Table of contents for No. 1410 in Music Week

The British music industry has a brand new label on its hands. Well, kinda. Last month, Universal Music UK made the exciting announcement that it was resurrecting its legendary imprint Fontana. As a quick recap: its (re)creation was made possible by a notable change over at Decca Records. Fontana will now be led by Tom Lewis as its president, who moves from his role as co-president of Decca, while fellow co-president – and recent inductee into the Music Week Women In Music Roll Of Honour – Laura Monks becomes the sole president of Decca. In terms of remit, Fontana will now serve as the “new home for jazz, folk, blues, alternative and soul in the UK” at Universal, while Decca will embark on a “new era celebrating artistic excellence and…

THE BIG RELAUNCH Universal Music UK has announced the return of the Fontana label as its new home for jazz, folk, blues, alternative and soul in the UK. It will be helmed by Tom Lewis as president, who has moved from his role as co-president of Decca. With Lewis’ move to Fontana, Laura Monks becomes sole president of Decca. “I’m delighted to see Tom and Laura shaping the future of both labels, and opening new avenues of discovery for artists and fans across the world,” said Dickon Stainer, chairman & CEO of Universal Music UK. THE BIG DEAL Warner Chappell Music UK has signed Cktrl (Bradley Miller) in a deal covering his catalogue and future works. The songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist previously featured in Beyoncé’s film of her visual album…

“I felt there was a gap for a podcast that makes the listener feel like they’re eavesdropping” Roisin O’Connor, Good Vibrations THIS MONTH ROISIN O'CONNOR'S GOOD VIBRATIONS Host: Roisin O’Connor Contact: roisin.oconnor@independent.co.uk Hosted by The Independent’s music editor Roisin O’Connor, every fortnight Good Vibrations welcomes musicians, producers and songwriters for an in-depth chat. Here, O’Connor tells us about how the podcast has grown since its launch in January… You already have a full-on schedule as The Independent’s music editor. Why was this podcast an itch you had to scratch? “The podcast was definitely something I’d had on my mind for a while. Part of it is about constantly trying to think of new ways to engage The Independent’s audience with our music coverage, but also my love of talking to artists…

@planetalex_ I will never get over music, it feels so dramatic to say but I swear it’s the greatest thing to have ever existed. (Alexandra Ampofo, Metropolis, via X) Thursday, September 11 @lovelimmy Slams laptop shut and starts packing for Mighty Hoopla Weekender in Malta. (David Lim, Outside Organisation, via X) Wednesday, September 24 @gracedavies The dreaded day has come. Taking a deep breath before walking into Tesco Express to buy… olive oil. (Grace Davies, artist, via X) Friday, September 26 @Tomkiehl Congratulations on a fantastic 2025 BBC Proms to Sam Jackson & the rest of his team. I was privileged to enjoy such highlights as Anoushka Shankar & The Marriage Of Figaro throughout the season. A real musical highlight showing what we can do best! (Tom Kiehl, UK Music, via X)…

OCTOBER 24 Bon Jovi Forever (Legendary Edition) Island Brandi Carlile Returning To Myself Interscope/Lost Highway Circa Waves Death & Love Pt 2 Lower Third/PIAS Dayseeker Creature In The Black Night Spinefarm Demi Lovato It’s Not That Deep DLG/Island Henry Moodie Mood Swings Robots + Humans Jake Bugg A Modern Day Distraction (Deluxe Edition) Lovebugg Sigrid There’s Always More That I Could Say EMI Soulfly Chama Nuclear Blast The Lemonheads Love Chant Fire OCTOBER 31 Bob Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 18: Through The Open Window, 1956-1963 Columbia/Legacy Buffalo Tom Sleepy Eyed (Expanded Edition) Beggars Banquet Cat Burns How To Be Human RCA Creeper Sanguivore II: Mistress Of Death Spinefarm Duff McKagan Lighthouse: Live From London EarMusic Eli Stage Girl Zelig/RCA Florence + The Machine Everybody Scream Polydor/ Republic Frankie Goes To…

Management: Peter Mensch, Chris Johnston, Alejandra Magaña (QPrime) Label: Island EMI President: Louis Bloom MD: Lucy Dann A&R: Jack Greengrass Head Of Marketing: Sam Flynn Digital Marketing: Lewis Lister International: Nickie Owen, Georgia Dixon (Universal Music) Socials: Holly Glanvill (Glued Digital) Publisher: Kobalt Agent: Emma Banks, Ben Coles (CAA) Press: Jon Lawrence, Matt Ganfield (Chalk Press Agency) Regional Press: Warren Higgins (Chuff Media) Radio: Rosie Crocombe (Universal Music) Regional Radio: Jason Bailey (Cut To The Jase) TV: Tony Fletcher (Rebel Rebel Music) Creative Director: Josh Mitchell (Island Studio)…

A my Allen has been part of so many recent hits that, by now, her own name pretty much doubles as its own genre. This year’s evidence of Allen’s hot streak includes Sabrina Carpenter’s seventh album Man’s Best Friend (on which she wrote on every track, as she did on Short N’ Sweet), which sold 85,305 copies on debut in the UK, at the time the biggest opening week for an album by an international artist in 2025. Man’s Best Friend has 163,316 sales to date, according to the Official Charts Company, while Short N’ Sweet has 816,453. Also in 2025, Allen wrote on Ed Sheeran’s No.1 Play and Olivia Dean’s The Art Of Loving, one of the most eagerly anticipated albums by a new UK act in recent memory. Meanwhile,…

“This year’s BMC Honourees represent the very best talent the UK music industry has in its ranks” Sheryl Nwosu, Black Music Coalition As the BMC started looking towards the fourth year of our Excellence Honourees awards, the team and I sat down and reflected that we were also coming up to our fifth birthday as an organisation. It was an opportune pit-stop to take stock of not just who would make the longlist of potential Honourees, but also what we wanted to celebrate by continuing these awards, which have now become a staple in our year. When we created the BMC, we didn’t know the road that lay ahead. In 2020, at the flashpoint of Blackout Tuesday, we, along with many others, were all resolutely passionate about what would become our…

UNITED KINGDOM Olivia Dean Man I Need Video Creations: 1m Olivia Dean’s Man I Need is fast becoming her signature breakthrough. The track has now surpassed one million creations, with fans drawn to its heartfelt storytelling and easy-listening groove. On TikTok, it’s become the soundtrack for relationship edits, lifestyle content, cinematic travel cuts and even theatre-style lip-syncs, in turn helping the sound cross communities and demographics. That momentum is driving domestic and international chart recognition, and helping her second album, The Art Of Loving, make a big impact. At home, Dean’s star is rising at breakneck speed — she is set for four sold-out shows at London’s The O2 in 2026, cementing her as one of the UK’s brightest breakthrough stars. Her rise encapsulates how TikTok can take an intimate…

Your essential primer for the month ahead The UK music industry is facing up to the prospect of a rapidly maturing streaming market. While there remains optimism about further growth in the years ahead, the slowing rate of increases in streaming consumption has become a clear pattern so far in 2025. The drop-off in streaming’s momentum coincides with an industry debate about the frequency of DSP price rises – after more than a decade when they remained static – and the role of free ad-funded services in expanding the overall market. Based on exclusive access to market data from the BPI, Music Week can exclusively reveal that the Q3 year-on-year streaming growth rate (SEA – streaming equivalent albums) was just 4.9%. That compares to 11.4% growth in Q3 2024, 12.2%…

“We may not be in the headlines all the time – but we’ve grown 30% annually for seven years” JORGE BREA, SYMPHONIC Symphonic launched almost 20 years ago, how central has streaming been to its development? “Our growth really started happening around 2015, 2016, as Spotify expanded in the US. In general, that helped the streaming market mature. We’ve also been early on trends, sometimes by luck, sometimes by design. We started off as an electronic musicfocused distributor, and then there was the Latin music boom in the 2010s – we’re effectively in the next phase of that with our operation in Brazil.” What are your plans for Europe and the UK, will you establish a bigger presence here? “Absolutely. Over the years, we’ve had clients throughout Europe and the UK,…

RELEASE: Exodus EP (out now) LABEL: Columbia MANAGEMENT: Full Circle Management WHAT THE TEAM SAYS: Amy Wheatley, MD, Columbia: “Columbia has a rich history of building careers with world-class singer-songwriters and Aaron Rowe fits that bill exactly. His distinctive vocals and highly personal lyrics go far beyond surface-level emotion, revealing meaningful stories. That makes him a genuine and timeless artist. He is a rare talent, and we can’t wait for the world to hear what he has in store.”…

“Working with incredible women was the thing that I wanted to do for this record” Freya Ridings What would you say has been the biggest difference between the process for making the new album and your previous two? “Working with Jennifer Decilveo, who is one of my favourite female producers on the planet. Working with incredible women was the thing that I wanted to do for this record. Before, I felt so alone in the process a lot of the time; you get put in a room with men double your age. I really wanted these songs to be about my maternal ancestry, my Celtic heritage and to go deeper into the trauma that ripples down silently throughout your maternal line, without anyone speaking about it. Making it a female-centred album…

Karen Emanuel’s first concert experience could have easily put her off music for life. Instead, music became her life. “I was 14 when I went to see my first gig, which was The Specials,” she tells Music Week. “I actually got beaten up by a couple of skinhead girls, but it didn’t stop me from going to gigs. I never told my parents though, because they would have stopped me…” Indeed, the North Londoner caught the music bug at an early age – taping the Top 40 every week from the radio and attending Top Of The Pops. She went on to count a 12-inch of Ghost Town among her most treasured possessions. “The Specials are a band I’ve seen so many times over the years,” says Emanuel. “[They make]…

CONNOR & RILEY MCDONOUGH SONG: SURVIVE – LEWIS CAPALDI No.1 singles don’t come much more special than Lewis Capaldi’s Survive, which arrived as he made a glorious return to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. Here, co-producers Connor and Riley McDonough share their studio memories, including the day the Scottish star unexpectedly “turned up in gym shorts”… Connor McDonough: “We’d been writing a ton of songs with Lewis, one of which was Something In The Heavens, before the team brought Survive to us. He had written it with Rømans [aka Sam Roman], who is incredible, and asked if we wanted to jump in on the production. It’s a beautiful song and message, so of course we didn’t hesitate.” Riley McDonough: “The first time we worked with Lewis was in Nashville in the summer…

Downtown Music boss Pieter Van Rijn has come a long way since joining fledgling distributor FUGA in 2014, leading its expansion and ultimate sale to Downtown in 2020. But, as the Dutch executive tells Music Week, he originally had very different ideas for his industry career… I’ll be forever grateful that I’ve seen the music business from both sides… “Initially, my goal was to try to make a living by making music and I was in a band back in the Netherlands. We had really fun times going in a tour bus from city to city, long evenings, big parties… I sent demos to all the record labels, majors and independents. There were not so many back then, and at one point I got a call. It was Sony, and…

You joined The O2 at 18 – how did you get your first role there? “I had the ambition and determination to build a career in live events from a young age, and I set my sights on gaining the skills and experience to succeed. After finishing my GCSEs, I was incredibly fortunate to be offered a place on a Level 3 apprenticeship programme studying Live Event Tech, which gave me hands-on, on-site experience and a solid production foundation early on. By the time I was 18, I was ready for a bigger challenge and jumped at the opportunity when a production supervisor role came up at The O2. It felt like a massive step, but I was eager to prove myself at one of the best venues in the…

Aaron Rowe speaks like someone who can’t believe his luck. Fed up of belting out covers at pubs around Dublin day in, day out just to get by, the now-London-based Irishman was close to calling time on his musical dream and settling for a “normal job”. But destiny, it seems, had other ideas. “I was playing my regular Saturday gig just after Christmas nearly two years ago when this American fella walked in,” the lively 23-year-old tells Music Week. “He introduced himself as James Delgado and said he used to work in music, but had stepped away for a few years and wanted to get back involved. And I was like, ‘Come on then, let’s put some music out.’ I was literally on the verge of quitting and then James…

CAT BURNS There’s Just Something About Her (RCA) Cat Burns lost her granddad and went through a break-up during the making of her second record, How To Be Human, out this month. This final official taster suggests that the singer was able to find solace amidst all the turbulence, as she details the stomach-knotting feeling from having a crush over bubbling pop production. The Londoner has said that, while working on the 16-track album, she “realised how many people it could help”. And, with two million followers on TikTok alone, she commands a huge audience, which speaks to the way in which she has turned ‘going viral’ when she first broke through into tangible, impactful success. Contact: Kanem Hutchinson kanem.hutchinson@sonymusic.com FLORENCE + THE MACHINE One Of The Greats (Polydor) Here,…

Nigerian executive Ibukun ‘Aibee’ Abidoye is EVP of music at Chocolate City Music, a label and entertainment company that has been at the forefront of African music for two decades. She is the first woman to occupy her role at the business and is the only woman on the Chocolate City board. Having trained in law in New York, Abidoye specialises in licensing, distribution and publishing, and has worked extensively with platforms such as YouTube, 9Mobile and Apple Music. A passionate advocate for the rights and recognition of artists, songwriters and producers, she is pushing to change the collection management process for creators in Nigeria. Abidoye played a key role in establishing the partnership between Warner Music Group and Chocolate City and is also a Trustee on the boards of…

Management: Sandy Abuah, Mark Henry Nwachukwu, Dion Hamilton (Tru Tribe) Label: NoDaysOff Distribution: ADA MD: Howard Corner SVP: Trenton Harrison-Lewis GM: Alice Frost Marketing: Daniel Mburu, Noha Hussein Digital Marketing: Roy Dano Streaming: Nick Sheldon, Priya Jaspal Operations: Mike Townsend Publisher: Kobalt Agent: Craig D’Souza (WME) Print/Online Press: Ebi Sampson, James Cunningham (August) Radio: Mel Rudder (Three Thirty Studios) Creative Director: Luke Thompson-Allen (Sata Studios)…

On Wednesday, November 26, the Chancellor will deliver a Budget that could change the fate of the UK’s grassroots live music sector. The question is, as always, whether it will. After a decade of warm words and missed opportunities, international evidence shows that tax reform can sustain small venues, grow audiences and safeguard the talent pipeline. The UK has options such as ticket levies, business rates relief, VAT cuts, excise duty rebates, skills tax relief and licensing reform. None have been properly applied to grassroots music. The 2025 Budget offers the chance to put that right. The biggest breakthrough in recent years has been the Grassroots Levy. After years of campaigning, it is now government policy that every stadium or arena ticket should include a financial contribution to support grassroots…