Table of contents for No. 1390 in Music Week

Tik-ing clocks Commiserations to anyone who was hoping for a bit of peace and quiet in the music business in 2024. In the opening weeks of January alone, various battle lines have been drawn. Some anticipated, some not. January 30, of course, saw the dispute that launched a thousand industry WhatsApp groups: the fiercely worded exchange between UMG and TikTok that saw their licensing agreement negotiations implode and the major pull all of its music covered by recording and publishing deals from the platform. Even if in the highly unlikely event this has all been resolved by the time you read this, it does little to diminish the feeling that this is just one of many high-profile wrangles set to unfold this year. Late last month, we saw the acute dangers…

THE BIG DISPUTE Universal Music Group stopped licensing music to TikTok from January 31, when it failed to reach a new agreement with the platform. In an open letter to the artist and songwriting community, UMG accused TikTok of “bullying” tactics and said it was not willing to pay a fair value for music. As Music Week went to press, recordings had been pulled from TikTok with songs represented by UMPG set to go by the end of February. TikTok described the decision as “sad and disappointing”. THE BIG TRIBUTE Tributes have been paid to legendary DJ Annie Nightingale, BBC Radio 1’s first female presenter. Nightingale, who died aged 83, joined in 1970 and remained on air until last year. She became the network’s longest-running presenter. Aled Haydn Jones, head…

@planetalex_ My toxic trait is trying to sing Cleo Sol’s songs as good as her (Alexandra Ampofo, Metropolis/Live Nation) Saturday, January 20 @connorlaws I’m eating a baguette and looking at the Eiffel Tower. I am French now. (Connor P Laws, Just Another Music Company) Wednesday, January 24 @SianAnderson My mortgage just went up by £1,400 a month. One thousand and four hundred great British pounds. I can’t even process it. (Sian Anderson, BBC Radio 1Xtra) Thursday, January 25 @DJTarget If ‘stepping out of your comfort zone’ was a year. It’s 2024 for me. (DJ Target, BBC Radio 1Xtra) Tuesday, January 16 @NoahKahan The only thing me and the haters have in common is we’re both wondering how I am headlining festivals LMAO. (Noah Kahan, artist) Tuesday, January 16 @icespicee_ Just met Beyoncé…

RELEASES: All The Same, King Of The Slugs (both out now) LABEL: Domino MANAGEMENT: Matt Jacob, Memphis Industries and Lloyd Young, Permanent Creeps WHAT THE TEAM SAY: Jordan Whitmore, A&R Director, Domino: “Fat Dog’s genre-bending approach to music and cathartic live shows are attracting crowds all over Europe. The shows can feel like cult meetings with Joe Love taking the role of preacher, and the crowd, his disciples. They are always surprising and striving to create music that pushes boundaries. I’m excited to see where they will go from here.”…

THIS MONTH'S HOTTEST BRAND NEW ACT BVDLVD From trap metal to rage rap, this London-based rising star is creating his own unique sound… Key Track: Numb Label: Earache Records Manager: Ian McQuaid X: @BVDLVD Your album Absence seems to draw on your own mental wellbeing. How did those themes translate into your writing? “Before Absence, I didn’t really know how to tap into emotions and dissect them. While making it, I was taking a lot of inspiration from where I was at that time with tracks like Numb and Prison, but it’s the next album which isn’t out yet where I’ve actually been able to process and unlock more emotions. Absence has deep stuff in it, but there are also just some stupid songs!” Your sound is very eclectic. How…

Recently, Phil Hutcheon was moving house and, whilst packing, the Dice CEO came across the original sketches and business plan for his then-fledgling ticketing company. He was struck by how close to that initial blueprint everything has turned out since. “It’s strangely exactly what we set out to do,” says the likeable Hutcheon, taking a seat in a meeting room at Dice’s plush UK HQ in London’s De Beauvoir Town. Next door to us, there’s a wellness room for staff. Downstairs, you’re greeted with a vast chill-out area-slash-meeting space playing host to an impressive breakfast spread. The company moved here four years ago after Hutcheon just happened to walk past as it was being developed and asked builders for details. It’s all a huge change from when Dice was launched…

This year, legendary dance label Defected turns 25. And, as that quarter-century birthday came into view, it seemed like an opportune time for its team to think about what was next for the label. The answer came straight from club culture: it was time for a remix. These days, Defected is headed up by CEO and co-owner Wez Saunders, following a management buyout in 2022. Over the last year the label has attracted many new staff members, almost doubling to its current size of around 90 employees. With Defected 2.0 now having its people all in place, they’re ready to roll out new ideas. Ideas, however, that all adhere to a 90-page manifesto outlining the label’s soul and vision. “Sometimes, you have new people start and you don’t always get…

J HUS WHO TOLD YOU [FEAT. DRAKE] J Hus’ Who Told You featuring Drake was one of 2023’s songs of the summer. Here, producer P2J reflects on the making of the iconic collaboration that shot to No.2 in the UK charts, and racked up more than 120 million Spotify streams. And to think, it almost got deleted in the studio… J Hus is a gem. He is a talent we’ve not seen before. I’ve always wanted to work with him, it was just about timing. I was on the production for Stormzy’s track [Bad Boys] in 2017 but I wasn’t part of the process of getting Hus on it, so we never met. When we did initially meet in late 2020, it was the best timing. I’d just come off…

01 BEAUTIFUL DAY GREEN DAY Saviors (Reprise/ Warner-Parlophone) SALES: 31,380 Green Day finished ahead in our monthly rankings thanks to a strong opening sale in the final full chart week of January. The US band are on top with 31,380 sales, narrowly ahead of Noah Kahan’s Stick Season album – there were just 714 monthly sales between them. Green Day’s 14th studio album became their fifth chart-topper in the weekly rundown with strong physical sales – including 14,955 CDs, 10,420 vinyl albums and 1,124 cassettes – as well as a healthy 3,369 from streams. The week one consumption for Saviors was up an impressive 34.1% on Green Day’s previous album, Father Of All Motherf***ers, which also debuted at the summit in February 2020 on sales of 23,389. 04 BREAK POINT LEWIS CAPALDI…

Bitter Sweet Love Chart position: No.1 Label: Columbia TEAM James Arthur Management: Chris Hughes/Matt Rowsell (YMU Entertainment) International Marketing: Lena Gerecke (Sony Music Germany) Marketing: Hayley Marchant/ Stephanie Forbes (Columbia) Digital Marketing: Catherine Dowie (Columbia) Social: Charlie Pollard (WMA) Product management: Alina Gross (Columbia Germany) National Press: Barbara Charone/ Ant Giannaccini (MBC PR) Online Press: Ashley Matthews (MBC PR) Promo: Ellie Kemp/Gary Hobson/ Crystal Raybe (Columbia) TV: Samantha Sewell (Columbia)…

Junior international marketing manager, Secretly Group @nicole.otero.x You joined Secretly Group in 2020 from Decca, where you worked in the press department. How did you get your first break in the music industry? “Music has always been in my life since I was little, from playing piano to seeing my dad record in studios back home in Venezuela. It was midway through [studying] at Rollins College in Orlando that I realised there was a whole industry, and after that, I moved to Valencia and started working at a small indie label, Disrupción Records, while at Berklee [College Of Music]. I felt drawn towards marketing, and after doing it on a smaller scale there, I moved to Decca. I’m so lucky now to be working with so many artists at Secretly.”…

JESS GLYNNE Enough (EMI) Jess Glynne enters epic ballad territory with Enough, the latest trailer for her third album, due this year via new label EMI. Produced by Greg Kurstin, Knox Brown and P2J, this widescreen effort is an altogether different style of banger from the chart-busting star. Contact: David Lim david@outsideorganisation.com JENNIFER LOPEZ (FEAT. LATTO) Can’t Get Enough (Nuyorican/BMG) Accompanied by an Amazon Original film inspired by its songs, Jennifer Lopez’s first album in a decade arrives with all guns blazing. Lead single Can’t Get Enough, boosted by Atlanta rapper Latto, shows that its maker remains a pop superpower. Contact: Christy Welder cwelder@fullpic.com LIAM GALLAGHER & JOHN SQUIRE Mars To Liverpool (Warner Records) While Liam Gallagher and John Squire’s album summons the swagger that made their bands famous, this…

Meet Brandra Ringo, EVP and co-head of A&R at Quality Control Music. In her current role, she works with artists such as Quavo, Lil Baby and City Girls, and has previously placed records for global stars like Post Malone, Travis Scott, Maroon 5 and Saweetie. Before Quality Control, Ringo worked at Def Jam, Motown Records, Warner Chappell and UMPG and, in 2020, was named one of Billboard’s Hip-Hop and R&B Power Players and listed in Billboard’s Women In Music Executives. She’s an ASCAP Winning Publisher, was honoured at the 10th Annual Toast To Urban Music Executives and is also the founder of Black Girls Behind Music, an initiative supporting young black women in their careers. Here, Ringo shares her top tips… 1. Never stop learning “Educate yourself. Make sure you…

Way back in 1964, as the number of television channels lurched its way to the several hundred that we in the UK currently enjoy with the introduction of a third terrestrial option in the shape of BBC Two, the bosses of BBC and ITV went to the Football League with an exciting proposal. How would it be, they suggested, if we broadcast the 3pm matches live on TV? Those of you who follow football will no doubt be immediately aware of how successful this approach was. To this day, some 60 years later, no TV channel in the UK has managed to acquire the rights to show 3pm matches, the absolute bedrock of English football, live on the television. Known officially as the ‘Football Blackout’, the rule is that no…

UNITED KINGDOM Sophie Ellis-Bextor Murder On The Dancefloor Video Creations: 400,000 Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Murder On The Dancefloor is the latest in a long line of tracks that have taken off on TikTok following their inclusion in hit film soundtracks. The noughties hit features in Emerald Fennell’s latest film Saltburn, and follows in the footsteps of soundtrack smashes such as Nicki Minaj’s Barbie World and Encanto’s We Don’t Talk About Bruno. It has become the go-to sound for creators sharing their idiosyncratic traits, as well as recreating the iconic dance that accompanies Saltburn’s now-infamous final scene. TikTok’s music partnerships manager, Lisa Skeppner, highlights how Ellis-Bextor has engaged with her fans online and notes how important platforms like TikTok are in bringing all music to modern audiences. “Murder on the Dancefloor was…

frontline “We want a deeper connection between artists and their fans” TOKIMONSTA, SONA What are you trying to achieve with Sona? “We need to create a more equitable industry. I love streaming platforms, I use all of them and it’s a great tool for discovery. It’s created this democratisation of music. [But] what we’re finding is that a lot of people are not able to really subsist – even if they’re a very highly streamed musician, they can’t pay rent. What we’re trying to do with Sona is create a new economic model for music streaming, so you can get the benefits of streaming while actually getting paid more.” You’ve got a background in electronic music, is that a focus for the platform at launch? “It’s a starting point for us…

The first time that Fat Dog frontman Joe Love felt his band were onto something happened to be at the group’s first gig where the audience were allowed to stand up. Formed in lockdown, initially with Love as the sole member, the South London-based five-piece rambled through their first few shows with the crowd sitting. It was not a pleasant experience. “We just thought we were very shit,” is how Love puts it. But Fat Dog are not very shit. They are very good, and they make music that is not designed to be sat down to, a mind-bending meld of chaotic electropunk, experimental techno and warped pop. This is music beckoning you to cut loose, which is exactly what happened when they supported Automotion, the band featuring Liam Gallagher’s…

BAMBIE THUG - CATHEXIS I first saw Bambie Thug live when they supported fellow nu gen trailblazer Cassyette at the Underworld in London, back in 2022. Even so early on, it was clear that they were an artist with a unique vision, an incredibly cool and evocative image and a fearless approach to making music (read: ‘I’m gonna smash together whatever genres I feel like, make it work, and you’re gonna like it.’) Since then, they’ve been putting out consistently great material, culminating in last year’s excellent Cathexis EP, which writhes between everything from pulsating EDM, to bubbly hyper-pop, to crunching industrial metal, all without ever feeling too slap-dash or all over the place. One of the EP’s standout tracks, Doomsday Blue, has taken on a life of its own…

February 23 Erika De Casier Still (Out Feb 21) 4AD Amigo The Devil Yours Until The War Is Over Liars Club/Regime Bombay Bicycle Club Fantasies Mmm…/AWAL Brigitte Mena After The Storm Brigitte Mena Colouring Love To You, Mate Bella Union Corb Lund El Viejo New West Fucked Up The Chemistry Of Common Life: 15th Anniversary Matador Ghetts On Purpose, With Purpose Warner Hurray For The Riff Raff The Past Is Still Alive Nonesuch I Don’t Know How But They Found Me Gloom Division Concord Jazmin Bean Traumatic Livelihood Island JJ Grey & Mofro Olustee Alligator MGMT Loss Of Life Mom + Pop Motörhead The Löst Tapes – Vol. 1 to 5 BMG Nadine Shah Filthy Underneath EMI Philip Sayce The Wolves Are Coming Forty Below Real Estate Daniel Domino Red…

Management: Colin Gayle & Brandon Hixon Label: Epic/Since ’93/RCA UK CEO & chairman: Sylvia Rhone (Epic) Presidents: Ezekiel Lewis (Epic), Riki Bleau (Since ’93) Glyn Aikins (RCA UK & Since ’93) Stacey Tang (RCA UK) MD (UK): Damaris Rex-Taylor (RCA) A&R: Ezekiel Lewis (Epic) Marketing (UK): Sej Jheeta (RCA & Since ’93) Digital marketing (UK): Chinwe Mlemchukwu (RCA & Since ’93) Publisher: Concord Publishing Agent: Obi Asika (UTA) Print & Online Press (UK): David Lim & Milo Turnley (The Outside Organisation) Radio (UK): Phil Youngman, Ellie Best (RCA), Maurice Dennemont (Soul2Streets) TV (UK): Sarah Haddow (RCA) Creative Director: Thato Nzimande…

Multi-platinum-selling, Grammy-winning rock icon Lenny Kravitz returns this year with Blue Electric Light, his first new studio album since 2018. Here, he tells Music Week about standing his ground with labels, and why he’s not always as cool as you think he is… During the pandemic, I recorded three or four albums… “Blue Electric Light is one of them, and this is the one I wanted to release first. I still think in albums. I still think in [terms of ] this chunk of music that represents a time [in my life]. Singles are great, but for me they’re a body of work that represents a piece of time, and it takes more than one song. As an artist I’m just in a place of light and celebration, gratitude and…