Innehållsförteckning för No. 1404 från Music Week

Just when you thought it was safe to consult your 2025 calendar for the month ahead… Pow! Thwack! Wallop! The year 2024 returns from out of nowhere and hits you in the face with a shovel full of piping-hot new data. From the IFPI and MIDiA to Spotify, ERA, YouTube and more, March was a big month for assessing the big picture – every day serving up yet another report boasting stats galore and adding greater context to The Year Of Brat. So, what do they tell us about the specificities of the UK's standing on the global musical stage? First, the good news. IFPI's Global Music Report 2025 revealed that, despite increasing competition, the UK has retained its No.3 status in the worldwide recorded music market rankings. Trailing behind only the…

“The more people I speak to, the more it feels like a transition to a fairer industry is possible” Sean Adams Host: Sean Adams Contact: sean@drownedinsound.org Drowned In Sound has built a reputation for having a unique editorial voice as a platform. How have you channelled that in the podcast? “It's funny, if Drowned In Sound were a singer with a ‘unique’ voice, it'd probably be the operatic magic of Diamanda Galás with Janelle Monáe's flow and a bit of Wild Beasts’ hootin’ and howlin’ running through Laurie Anderson's vocoder. It's an honour to have created something that stood out online. Our approach, taking cues from fanzines, fan-to-fan forum discourse and Hunter S Thompson, was part of why we managed to keep going from 2000 until the advertising wheels fell off…

@mikejhemsley.bsky.social No, you don't need to call me about the email I sent you. Please just reply to the email. (Mike Hemsley, Integral via Bluesky) Saturday, March 1 @REALDJPREMIER The ICON ROY AYERS. Thank you for teachin’ us how this soul music works. Rest Peacefully King! (DJ Premier, producer/DJ via X) Thursday, March 6 @rachelchinourir Sleeping on a bus is a very new and strange feeling that I hope I continue getting used to because I want this [Sabrina Carpenter's Short N’ Sweet] tour to never end x (Rachel Chinouriri, artist via X) Tuesday, March 18 @lovelimmy Sometimes I put on Brazilian jazz while I'm working to pretend I'm not really here, just endlessly ‘circling back’. (David Lim, Outside Organisation via X) Wednesday, March 12 @HenrieVIII Hello everyone, everything is now £100!!!…

APRIL 18 Ally Venable Money & Power Ruf Beddy Rays Do What Ya Wanna Warner Beirut A Study Of Losses Pompeii Kinsella & Pulse Opening Night Rock Stars Melvins 1983 Thunderball Ipecac Neil Young Coastal: The Soundtrack Reprise Russ Ballard Songs From The Warehouse/The Hits Rewired Frontiers APRIL 25 Bruit ≤ The Age Of Ephemerality Pelagic Caliban Back From Hell Century Media Conflict This Much Remains Mortarhate/Cadiz DeathByRomy Hollywood Forever DeathbyRomy Employed To Serve Fallen Star Spinefarm Ghost Skeletá Loma Vista/ Concord Goose Everything Must Go No Coincidence Himalayas Bad Star Nettwerk James Arthur Pisces Columbia Jeff Goldblum Still Blooming Decca Lil Peep & Nedarb California Girls Death Note Music Patrick Wolf Crying The Neck Apport/Virgin Rialto Neon & Ghost Signs Fierce Panda Self Esteem A Complicated Woman Polydor Stereophonics…

Meet Dudu Ngwenya – or as many know her, Lady Du – the inimitable, platinum-selling and award-winning rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and dancer from Ekurhuleni, Gauteng. A trailblazer in Amapiano, Lady Du has spent recent years helping shape the genre. She made her name with tracks such as Umsebenzi Wethu, the multi-million-streaming hit with Busta 929 and Mpura, which also featured Reece Madlisa, Zuma and Mr JazziQ, and has also collaborated with some of South Africa's biggest names, from DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small to DJ Clock and DJ Bongz, among others. All the while, she has racked up millions of streams along the way. In 2021, she was featured in a Forbes Africa article entitled 10 Of South Africa's Leading Amapiano Artists and, in the same year, she…

In 2024, Little Mix legend Jade made a stunning start to her solo career with Angel Of My Dreams. Not only has it racked up over 50 million Spotify streams to date, it also hit No.7 in the UK and helped the star go on to win Best Pop Act at the 2025 BRITs. Here, songwriter Steph Jones reveals how Jade's radical new sound was forged out of a shared love of Britney Spears and with the goal of “slapping you in the face”… Angel Of My Dreams speaks to Jade's bravery and vision. She spearheaded the curiosity in the studio from the start, and she didn't ever want to play safe with it. That's really what makes her such a great artist. I was in an interesting place when…

Your essential primer for the month ahead Label presidents have shared their optimism about the new generation of “unique” British stars. Official Charts Company data showed an improvement in the quarterly albums chart performance for UK acts, as well as a major result for Lola Young with the biggest hit of Q1 with Messy. Following a challenging year in 2024 for domestic acts in the charts at home and abroad, the narrative has shifted with significant success in 2025 for Lola Young, Charli XCX, Sam Fender, Central Cee, Myles Smith and Chrystal. Five UK acts made the overall Top 10 albums for Q1 – Sam Fender, Ed Sheeran, Central Cee, Elton John and the Anglo-American veterans Fleetwood Mac – compared to just two in the first quarter of 2024 (both…

“The role of a record label is changing but it's more critical than ever before” VICTORIA OAKLEY, IFPI You took on the CEO role in early 2024, how was your first year in charge of IFPI? “I absolutely loved it. This sector is incredibly complicated, it is fast [moving] and borderless. The way we experience music has changed multiple times even in my lifetime, and we now live in a world that is about access rather than ownership. We're not a giant sector of the economy, but we get talked about as though we are because we matter to everybody and we exist in everybody's lives.” Where do you think that record labels fit in the changing landscape for music? “The thing that I'm most struck by is that the…

Paige Turner and Lee Newell still vividly recall the moment they met. It was at the Palladium in LA. Turner, who grew up in the suburbs of LA, was going to see her friend's band. Newell, who hails from Slough, just happened to be supporting them. Backstage at the gig, they bumped into each other. It was a chance encounter, but one that stuck. “We literally hit it off from the moment we met,” Newell tells Music Week. “I complimented Paige on her jacket…” “Which I had to return the next day because I was so broke!” laughs Turner. “And we haven't left each other's sights for more than two weeks ever since,” Newell beams at his partner and bandmate. Twelve years later, Turner may no longer have the jacket,…

SAMIA As she prepares to drop her fiercely raw third album Bloodless, the Minnesota-based artist muses on the cultures of Nashville and LA, explores the power of projection and reminisces on a pretend manager… You've talked about how your upcoming album, Bloodless, sees you seek ‘comfort in absence’. What did you mean by that statement exactly? “I had a mission with this album; I was focused on writing poetry for it, which was similar to the process I had on my first album. The [comfort in absence] comes from the feeling that, in my experience, giving less allows you to be more, because the less you reveal, the more people can project onto you. There's power in that, but it's also infuriating, so I was playing with that dichotomy and…

Management: Max Gredinger & Jackie Karlsson (Foundations Artist Management) Label: Vingolf Recordings/ AWAL Recordings CEO: Lonny Olinick MD UK: Matt Riley SVPs: Sam Potts & Victoria Needs Head Of Marketing UK: Nathan Liddle-Hulme Head Of Marketing International: Francesca Burton Publisher: Vingolf/ Warner Chappell Music Agent: Nick Matthews & Flo Noseda-Littler (Wasserman Music) Print & Online Press: Sinead Mills (Practise Music) Radio: Dave Rajan (Got Your Back) TV: Ruth Emery (Yes Please!) Creative Director: Junia Lin…

There's a distinctive element to the Music Week Awards Grassroots Venue: Spirit Of The Scene category this year. Each nominee isn't just a potential winner, they all represent something about the grassroots scene that is shared by venues across the UK. In this category, it's not the buildings that win, it's the champions who refuse to let live music die. So, here are the 10 venues keeping the dream alive, 10 battlefields where music is still winning, that mean everything to their local scenes. Camden Assembly has been a stomping ground for music legends for decades. Once known as The Barfly, acts like Coldplay and The Strokes played there before the world knew their names. It could have been swallowed up by corporate gentrification like many others, but it's still…

UNITED KINGDOM Charli XCX Party 4 U Video Creations: 926,000 Charli XCX's Brat era is still making waves and now an older track, Party 4 U, is experiencing an unexpected resurgence on TikTok. Originally recorded in 2017 and released in 2020 on her album How I'm Feeling Now, the song has suddenly become one of the UK's most popular tracks, thanks to a TikTok trend using its fast-paced second verse. This renewed popularity has come from fans using the song in aesthetic videos, meme edits and club montages. In cities like London, Manchester and Glasgow, DJs have reported an increase in requests for Party 4 U, with UK club-goers lip-syncing the lyrics and posting viral videos from nights at venues like The Roxy and Heaven. Party 4 U has also…

David Furnish (manager/entrepreneur) In the 10 years since David Furnish took over as manager for his husband Elton John, the superstar has become bigger than ever. Hot on the heels of Who Believes In Angels?, Elton's new album with Brandi Carlile, Furnish reflects on AI, Glasto, and freaking out over Joni Mitchell… Elton is still breaking rules in the business… “It can be a very ageist industry sometimes. I'm always saying to people, ‘Elton isn't a heritage artist.’ That label doesn't apply to him. This new album demonstrates that because of the people he's chosen to collaborate with and the fact that they've come up with such a spectacular record that sounds right for today. Elton didn't want to make it an expected Elton album because he says he could…

Steph Whitehead-Rees Publicist & day-to-day manager, Halestorm PR @stephwhiteheadrees How did you get your first break in the music industry? “I've always wanted to work in the industry, but wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. I went to university in London to do music production, but I didn't know if it was what I wanted to do full-time. I was applying for jobs and was introduced to [Halestorm PR founder] Lauren Hales, who was looking for a press assistant. It just clicked straight away and it felt like the right fit – thankfully, Lauren thought so, too! I started at Halestorm three weeks after finishing uni and I've never looked back.” What was it like being part of Halestorm launching its management division? “Being a part of the…

RELEASE: Devotion LABEL: Arista Records/RCA UK MANAGEMENT: Chris Nenadich, Ignition Management WHAT THE TEAM SAYS: Stacey Tang, co-president, RCA UK: “Sunday (1994) are the dreamiest transatlantic alt-pop trio. The melodies, lyrical picture-painting and stories come wrapped in such a beautiful aesthetic, it's enough to make you float away. We are lucky to be helping music fans worldwide find their new favourite band.” Glyn Aikins, co-president, RCA UK: “Their music is layered with cinematic textures and earworm melodies, coupled with honesty in their songwriting. They deliver such quality, which makes them such an exciting proposition who are carving out their own lane.”…

WET LEG Catch These Fists (Domino) It only takes a few seconds of Wet Leg's comeback single to underline the idea that we're lucky to have them around. Catch These Fists is an indie rock song with the air of an elastic band stretched to the point of snapping: three minutes and eight seconds of glorious tension, a blaze of guitars, cymbals and caustic lyrics. ‘I don't want your love/I just want a fight,’ deadpans Rhian Teasdale. Recorded in Suffolk with Dan Carey, new album Moisturizer includes credits not only for Teasdale and Hester Chambers, but live members Josh Mobaraki (guitar, synth), Ellis Durand (bass) and Henry Holmes (drums). On this evidence, it will be a total riot. Contact: Aoife Kitt aoife@dominorecordco.com ED SHEERAN Azizam (Atlantic) As he said in…

The music industry once again returned to London's O2 Arena for the 2025 BRIT Awards, where Charli XCX stole the show, taking home five trophies. Here, we capture some of the best moments from the ceremony, aftershows, and the biggest names across the business……

Even with decades of experience in the music business under his belt, John Giddings still found that running a festival came with a side order of unexpected events. “My first Isle Of Wight Festival was interesting for a number of reasons,” he begins, as we sit down together on a sunny day in central London. “The most interesting was getting a phone call from the camp site, which I think had 400 people in it, saying that someone had been run over…” Giddings, in his first role as a festival organiser, understandably panicked. He arrived at the hospital and discovered that the man had fallen asleep in the car park “absolutely slaughtered”, but had been spared serious injury as the ground was so soft. “The best bit,” says Giddings, who…