Table of contents for No. 1380 in Music Week

Musical chairs Say what you want about 2023 so far, but one thing you could never accuse it of being is boring. Here at Music Week, we’re used to the fast-paced churn of news - a 24/7 inbox-flooding procession of appointments, acquisitions, launches, partnerships, rebrands, you name it… But even with that as our established norm, the acceleration of eyebrow-raising events so far this year has been nothing short of extraordinary. A quick recap of some highlights. In February, Stacey Tang and Glyn Aikins were promoted to co-presidents of Sony’s RCA UK. This was on top of Dipesh Parmar being promoted to president of Columbia Records just before Christmas. In another changing of the guard - and as part of a wider strategic overhaul at Warner in March – Jennifer…

“Labels are even more important now to access fans and filter out the noise” NOEMÍ PLANAS, WIN The Worldwide Independent Network (WIN) is the global support body for the sector. Here, CEO Noemí Planas shares an international perspective on indie labels, including insights on AI, public performance income and the industry’s vinyl problem… Partisan COO Zena White is WIN’s new chair - what does she bring to the trade body? “She is really good at communication, she’s helping a lot with that. From the moment that she was appointed, Zena was looking at how we improve communicating the value of WIN and the value, generally, of the independent music companies. We probably do see more people asking the question now, ‘Why do we need labels?’ Maybe we haven’t been as good…

I hosted a panel recently looking at the pros and cons of building a live career after success on TikTok. Increasingly, we’re seeing TikTok stars launched onto the stage, sometimes without having ever performed live! The panellists were a mix of managers, promoters and agents who all had an interesting take. Many approached me to say the bottlenecks with building success in this case can come from labels. One example was that a label refused an artist £30,000 for tour support but offered £40,000 for TikTok content to be made. These two things must live side by side if we are to create a healthy talent pipeline. Although tour support is vital to artists’ routes to market (especially in this economy!), I want to look at ways this can be…

Nels Hylton, presenter, BBC Radio l’s Future Alternative POOL KIDS - I HOPE YOU’RE RIGHT When I think of the best new alternative music, there’s one name that stands above the rest and it’s Pool Kids. I love their track, I Hope You’re Right, from their self-titled second album, which came out in the US last year and dropped here this month on Big Scary Monsters. There’s something about their twinkly math rock riffs that just takes you down an incredible rabbit hole. This is definitely one for those who considered themselves emo kids in the early 2000s, with the band themselves saying they believe their record should have featured on the Twilight Saga Soundtrack, and I agree wholeheartedly. It’s so exciting to see a band you love get high…

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Spotify’s new head of music for the UK & Ireland has a clear goal in mind and she wastes no time in spelling it out to Music Week. “I want to build a space for under-represented voices,” says Safiya Lambie-Knight, pointedly. She has been in her new role at Spotify - which launched a $100 million Creator Equity Fund to support marginalised groups in 2022 - for a year, and she lights up when she talks about the ways in which it is reaching out to all areas of the music industry. “We have the programmes like Glow, for LGBTQIA+ people, Equal, which is for women creators, and Frequency, our programme for Black creators,” she says, settling quickly into her first in-depth sit down with Music Week at Spotify’s London…

JAMES ARTHUR SAY YOU WON'T LET GO The world's greatest songs. By the people who made them. Before making my second album Back From The Edge, I'd been through a pretty rough couple of years and I thought, ‘I've got to come back with something really strong.’ Then you go and do the LA cycle and I had a session with Steve Solomon and Neil Ormandy. My A&R at the time, Ina Rasinger, said, ‘I think we’ve covered a lot of bases already, but can I give you a brief? I know you don’t like working that way…’ I’d made it very clear that wasn’t something that I like to do. It feels like it would be a bit contrived. It’s always just been about expression for me, sitting there…

01 BIG WEEKND THE WEEKND The Highlights (Island/Republic/XO) SALES: 44,655 After finishing in second place behind Pink in February, The Weeknd moves into pole position for March with The Highlights. The 2021 collection increased sales by 33.6% last month to 44,655, and now has total sales to date of 549,593. Although it has yet to reach SJ0.1 on the weekly chart, The Highlights has returned to its N0.2 peak. It follows the viral success of 2016 track Die For You, which is at N0.3 in the monthly singles rankings with consumption up 360.1% to 172,528 sales (total sales to date 775,027). The success of Die For You has boosted parent album Starboy, which is at No.29 for March with monthly sales up 37.7% to 6,277. 02 REY OF LIGHT Lana Del Rey…

@TwinTings Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Alex Boateng, 0207 Def Jam) Monday, March 20 @niall_mdoherty Music journalist: “Thank u for trusting me with your story” Artist: “Is that the person I spoke to on Zoom for 20 minutes the other week?” (Niall Doherty, journalist) Tuesday, March 21 @charliesimmondz the £5 album iTunes sale on release week is my favourite music industry thing, I buy so many albums that I wouldn’t normally because of it. (Charlie Simmonds, freelance) Wednesday, March 29 @mmtowns I’ve got about 3 days left in me of it being below 15 degrees before I completely lose my sanity @metoffice (Megan Townsend, Mixmag) Monday, March 27 @snoochieshy I need to go to a camping festival this year and just listen to random music…

RELEASES: Ceilings LABEL/MANAGEMENT: Harbour Artists & Music WHAT THE TEAM SAY: (Sam Bailey, founder & MD, Harbour Artists & Music): “Lizzy is only just getting going. In a little over two years we’ve released two albums, an EP and a short film which Lizzy wrote and starred in. She starts her third fully sold-out tour this month and is already working on albums three and four. “Ceilings is bringing a lot of people into Lizzy’s world right now. It’s great that this is happening at a point where we’re able to point people to her incredible catalogue and show that she’s an artist who makes great albums and can already sell 6,000 tickets in major markets.”…

“Finding ways to help artists feel comfortable is something we’re good at” CLAIRE HIGGINS CLAIRE HIGGINS Director, CYOA Claire Higgins reflects on the evolution of digital marketing and warns against burnout… What separates CYOA from other agencies? “The company will be 13 this April and before [we started] I was at MySpace. Alongside having an incredible team and having done this for a long time, it’s been really important to us to always take a boutique approach. Whether that’s something as simple as matching a client with the right account manager who can truly understand and represent them authentically online, or coming up with unique and sometimes niche initiatives that are tailored to the artist and their audience. I believe this is why we have had the opportunity to work…

Middlesbrough is a town in the North East which has a reputation of typifying the phrase ‘left behind communities'. It ranks in the premier league as an area of relative deprivation, featuring highly on the government agenda to level up the economy. Despite this, Middlesbrough has been home to a vibrant music scene for decades, producing artists like Whitesnake, Chris Rea and James Arthur who are an absolute staple of the national touring circuit. However, in the last few months Middlesbrough has become talked about in our office for a very different reason: its grassroots music venues are closing. Not just one, or even two, but three venues. In only three months. What does it mean when this happens? Music has always played a significant role in the town’s identity,…

UNITED KINGDOM Ed Sheeran Eyes Closed Video Creations: 1,100,000 Previewed exclusively on TikTok for six days in the build-up to its official launch, Eyes Closed is one of Ed Sheeran’s singles from –, his eagerly awaited new album. Creators quickly started using the track as a chance to remember their loved ones and share their special moments with each other. Ed Sheeran also used the track’s preview to engage with fans and duet with their videos. The track quickly made its mark and has generated over 1,000,000 creations on TikTok to date. It is no surprise that following its official release the single debuted at No.1. Lucy Benbow, label partnerships manager at TikTok, speaks highly of Sheeran’s use of the platform to engage with his fans. “Ed Sheeran knows exactly…

@jackcedwards93 You got into music as a member of the band Young Kato. What did you make of the industry at the beginning and when did it occur that you might work in it? “There was a wonderful sense of naivety at the start, and the simplicity of a group of best friends making music together with no agenda or preconceived opinions was really great, but that did change over time. I found that the more we achieved, the more we expected, which led to us probably not appreciating it as much as we should have. There were lots of highs and lows and that makes you resilient, but every setback made me more fascinated with the industry. Being an artist, you need to wear multiple hats including marketing strategies,…

FLO (FEAT. MISSY ELLIOT) Fly Girl (Island) FLO follow their remix of Stormzy’s Hide & Seek with Fly Girl, which features none other than Missy Elliott. With pristine production, acrobatic vocals and an empowering message, the trio’s inspired reimagining of R&B’s glory days continues. Contact: Elspeth Merry elspeth@artistsway.co.uk EMPIRE STATE BASTARD Harvest (Roadrunner) With Empire State Bastard, Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil and close collaborator Mike Vennart are making the loudest, fastest noise they can. Aided by Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo on this monstrous debut, its release has blown a hole in 2023. Better yet, there’s an album due! Contact: Phoebe Sinclair phoebe.sinclair@appetitepublicity.com YAYA BEY Exodus The North Star (Big Dada) Last year, Yaya Bey released the excellent Remember Your North Star album, and her new six-track EP will only increase…

HANNAH V (SONGWRITER, PRODUCER & MUSICIAN) After studying at the Royal Academy Of Music, Hannah V began her career performing with artists such as Rihanna and Jessie J. As a songwriter and producer, she’s worked with the likes of Stormzy, Lalah Hathaway, and in 2018 worked on JP Cooper’s Gold-certified album Raised Under Grey Skies. In 2021, she was a co-writer on Yola’s Grammy-nominated Stand For Myself, and in 2022 had her version of Rihanna’s Diamonds featured in the Netflix series Bridgerton. Hannah V has worked in studios in Germany, America and the UK, is a two-time nominee for a Music Producers Guild award and is an Ivors cademy Songwriting Committee member. Here, she shares her top industry tips… 1. Look after your studio “Our studios are safe spaces for…

01 PETAL TO THE METAL MILEY CYRUS Flowers (RCA) SALES: 266,103 Miley Cyrus’ 10-week run at singles No.1 may have ended in March’s final chart week, but the track still tops our monthly list with ease. With 266,103 sales added, its to-date tally is now 804,210, making it Cyrus’ seventh biggest UK single. It would be foolish to bet against it becoming her sixth million-seller. Flowers was boosted during March by the release of a demo version and its run was ended only by the return of Ed Sheeran with Eyes Closed, which pipped Flowers to No.1 in the weekly chart with 60,265 sales to 46,888. 09 PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC LIBIANCA People (5K) SALES: 129,906 After finishing at No.23 in February’s rankings, Libianca’s viral hit People moves into the Top 10 for March.…

Moby, (artist/producer/campaigner) Ahead of releasing Resound NYC – a new album reimagining some of his old classics – dance legend Moby reflects on his incredible career so far, from selling millions of copies of Play, to periods of self-destruction, plus encounters with David Bowie and Eminem… I've no idea how many albums I've made… “And I’m not being coy. Technically, my first album was a compilation when I was signed to this tiny label called Instinct Records. They only had one artist, which was me, but to make it seem like they had a bunch of artists, I worked under different names. If you say I’ve made 20 albums, I’ll happily agree, but it could be more…” The appeal of reworking my old songs… “Reminds me of the old philosophical…