Music Week is delighted to reveal Little Simz as the cover star of our new monthly print edition.
In 2019, the star won an Ivor Novello and a Mercury Prize nod for her third album Grey Area. To top it, she’s reached further into her soul than ever before for Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, her strongest statement yet. In our huge cover story, Music Week meets the artist, plus manager Robert Swerdlow, AWAL president Paul Hitchman and his team and Universal Music Publishing Group head of film & TV Tom Foster, to find out how an independent rapper from North London came to stand on the brink of a global breakthrough.
For The Music Week Interview, we catch up with the one and only Merck Mercuriadis. Since opening the doors at Hipgnosis Songs in 2018, the exec has not stopped for a second. As the $2 billion company amasses catalogue after catalogue, ruffling feathers across the industry in the process, its founder continues to spread the message that he is offering songwriters a new alternative. In our extensive interview, Music Week meets him to find out just how far his revolution can go...
On top of that, we take a look at the Music Managers Forum and its Accelerator fund. Launching in 2019, it has aimed to foster a new generation of music managers. Now, the team behind it can reflect proudly on supporting a new and wide-ranging crop of executives who are steering their acts to success. Here, Annabella Coldrick, Paul Craig, Kwame Kwaten and Paul Bonham open up on the issues that define music management in 2021 and look ahead to the future. Plus! Music Week meets five previous MMF Accelerator graduates who’re making a big impact, starring: Nike Durosaro, Christopher Grey, Charlie Owens, plus Despa Robinson and Jessica Monroe.
Also inside, we speak to Becky Hill, who’s written/performed on nine platinum records and has 13 Top 40 singles to her name, and all before the release of her debut album. As Only Honest On The Weekend arrives, Hill, with manager Alex Martin and Polydor’s Tom March, tells Music Week how she used realness and personality to fire her journey from a hit-making vocalist to an international star in waiting...
Elsewhere, we look at the spectacular career of EGA Music Group president Colin Batsa, the rap and hip-hop expert who’s a crucial cog in the A&R machine at Universal Music UK. A pro at unearthing the best emerging talent, his track record includes breaking the likes of Devlin, D-Block Europe and Aitch. Music Week meets him to hear his story so far and ask what’s next...
Plus! Since it was founded in 1999, Defected Records has maintained its place at the epicentre of dance culture, blossoming into a tech-savvy, multi-faceted music company in the process. As they celebrate their most successful year yet, Simon Dunmore, Wez Saunders, James Kirkham and Adrienne Bookbinder talk house music, live events, and navigating the pandemic…
Finally in features, we deliver a special report on the world of music distribution in which key voices in the sector explore how they have risen to the challenge of Covid-19 to remain a vital piece of the campaign puzzle...
In Hitmakers we speak to Nathan Evans to find out how he turned Wellerman – a sea shanty from the 1800s – into a global hit, with the help of 220 Kid and Billen Ted. Aftershow, meanwhile, invites OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder to reflect on his career, from his early days trying to get into the business to working with Taylor Swift and why he thinks the industry needs to value songwriters a lot more...
In this month's Big Story, industry figures discuss the lessons for artist campaigns from the increasing longevity for hit LPs, following some new Music Week analysis of OCC data. Elsewhere in the news section, and in light of the DCMS Committee report on DSPs, Ivors Academy CEO Graham Davies calls for reforms to protect songwriters and reports on the trade body’s diversity progress.
For our Spotlight Q&A interview, ATC Management MD Sumit Bothra – who’s also an MMF board member – discusses the company’s expansion, diversity and the return of live. Also in Frontline, you’ll find AI-engineered streaming personalisation platform Super Hi-Fi, while John Kennedy talks about his Tape Notes podcast in In Pod We Trust.
In On The Radar this month, Warner’s newest prospect Priya Ragu explains her expansive musical vision, mixing R&B with influences from Sri Lanka, US hip-hop, and beyond. In Key Releases, meanwhile, and after almost a decade touring the world and racking up hits with 5 Seconds Of Summer, Luke Hemmings is stepping out with his debut solo album, while Island president Louis Bloom reveals the major’s plans for Ray Blk’s debut album Access Denied.
For this month’s Mentor Me page – a collaboration between Music Week and Girls I Rate – we welcome stylist/creative director Ashleigh Stunna to get her Top 5 career tips for making it in the music industry.
Deviate Digital boss Sammy Andrews looks at the post-DCMS world in her Digital Discourse column, while Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd focuses on the importance of access to live music for future generations. As ever, the expanded Archive section sees us flick through the pages of the Music Week of yesteryear.
There’s all of this and our expanded monthly charts section in which we present the Top 75 Singles and Albums of the previous month, accompanied by revamped analysis pages, plus a host of new listings. These include specialist genre Top 20s for Americana, Classical, Hip-Hop & R&B, Jazz, Country, Dance, Folk and Rock & Metal, which have never previously featured in Music Week. The issue is also home to streaming, compilations and vinyl charts.
The new issue of Music Week is available to subscribers from August 14 and on the news-stand from August 17.
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