Show’ and its long-running ‘Fire In The Booth’ feature. He leaves the BBC after fifteen years at the broadcaster and will officially take up his new role next month.

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RELEASES

Drake has collaborated with UK drill MC Headie One on new release ‘Only You Freestyle’, with both rappers taking a verse over an M1 On The Beat produced track. “I had to go hard, especially on a track with one of the best drill artists in the world”, says Drake. “Scratch that – the best drill artist in the world”.

Beyonce has released another trailer for her upcoming ‘Black Is King’ visual album, which is set to premiere on Disney+ on 31 Jul.

Gorillaz have released their fifth ‘Song Machine’ track, ‘Pac-Man’, featuring Schoolboy Q.

Ty Dolla $ign has released the video for recent single ‘Ego Death’, featuring Kanye West, FKA Twigs and Skrillex.

Jpegmafia has released new track ‘Rough 7’, featuring Tommy Genesis.

Annie is back with new single ‘The Bomb’. Her first album for ten years, ‘Dark Hearts’, is set for release on 16 Oct.

Duckwrth has released new single ‘Coming Closer‘, featuring GLAM and Julia Romana.

Upsahl has released new single ‘People I Don’t Like’. “Not gonna lie, I was a little tipsy the day I wrote ‘People I Don’t Like'”, she says. “I had just come from an industry party and started ranting about the stereotypical shitty people that were there. Essentially, people that I don’t like. Then I realised that I was at that party too, haha!”

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AWARDS

Heads up! The shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize will be announced on Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 Music show this Thursday at 10.30am. “This has been a difficult and challenging year, so we are grateful to all the artists and labels that have supported the 2020 Hyundai Mercury Prize by entering their albums”, says Mercury Prize Chair David Wilkinson. “Creatively the past year has been an amazing year for British music – so choosing just twelve albums of the year will be tough for the judging team”.

Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.



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