Table of contents for No. 1399 in Music Week

Good news, babe! Turn to page 52 in this issue and you'll find MUSEXPO founder Sat Bisla deep in conversation. At one point, the respected music business veteran identifies one of his biggest fears for the modern industry. Principally, he says, its social fabric is at risk of slowly disintegrating in plain sight. “I feel it's become very transactional, which is important from a business perspective, but it's a people business,” he tells Music Week. “Making the time to come together seems like it's getting less and less important to a lot of people, which I think is a very dangerous place to be. You then basically become a faceless, soulless industry and, if that becomes too far entrenched… I think it could have a really negative impact.” It's a…

Your essential primer for the month ahead The team behind Ndotz have spoken about the global impact of independently released hit Embrace It and Ttheir vision for breaking Gen-Z talent. The London-based rapper with Angolan heritage recently had the No.1 viral song globally on TikTok and is making his mark on Spotify's global chart. Ndotz has 13.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Last month, Embrace It was in the Top 30 in the streaming giant's rankings, ahead of current releases from major UK artists. “I would say it is probably one of the biggest records in our culture this year,” said Ndotz's manager Ade Shonubi, who aligned his firm Flystr8 with Chosen Music in a joint venture. “I would go further and say it's probably one of the biggest songs…

RELEASE: Full Moon LABEL: Transgressive Records MANAGEMENT: Lauren Roth De Wolf, Wolves Music Management WHAT THE TEAM SAYS: Tim Dellow, co-founder, Transgressive Records: “Moonchild Sanelly has always been an iconic performer and personality, feted for her bold and strong attitude. On this new album the focus is on her, working with producer Johan Hugo; it's a staggering collection. Live, she's impossible to contend with, and we're confident that she'll get the plaudits she deserves.”…

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY 2024 Award Winners Last month, the Music Week Women In Music Awards celebrated its 10th anniversary in style with a sold-out ceremony in our biggest venue yet: the JW Marriott Grosvenor House London. Here, we present a special gallery of one of the music calendar's most important and beloved events, and be sure to head to the Music Week website to revisit the career-spanning interviews with all of this year's winners and Roll Of Honour inductees… WITH THANKS TO WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO To revisit all the Women In Music Awards winners’ and Roll Of Honour inductees’ interviews, head to musicweek.com THE 2024 ROLL OF HONOUR, IN ASSOCIATION WITH TIKTOK Michelle Kerr (1968-2024) Co-founder, Cosa Nostra PR (posthumously awarded) Head to facebook.com/MusicWeekNews now for an extensive Music Week Women…

As an entrepreneur and talent manager, Sairah Pinnock is best known for her integral role in guiding her sister and global star Leigh-Anne in her journey from Little Mix to solo success. For the past four years, Pinnock has managed Leigh-Anne in partnership with Tap Management. In 2020, she and Leigh-Anne also co-founded The Black Fund, a charity dedicated to empowering Black communities by providing funding and resources for grassroots initiatives. Prior to working in the music industry, Pinnock was co-founder of Inclusive Industry, an events production company celebrated for hosting some of the most iconic British celebrity parties. Here, she reveals her top five career tips… 1. Love what you do “It's easy to get comfortable in roles that don't fulfil us, staying out of habit or convenience. But…

Here is the good news: the number of grassroots music venues closing every week has rapidly declined throughout 2024. From a peak of five closures in one week in May 2023, every month successively for the last 12 months, fewer venue operators have made the decision to close their doors to live music. As I write this, we are about to experience the first month for nearly two years which will not have seen a single GMV closure announced. That's a very big moment in the campaign to stop the loss of live music. It also comes with a huge dose of reality: the problem hasn't gone away or been conquered, it has been shunted to one side by a massive dose of hope injected into the sector. Starting in…

UNITED KINGDOM Coldplay All My Love Video Creations: 350,000 Coldplay's followers on TikTok have been taking the band's No.1 album Moon Music to another planet and All My Love has been stirring up heartfelt tributes across the platform, as fans have been using the song to celebrate relationships, friendships and personal milestones. The four-piece are known for creating unforgettable moments for their audiences both on and off TikTok. That's why the platform launched the Moon Music hub to coincide with the album's release, where users have been able to interact with the band through behindthe-scenes content whilst earning an exclusive profile frame. Coldplay also surprised their fans with a performance on Grafton Street in Dublin, performing previous single We Pray alongside Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and Tini, which was…

Grammy-winning country superstar Miranda Lambert recently released the utterly brilliant Postcards From Texas – her 10th album, and first with Republic records. Here she talks legacy, fighting against being pigeon-holed, and why artists shouldn't always live out their lyrics… When I recorded my debut Kerosene 20 years ago… “I was very hard-headed and very feisty – not much has changed! I never got into this business saying, ‘I want to be famous.’ It never was something I cared about, and I still don't. That's not my favourite part of this journey at all. I wanted to have longevity and to become a great songwriter. I've done that, and I'm still doing it. I'm so proud of this new record – I feel the same energy and excitement over this new…

No history book on popular music can be complete without a chapter on Quincy Jones. The peerless American producer, songwriter, composer, arranger and executive, who died aged 91 at his home in Bel Air on November 3, was a behemoth in a land of giants. “With full but broken hearts, we must share the news of our father and brother Quincy Jones’ passing,” read a family statement. “And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him. He is truly one of a kind and we will miss him dearly. Through his music and his boundless love, Quincy Jones’ heart will beat for eternity.” In an unparalleled 70-year career, the Chicago-born musician made…

Beggars Music‘s leadership executives have spoken about their long-term support for artists and songwriters as an independent publisher. The company, which is marking its 15th anniversary, has made a series of new signings including King Krule, Bar Italia and Mica Levi. Other recent additions include songwriting and production duo Georgie & Joe, Warpaint's Emily Kokal as she embarks on a new solo career, and LA-based singer-songwriter Kacy Hill. Beggars Music also represents one of the biggest global hits of recent years, Heat Waves by Glass Animals (3.18 billion Spotify streams). “Our ethos is quite similar to what Beggars Group [recordings] is widely known for, which is working with the highest calibre of artists, where there is also potential for commercial success and which has some ambition about it,” said Molly…

“There's been an extraordinary resurgence of jazz in this country” SAM JACKSON, BBC RADIO 3 What's the vision for Radio 3 Unwind? “We see a real opportunity for the BBC to deliver an utterly distinctive stream on BBC Sounds – and we hope on digital radio if we get Ofcom approval – that meets the need that so many people tell us classical music can offer to them. They're looking for music to help them unwind. With Radio 3, we have a wonderful mix of programming, but you don't know quite what mood of music you're going to get. So we're looking to draw in listeners who would enjoy a classical music offer from the BBC that's focused on mood, and that has a much broader range of music than…

Why isn't Sat Bisla running a record label? The president and founder of MUSEXPO/A&R Worldwide is a fount of knowledge on music business matters, having built his reputation over the best part of 40 years since emigrating from Wolverhampton to the US as a teenager. Despite wearing countless hats in that time (DJ, manager, booker, journalist and broadcaster, to name just a few), the title of label boss has eluded him – but it's not due to a shortage of offers. “I haven't really talked about this publicly, but since it's almost 40 years I guess it's OK now,” says Bisla, in revelatory mood. “When I first started getting into A&R in the mid-'90s, I was asked by at least a dozen labels to work for them full time, but…

Sabrina Carpenter shook the entire music industry when she shared her smash hit Espresso with the world in April this year. The track spent seven weeks at No.1 in the UK and has racked up over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify to date. Here, hitmaker Julian Bunetta takes us into the French countryside where the track came to life, tracing its journey from a 20-minute jam session to becoming a global sensation… I think I've listened to Espresso more than anyone else in the world; I was on a billion streams before it even came out! It's not often that you get a song which is so magical and happens so fast. With so many, you have to put on your work boots and go to work, it's a job…

01 LIFE SAVOUR SABRINA CARPENTER Taste (Polydor) SALES: 195,772 In October's last chart week, Taste finished at No.1 for the ninth week in a row, a feat only five of the 70 previous No.1 songs of the 2020s have managed. Sabrina Carpenter's relentless hit achieved sales of 195,772 in October, while its vice-like grip on the top spot meant that the star occupied pole position for 21 out of the 26 weeks before the end of the month. Carpenter has five other songs in our monthly Top 75: Espresso at No.5, Please Please Please at No.6, Bed Chem at No.18, Juno in 36th place and Good Graces at No.53. Espresso remains her biggest seller so far, with a tally of 1,511,968 units shifted to date. Please Please Please is her second…

“Britain needs to appreciate that music is part of our economy, but also our cultural identity” Alex Kapranos The new album is called The Human Fear. What are you afraid of when it comes to music industry matters? “There are a lot of fears facing musicians. The primary one is historic and has repeated itself for as long as there has been a music industry. It's the fear that you're not going to be able to pay your fucking rent because the money's going to some parasite. My response could be summed up by our song Audacious. Rather than shirking away, I want to do the most audacious thing I can.” Why do you think people are still interested in 2000s indie bands? “You remain a contemporary artist while you're still…

“You can't be the best manager for your artist if you don't believe in them, either as much or more than they do” SOPHIE KENNARD, FRAME ARTISTS Frame Artists, say co-founders Becci Abbott Black and Sophie Kennard, exists primarily to make its acts the centre of attention. The spotlight isn't usually for them. Still, their run of success means that perspective is shifting. Recently, they've scored major victories with Chase & Status – who this year won a BRIT and secured their first No.1 single, Backbone, which features Stormzy and has 314,984 sales to date (OCC) – and have also backed Arielle Free, Effy and Mozey. And that's not to mention scooping a Manager Of The Year nod at the Music Week Awards in May and being among the winners…

SPECIAL REPORT Reports of the death of physical music were greatly exaggerated, as the format stays on track for its first annual growth in two decades. The revival, which has been driven by a surge in vinyl LP sales, is music to the ears of the thriving distribution sector. “Distribution is vital for the continuance of the ever-growing physical vinyl business,” Lasgo Chrysalis MD Garry Elwood tells Music Week. “CD sales have now stabilised and in fact grew slightly in 2023/24 – a pattern which we expect to see continue. And, of course, there is a resurgence of the audio cassette market as fans clamber to get anything they can relating to their favourite artists.” Operating 24/7 all-year-round, Lasgo Records’ distribution business has posted significant growth in the last 12…

01 OVER THE MOON COLDPLAY Moon Music (Parlophone) SALES: 252,529 It was no surprise that Coldplay's 10th studio album reached No.1, just like all of its predecessors. But the scale of the chart result for Moon Music was stunning – 236,796 week one sales, making it the fastest-selling album of the year by a UK act. It is only the fifth album of the 2020s to top 200,000 weekly sales. The opening total was made up of 182,166 CDs, 27,248 vinyl LPs, 20,737 downloads and 6,645 sales-equivalent streams. In fact, it amassed the biggest weekly total for Coldplay since 2008. As a result, Moon Music not only tops our monthly rankings, it also managed to outsell the next five biggest albums combined. Furthermore, the band have four entries in the singles…