Table of contents for No. 1394 in Music Week

First Blud It is now only a matter of time before I'm stood in various fields around the UK either soaked to the bone or trying to rub suncream out of my burning eyes while I watch a bunch of amazing gigs. It's the most wonderful time of the yeeeeear. The anticipated appearance of the UK's Crap Weather™ aside, we currently look primed for a summer of live music to remember. For one, there are seemingly more headline tours than the UK's assorted stadia and arenas can possibly handle, with everyone from Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen to Doja Cat, Pink, AC/DC, Liam Gallagher, Pearl Jam, Green Day and Girls Aloud all on the road. That's to say nothing of the slew of festivals, and not just Glastonbury, Download, Reading…

THE BIG ROLE Joanna Kalli has been promoted to managing director of Sony Music Commercial Group, incorporating the catalogue division, Music For Nations and Masterworks. Kalli is elevated from her role as director of marketing for the UK catalogue division. She has led campaigns for acts including George Michael, The Clash and Natasha Bedingfield, who's seen a chart renaissance. “It's an exciting time to be working the repertoire of such a dynamic roster of artists,” said Kalli. THE BIG DEAL Concord Music Publishing has signed a global agreement with UK songwriter Jin Jin (pictured). The deal encompasses all forthcoming works. She has collaborated with artists, songwriters and producers including Raye, David Guetta, Burna Boy, Greg Kurstin, Diplo, Bebe Rexha, Jax Jones, Loreen, WizKid and Fraser T Smith, among others. Kim…

@__abisola I thought succulents were easy going plants, WTH man (Abisola Oke, August) Tuesday, May 7 @JamesBlunt Damn – my gig in Helsinki on July 7 has been cancelled because the arena is kaput. Anyone need a wedding singer that weekend? (James Blunt, artist) Tuesday, May 7 @StephUwak TBH, it's easy to be ambitious, it's another thing to actually do the work. (Stephanie Achigbu, TikTok) Tuesday, May 21 @JamesParrish I invariably spend a small chunk of the working week putting capital letters into entire Q&As written in lower case. That's what a PR really does. (James Parrish, Prescription PR) Wednesday, May 1 @SabrinaAnnLynn I THOUGHT Y'ALL DRANK TEA OMG THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! (Sabrina Carpenter, artist) Friday, May 3 #1 TWEET @jzux Quitting my job to focus on being annoying with my friends…

NORMANI Candy Paint (RCA) More than five years after she tweeted “I have my album title y'all”, Normani's debut is finally upon us. For her legion of fans, the wait was surely worth it. While this lead single evokes nostalgia for a golden age of R&B, it gives the genre a hard shove into the future via shifting production and smart lyrics. Contact: Lisa-Marie Boateng lisa-marie.boateng@sonymusic.com ROMY Always Forever (Young) Still surfing the waves created by last year's debut solo album, Romy has released an instant follow-up in the form of Always Forever. Her latest hook up with Fred Again.. delivers another dose of loved-up club music, this time featuring an interpolation of Donna Lewis' 1996 hit I Love You Always Forever. Contact: Jon Wilkinson jonwilkinson@xlrecordings.com HARD-FI Don't Go Making…

Elton Jackson has some of the best ears in the business. Those words are usually used in praise of A&R executives, but Jackson does his listening in his role as director of artist and employee wellbeing for Sony Music UK. He's a trained psychotherapist with many years of experience and has worked for The Samaritans, while he has also performed on Top Of The Pops and worked on the door at The Haçienda. “There's something about all of my experience that has enabled me to come into Sony and sit well with all the teams and the artists,” says Jackson, who has been in place since November 2021, the same year the major launched its Artists Forward and Artist Assistance schemes, both of which are aimed at supporting its roster…

In March this year, PPL celebrated the launch of a £1 million annual programme to support music organisations around the UK. This was not only a perfect way to celebrate its 90th anniversary, but also highlighted its wider impact across the industry. While PPL is rightly lauded for delivering record-breaking income distributions to its performer and rights-holder members, its progress can also be measured by a sustainable business strategy that covers everything from supporting good causes and the performer community, to its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). PPL Giving is its biggest contribution yet to the community with an initial donation of seven figures aiding the activities of 26 organisations, covering a wide range of genres and spread across the UK. However, this new funding platform is just…

Your essential primer for the month ahead “It's not North versus South – it's about making the ecosystem in the North thrive” Emma Stakes, Tileyard North Industry figures from the Association of Independent Music (AIM) and Tileyard North in Wakefield have spoken about the “amazing opportunity” to develop the independent sector in the Yorkshire region. Following the launch of their collaboration earlier this year, AIM will have a dedicated space at Tileyard North, sister organisation to the Tileyard London creative hub in the capital. “It was a real opportunity for AIM to expand from being a London-based organisation and to set up some roots in the North of England,” said Ben Wynter, AIM's director of business development & partnerships. Wynter divides his time between London and Wakefield, as he drives the…

TEAM Pet Shop Boys Nonetheless Chart Position: No. 2 Label: Parlophone Records Management: Angela Becker/Charlie Coletta (Becker Brown) President: Joe Kentish (Warner Records Parlophone Label Group) MD: Jennifer Ivory (Parlophone) Marketing: Paul Baines (Paul Baines Marketing) Creative: Imran Malik (Parlophone) Digital Marketing: Connor Cockbain/Lizzie Wood (Parlophone) Socials: Florian Schäfer/Joe Howden (Dark Arts) Radio: Kevin McCabe (Kevin McCabe Promotions), Steve Tandy (Cop Media) Press: Murray Chalmers/Fiona Raisbeck/George Cochran (MCPR), James Heward (Pomona) TV: Ruth Emery (Yes Please!) E-Commerce: Jason Rothery/Tom Jones (Warner Music) International: Victor Aroldoss/Olivia Spring (Warner Music International) Agent: Pete Nash (Primary Talent)…

THIS MONTH: THE ART OF LONGEVITY Hosted by: Keith Jopling Contact: keith.jopling@gmail.com If you can rewind back to the beginning, what was the vision behind The Art Of Longevity podcast? What do you bring to the table compared to other music podcasts out there? “I wanted to hear artists talk about the downs as well as the ups, and how they coped with the music industry roller coaster. It's always felt like every artist interview is about promoting their new album – or they get asked about [their peak]. I thought it must be a refreshing change for artists to reflect on everything – success, failure, mistakes, luck and the nature of creativity itself. From what I can tell, that's turned out to be true. Artists really enjoy the chats…

Shannon Carragher Editor – indie, rock & alternative, Spotify @shancarragher You used to work at independent distributors Caroline and Ditto. What made you feel Spotify was the right place to continue to spotlight indie acts? “Spotify has always been a dream company for me, as growing up I relied heavily on [the platform's] Discover Weekly and playlists to find music. Working in distribution during the rise of streaming, my role focused on DSP relationships for independent artists and I learnt about deals, campaigns and labels. Fostering connections is at the heart of my role now, and although curating playlists is an important part of what we do, our influence extends far beyond that, allowing us to impact artists on a large scale. For example, finding an indie artist with a…

DJ Day Day, BBC Radio 1Xtra KWN – EYES WIDE OPEN An artist who has definitely caught my attention over the last year is Kwn (pronounced kay-wuhn), a singer, rapper, writer and producer from Walthamstow in London. Her music has a dreamy vibe that pulls from trap, soul and R&B influences. I truly believe she's a superstar in the making, and she writes these relatable, soothing and vulnerable songs that draw you into her artistic universe every time you listen. A true creative talent, she produces most, if not all, of her own music, pouring her thoughts, stories and experiences into every track. Her sound is both timeless and new. Known for her signature autotuned style, one of her recent releases, Lord I've Tried, steps away from that, proving her…

JUNE 21 Dolly Parton Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration Of Tom Petty Big Machine Avril Lavigne Greatest Hits Legacy (Sony) Daryl Hall D United Artists Don Toliver Hardstone Psycho (Out June 16) Atlantic Ed Sheeran X – 10th Anniversary Atlantic Jethro Tull Bursting Out (Live): Steven Wilson Remix Parlophone Kate Nash 9 Sad Symphonies Kill Rock Stars Kittie Fire Sumerian Rich Ruth Water Still Flows Third Man Robert Vincent Barriers Thirty Tigers The Dangerous Summer Gravity Rude The Mysterines Afraid Of Tomorrows Fiction The Story So Far I Want To Disappear Pure Noise JUNE 28 Anvil One And Only AFM Camila Cabello C,XOXO Geffen/Interscope Frances Forever Lockjaw Mom + Pop Goodbye June Deep In Trouble Goodbye June Headie One The Last One Sony Imagine Dragons Loom Kidinakorner/Interscope BEABADOOBEE This…

Management: Tommas Arnby, Adam Wood (Special Projects) Label: Capitol, Polydor, Universal Music Group CEO: Tom March (Capitol) President: Ben Mortimer (Polydor) Promoter: Lee Laborde (AEG Presents UK) Agent: Paul Franklin, David Ball (CAA) Marketing: Sam Breslin (Capitol), Lauren Fitzgerald (Polydor) Digital: Miya Ugursoy (Capitol), Oliver Hunter (Polydor) Print & Online Press: Rachael Chinery, Donnay Clancy, Tilly O'Brien (DawBell) Creative: Dom Harrison, Tom Pallant, Jess Severn, Joe Mortimer (Capitol)…

“The artist has to come first, because without them none of us would be here” CATHERINE MARKS Catherine Marks likes a challenge. From her role as executive director at the Music Producers Guild, to appearing onstage with Boygenius at Gunnersbury Park in West London last year (“That was the most terrifying experience of my life,” she laughs), the Grammy-winning producer seems to enjoy throwing herself at things that terrify her, and that are important to her. Her industry journey has practically been mythologised by this point: she rose to fame after meeting producer and long-time mentor Flood (U2, Depeche Mode, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, The Killers) at a Nick Cave gig in Dublin, while studying for a degree in architecture in her native Australia. After finishing her studies, she found…

Young Songs don't necessarily have a company motto, but there is a guiding principle that defines everything the fledgling outfit does: locate and nurture the best talent possible. It's an ethos, says Young COO Chloë Roberts, that runs right the way through each arm of Young, the music and arts organisation that grew out of the Young Turks record label that was formed by Caius Pawson in 2006 (the label abbreviated its name simply to Young in 2021). The operation also includes management (Young Artists) and a state-of-the-art creative hub (Young Space, located in East London). For Young Songs, which counts Arlo Parks and Sampha among its roster, it means aligning themselves with writers who are naturally collaborative and for whom songwriting is their primary passion. MD Gerard Phillips, who…

In what turned out to be the last golden year for Britpop, the face of British music was radically transformed once again in 1996 when the Spice Girls unleashed 'Girl Power' onto an unsuspecting world. Led by Wannabe, all of the quintet's first three singles topped the Official Singles Chart in a year in which Oasis' second album (What's The Story) Morning Glory? spent two months at No.1 and Three Lions resonated across the terraces for the first time as football 'came home' during Euro 96. Nobody realised it at the time but, despite these and other releases showcasing a vibrant and prosperous period for domestic music, it was a piece of European legislation finally implemented into UK law that year which did more than anything to lift the fortunes…

PPL's technology and data capabilities have helped the music industry far beyond the UK, a point highlighted by Repertoire Data Exchange – or RDx – a global platform that enables the efficient flow of repertoire and rights data between rights-holders and music licensing companies. Following what was described at the time as a “rigorous selection process”, PPL was chosen in 2019 by IFPI and WIN to build and run this project. Since becoming operational a year later, RDx has signed up many of the world's leading record companies who submit their sound recording data to the service, including Beggars Group, BMG, Sony Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. By ensuring a consistent view of repertoire data and highlighting rights ownership conflicts in a timely way, the system is…

A couple of years ago, Music Venue Trust launched the Own Our Venues project. This community share ownership initiative is one of our most radical ideas, and it has the deepest impact and the most sustainable outcomes for the future of grassroots music venues. In our work, we always try to follow the process of collecting data, understanding the challenge, working to design the best solution, then delivering it in partnership with other organisations. When we began the Own Our Venues project in June 2022, we accompanied it with the data that 93% of the UK's grassroots live sector operated in premises owned by a private landlord under a tenancy agreement. That crucial piece of information – which, like much of our work, was learned during our annual survey –…

01 POETRY SLAM TAYLOR SWIFT The Tortured Poets Department (EMI) SALES: 136,356 Ahead of the scheduled arrival of her Eras tour in the UK in June, Taylor Swift topped the albums rankings for a second consecutive month. Swift's 11th studio album has so far spent four non-consecutive weeks at the summit thanks to a combination of strong streaming and physical consumption, including shipments of CD variants which boosted the sales of that format at the end of May. The Tortured Poets Department has amassed sales of 447,084, including 219,789 physical copies, 210,183 streaming-equivalent sales and 17,112 digital downloads. TTPD is 2024's biggest-selling album to date and will be hard to catch as we reach the midway point of the year. 02 HIT PARADE BILLIE EILISH Hit Me Hard And Soft (Polydor) SALES:…

Michelle Escoffery, songwriter/president, PRS Members' Council Since making waves with R&B trio Truce in the '90s, Michelle Escoffery has co-written with the likes of Tina Turner, All Saints, Beverley Knight, Liberty X and more. Here, the PRS Members' Council president looks back, as we discuss breaking boundaries, working with superstars and fighting for songwriters' rights… Cathy Dennis and I broke new ground as the only two women signed exclusively to EMI Music Publishing… “I didn't grasp what it meant initially. Also, at that time [after Truce disbanded in 1998], they didn't put top line writers together in the same room. So, as much as we were the two female writers, we never got to work together. Now, you can have 10 people in a room and there are four top…

frontline “We're song-led not genre-led – but we've played our part in the guitar revival” DAVID PICHILINGI, MODERN SKY Liverpool-based Modern Sky's chart run has seen Top 10s for Jamie Webster, Red Rum Club, The Coral and management client Crawlers, plus The Lottery Winners' No.1. Here, David Pichilingi, CEO, UK & North America, talks superfans, expansion and teaming with Virgin… Modern Sky's had some strong chart results, what's behind that consistent performance? “We work with bands and artists that know who they are and are very ambitious. We've got a great team and we know the live game, so we can spot who we would consider to be the winners coming on the outside lane very early on. Bands like The Lathums, for example; we found them when they were 17.…

Right now, Tiny Habits are one of the most hotly tipped new bands out there. And to think, we owe it all to some outdated bathroom furnishings. Flashback to 2021, and Cinya Khan is trying to find out how to use the toilet paper holder in her dorm's bathroom at Berklee College Of Music in Boston. She posts about it on her Instagram story to see if anyone can help, and a student in the year below her, Maya Rae, an admirer of Khan's music posts, replies, saying that she didn't know how they worked either. “Cinya had no idea who I was; she didn't even follow me back on Instagram but I thought she was an amazing singer, I was just a fan,” Rae laughs. “So I piped up…

“We're super-proud to represent both rock and women in Mexico” Daniela Villarreal, The Warning The Warning first came to the world's attention in 2014 when your cover of Metallica's Enter Sandman blew up, all while the three of you were aged between nine and 14. Artists go viral all the time and then disappear, so what did you do right to turn that moment into a lasting career? “We're so grateful that happened. We were just kids, I don't even think we grasped what 'virality' was. Our parents really took care of us – they knew that everything was happening all at once, and that everyone wanted a piece. They decided that what was important was for us to figure out what we wanted to do musically. Going viral never felt…

6 sense: Lauren Laverne won the Radio Show category at the Music Week Awards in May “Winning a Music Week Award is like getting a degree in radio!” LAUREN LAVERNE For Lauren Laverne, life has rarely been busier than it is when Music Week encounters the BBC Radio 6 Music star at the station's HQ on a Friday morning in late May. She has just come off air, having delivered her final breakfast show of a manic week. The night before we speak, she was in central London hosting the Ivors, taking a rare breather from the intense Glastonbury preparations that dominate her schedule at this time of year. Shortly before that, it was her own name in lights, as she triumphed in the Radio Show category at the Music Week Awards,…

Meet Whitney Asomani, who, over 15 years, has worked in several disciplines, including celebrity and events PR and TV – where she was a music executive at ITV and in management at BT Sport – before transitioning full-time into music. Asomani has championed a number of UK acts throughout her career, including girl group MO, while at Sony she saw success with artists from RCA and Since '93, before leaving in 2020 to co-manage the return of the Sugababes with Matt Johnson. In the same year, she co-founded the music marketing agency Twenty:Two Agency – which has overseen a roster of stars including Doja Cat, Zara Larsson, NSG and more. Asomani has featured on Shesaid.so's Alternative Power 100 Music List, been nominated for Manager Of The Year at the Music…

My first ever encounter with PPL was in 1990 when, on my first day in the litigation seat at the law firm Hamlin Slowe (now Hamlins LLP), I attended a conference about a copyright tribunal case related to the use of music on jukeboxes. More than a decade later, when Fran Nevrkla had taken the reins as CEO, he asked if I would consider running the PPL legal team and join his leadership team. It was an opportunity I couldn't turn down – not just because I love music, but because I could see the potential for PPL and the vision that Fran had for it. “By the time I joined in 2002, PPL already had an almost 70-year history, having been formed in 1934 following a groundbreaking court case…

PPL's lobbying and advocacy work has made it a powerful and influential voice in standing up for music rights, from helping to deliver copyright term extension for its members to supporting the industry in seeking regulation of the development and use of AI. Sometimes this has led the organisation into potentially hazardous waters. While PPL is no stranger to the courts, regularly issuing proceedings in the High Court to prevent the unlicensed use of its sound recordings, two decades ago it became the first company in the music industry, that we are aware of, to sue the UK government. Under its then chair and CEO Fran Nevrkla, PPL commenced legal action after the government failed to properly implement a European directive that would have enabled PPL to license a multitude…

After taking off on TikTok in March this year, Artemas' I Like The Way You Kiss Me has since racked up over 500 million streams on Spotify and hit No.3 in the UK. Here, producer and instrumentalist Toby Daintree takes us behind the scenes on how the alt-pop smash was created, and talks nursery rhymes, why you should never plan to go viral and last minute recordings while waiting for a taxi… The week that we made I Like The Way You Kiss Me was the best writing experience I've ever had, it was magical. I met Artemas two-and-a-half years ago when I joined his band and we became friends. I was studying jazz guitar at Guildhall [School Of Music & Drama] at the time and Artemas was in this…

01 POT LUCK SABRINA CARPENTER Espresso (Polydor) SALES: 304,680 Sabrina Carpenter set the singles chart alight in May. Espresso hit No.1 in the first chart week, where it would stay for the duration of the month. Her first UK Top 10 hit, Espresso is the eighth track by Carpenter to clock up more than 100,000 sales in the UK and ended the month as her biggest song with a tally of 470,007. Still just 25, Carpenter has been releasing music for a decade already and has five full-length albums to her name. Carpenter, who recently supported Taylor Swift on her Eras live extravaganza, took pole position by just 484 sales in her first week at No.1, the smallest margin in over a year. Espresso topped our monthly Top 75 with more…

UNITED KINGDOM Myles Smith Stargazing Video Creations: 62,000 Since its release in early May, Myles Smith's single Stargazing has taken TikTok by storm, featuring in over 62,000 videos and counting. The track's remarkable traction can be traced back to the significant buzz it generated even before its launch, amassing nearly 30,000 creations on TikTok with just the pre-release sound. Stargazing took off upon its official release, with thousands of listeners finding the track on TikTok's #NewMusic hub and creating videos with the sound. Now with 1.1 million followers on his page, the Luton-born songwriter is a TikTok sensation. Adam Read, TikTok UK's music editorial manager, UK & Ireland, pays tribute to how Smith has cultivated a fanbase on and off the platform. “Myles Smith's journey has been extraordinary and we're…