DEALS
💤
Sleep Token have signed a new record deal with Sony Music’s RCA. Their first three albums were released on Universal’s Spinefarm. The band recently announced a UK arena tour in November, adding extra dates at the First Direct Arena in Leeds and O2 Arena in London at the beginning of December due to demand.
APPOINTMENTS
🗽
UK indie label Transgressive Records has expanded into North America with a New York office headed up by Jack Hedges. The move also sees Hedges’ Canvasback label become part of Transgressive. “Transgressive exemplifies the values of excellence, artistry and integrity that has defined Canvasback for the last seventeen years and there is no one I trust more to help carry that legacy into the future together”, he says. “They are truly a world-class label and I’m inspired and humbled to be at the ground floor of building out a global operation”.
PUBLISHING
🚀
Kobalt has launched the latest version of its client portal, offering - it says - “unprecedented levels of accuracy, transparency and insight” to its royalty reporting. “The royalty collection flow is a big blindspot for songwriters and rightsholders, and unlocking this data has the potential for material impact, from a rising songwriter to the biggest acts in the world”, says CEO Laurent Hubert. “We will continue to push new boundaries to ensure creators have unparalleled access to their data and continuously empower them”.
LIVE BUSINESS
🎪
The Boardmasters festival in Cornwall has received council approval to increase its capacity from 53,000 to 58,000 this year. Plans to expand the event were first announced last November. Its 2024 edition is set to take place on 7-11 Aug with headline performances from Stormzy, Chase & Status and Sam Fender.
EDUCATION
🎓
The Richard Antwi Scholarship has announced that it is opening up for applications for a seventh and final time. The initiative supports people from marginalised communities by providing financial support to study for the Music Business Management MA course at University Of Westminster. More information here.
AWARDS
🎤
Jungle and Rema have been announced to perform at this year’s BRIT Awards next month. Yinka Bokinni and Jack Saunders have also been confirmed to present The BRITs’ Red Carpet on ITV2 and The BRITs’ Aftershow on ITVX. It all takes place on 2 Mar.
🏆
The nominations have been announced for the inaugural Nordoff And Robbins Northern Music Awards, which is due to take place at Manchester’s Albert Hall on 23 Apr. Among those up for prizes are The Courteeners, The K’s, English Teacher and Antony Szmierek, who will also perform. Set to receive the Northern Icon award is Lisa Stansfield. More info here.
RELEASES
❌
Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s ‘Good (Don’t Die)’ has been removed from Spotify following a complaint from the Donna Summer estate over its apparent use of the song ‘I Feel Love’. The track from the two rappers’ ‘Vultures 1’ album remains on other streaming services. Last week Ozzy Osbourne also hit out at the album’s use of an uncleared Black Sabbath sample.
🤖
Idles have released the video for recent single ‘Grace’, which uses AI to rework Coldplay’s ‘Yellow’ video to make Chris Martin appear to sing the Idles song instead. Martin not only approved the use of the video but apparently provided assistance in making it happen.
🍉
Ethel Cain has released new song ‘من النهر’, which translates to ‘From The River’, in support of Palestine.
👀
Kittie have released their first new song for thirteen years, ‘Eyes Wide Open’. The band recently signed a new record deal with Sumerian Records.