DEALS
🦉
Santa Anna Label Group has invested in and formed a new partnership with OVO Sound, which is Drake, Mr Morgan, Noah ‘40’ Shehib and Oliver El-Khatib’s record label. “After ten years, it’s exciting to reunite with Drake, Morgan, 40, Oliver and the OVO Sound team to collaborate on new ways to support their impressive roster of artists”, says Santa Anna founder Todd Moscowitz, who was previously CEO of Warner Records which had an alliance with the indie label. “Together, I look forward to working with a best-in-class management team to develop opportunities to help scale their business and take their artistry to new heights”.
🖊️
Verve Label Group has announced two new signings, with Phosphorescent signing to Verve Records and The Messthetics joining Impulse! Records. Another Verve Records artist, Jon Baptiste, has just picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song for ‘It Never Went Away’ from his ‘American Symphony’ documentary.
🎶
Tuned Global has signed a deal that allows new clients to also enrol with lyric licensing platform LyricFind when they sign up to the B2B music services provider. “We are constantly striving to give our clients the tools to succeed, and for us, engagement and fan excitement equal success”, says Tuned Global MD Con Raso. “LyricFind will give our clients and their users many more ways to find and fall in love with music. We are excited that, thanks to this integration, clients can improve their engagement by simply opting in”.
APPOINTMENTS
🪑
Emma Banks of booking agency CAA has been announced as the new Chair of music therapy charity Nordoff And Robbins. "It is a true honour to become Chair of Nordoff And Robbins”, she says. “We have an incredibly strong board that we will be looking to add to in the coming months as our new strategy develops, and I welcome anyone who is interested in becoming involved with Nordoff And Robbins to reach out to me”.
ARTIST NEWS
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Ludacris is working on a new comedy drama TV series based on his time as a presenter on Atlanta radio station Hot 97.5, according to The Hollywood Reporter. No broadcast date has yet been announced.
👎
Johnny Marr has reacted to The Smiths track ‘Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want’ being played at a Donald Trump rally. Unsurprisingly, he’s not a fan. “I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass”, he tweeted. “Consider this shit shut right down right now”.
GIGS & FESTIVALS
🎪
Applications for this year’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition will open at 9am this Friday and close again a week later on 5 Feb. As well as getting to play the festival, the winner will receive a £5000 bursary from the PRS Foundation. Two runners up will receive £2500 each. More details here.
🎤
Nicole Scherzinger, Gladys Knight and Rylan are set to headline this year’s Henley Festival on 10-14 Jul. More info here.
🪆
Wednesday 13 has announced UK tour dates marking (slightly belatedly) the 20th anniversary of the forming of Murderdolls, his former band with late drummer Joey Jordison. The dates are set to run through October and November, including a show at London’s Electric Ballroom on 9 Nov. Tickets go on sale on Friday.
🎡
MØ will play XOYO in London on 22 Mar to mark the tenth anniversary of her debut album ‘No Mythologies To Follow’.
RELEASES
💜
Jada Kingdom has released new single ‘Top Tier’.
😢
Sekou has released new single ‘Crying’.
♟️
Mark Knopfler has released new single ‘Ahead Of The Game’. His new album ‘One Deep River’ is out on 12 Apr.
❤️🩹
Fat White Family will release new album ‘Forgiveness Is Yours’ on 26 Apr. Out now is new single ‘Bullet Of Dignity’.
👍
Arab Strap will release new album ‘I’m Totally Fine With It 👍 Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore 👍’ on 10 May. Out now is new single ‘Bliss’ and there will be UK tour dates following the LP release in May.
🛏️
Pillow Queens will release their new album ‘Name Your Sorrow’ on 19 Apr. Out now is new single ‘Gone’. They’ve also announced UK tour dates in June.
💧
Water From Your Eyes have released the video for ‘Out There’ from their 2023 album ‘Everyone’s Crushed’.
🌞
Saint Saviour has released new single ‘Be Gentle’. Her new album ‘Sunseeker’ is out on 22 Mar and she will play a handful of UK shows the same month, including at The Courtyard Theatre in London on 30 Mar.
🌆
Adult Jazz are back with their first new music for eight years ‘Dusk Song’. They’ve also announced a show at the ICA in London on 24 Oct. Tickets for that are available now.