CMU Selects - the last week’s standout releases
Our selection of five releases that cut through the noise this week, from James Blake, Violet Grohl, Claudia Valentine, beabadoobee, The Marías and Kim Gordon…
Sombr dubs Brixton Academy “the most poorly managed venue I’ve ever performed at in my life”
Sombr criticised staff at the Brixton Academy over their crowd safety procedures after pausing a show at the venue on Monday when an audience member passed out. It’s an isolated incident, but safety at the venue has been in the spotlight ever since the fatal crowd crush during an Asake show in 2022…
New generation of British artists propel UK record industry to £1.5 billion high, says BPI
Not a single UK artist made the Official Charts top five most-streamed tracks in 2024. In 2025, Lola Young, Olivia Dean and Chrystal all broke through. Revenue hit £1.57 billion, vinyl reached a three-decade high - but adjust for inflation and the industry is still hundreds of millions short…
🎧 Approved: Olympia Vitalis
Olympia Vitalis cites Aretha Franklin in the same breath as Nas, and somehow, listening to her, that makes sense. New single ‘Daze’ brims with soul, it’s got that deep, almost painful level of musicality that bridges the gap between gospel intensity and rhythmic, secular funk and blues…
Royalty agency that “pilfered millions” from Dionne Warwick is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”, singer claims
Last year Dionne Warwick was sued by a royalty management company which said the singer had unlawfully terminated a 25 year old agreement. Now Warwick has countersued claiming that agreement was unfair and has been incorrectly applied, resulting in her losing millions in royalties…
Spotify dubs itself the “the $11 billion+ growth engine” in latest Loud & Clear update
Spotify has updated its Loud & Clear website with 2025 stats, including that it paid more than $11 billion into the music industry last year, with more than 1500 artists now making more than a million a year on the platform. But will the big stats help placate Spotify critics in the music community?…
High Court sides with Kneecap, ending the Hezbollah flag criminal case against Mo Chara
The Hezbollah flag criminal case against Kneecap member Mo Chara is over. High Court judges have backed a ruling last year that said prosecutors missed a crucial deadline when charging the rapper with a terror offence after he allegedly displayed a Hezbollah flag during a London show in 2024…
Live Nation antitrust trial judge says individual US states should seek direct settlement with live music giant
The US government settled its antitrust lawsuit with Live Nation yesterday, but 27 US states, which also accuse the live giant of anticompetitive behaviour, are not part of that deal. The judge has told the states to see if they can agree their own settlement. If not, the antitrust trial will resume…
Google had every opportunity to train its AI legally, but chose to do it on the cheap instead, say indie musicians in new lawsuit
Another AI copyright lawsuit, this time a group of indie artists are suing Google over its Lyria model. Like all AI companies, the lawsuit says, Google infringed copyright when training its model. But Google’s “conduct is different”, because it has the infrastructure in place to train AI legally…
🎧 Approved: Tungz
The 80s polyphony, the slightly unhinged energy: it’s a combination not many pull off without tipping into pastiche, but Tungz don’t tip. Their new single is about not being able to pay attention, which makes sense given that it gets you dancing before you’ve clocked you’re doing it…
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