The November issue of Music Week is all about Louis Tomlinson’s new direction.
Ahead of the release of his second solo album Faith In The Future, the superstar singer/songwriter stars on the cover of our brand new issue, on sale October 18. Charlotte Gunn joins Louis in London to tell an epic story of how the Doncaster-born artist went from the fields of Leeds Festival, to The X Factor, phenomenal global success with One Direction and beyond.
After a career with Sony, Tomlinson is going indie, in every sense of the word. As well as revealing all about Faith In The Future, his first record for BMG, Tomlinson reflects candidly on his journey through the music business, talking label bosses, boy band life, mental health, the fans and how he wants to make a positive impact on the industry. The star is joined by BMG’s Alistair Norbury, Jamie Nelson and Lisa Wilkinson, plus manager Matt Vines.
Starring alongside Tomlinson in a jam-packed issue is Kobalt’s CEO Laurent Hubert, the subject of The Music Week Interview. Hubert opens up about the company’s transformative impact on the music business, looks ahead to how new investment from Francisco Partners will help Kobalt scale new heights and gives us the lowdown on his industry “frenemies”.
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The November edition of Music Week celebrates the 25th edition of the MOBO Awards, with founder and CEO Kanya King writing exclusively about the history of the event and its impact on UK music culture. Our giant feature also presents a list of 25 careers, handpicked by King and the MOBO team, that have defined MOBO history.
Elsewhere, we team up with YouTube Music and the Music Managers Foundation (MMF) to mark the fifth anniversary of the Accelerator programme. YouTube’s Lizzie Dickson discusses the project’s mission to bring through a new generation of industry talent, while we meet four Accelerator alumni in Anique Cox, Charlene Hegarty, Sarah M and Callum Reece.
We meet Ezra Collective ahead of the release of Where I’m Meant To Be, their first for Partisan Records. Band members Femi and TJ Koleoso talk about the evolution of modern UK jazz and outline their ambitions to increase representation in the industry, pledging to support anyone “brutally underrepresented” in any way they can. Alongside the band are Partisan’s Jeff Bell and manager Amy Frenchum, who lift the lid on what is shaping up to be a landmark campaign.
Finally in this month’s features section, we catch up with Live Nation’s Kelly Chappel in the wake of her big move to LA. Chappel, a winner at our Women In Music Awards last year, discusses her mission to rid the business of inequality, reflects on the strides made so far in her career and calls on her colleagues across the industry to do more.
Also inside this month, songwriter Pete Bellotte looks back on the story of Donna Summer’s iconic disco hit I Feel Love, revealing how groundbreaking technology supercharged what would become one of the genre’s most enduring classics.
The latest edition of Mentor Me – a collaboration between Music Week and Girls I Rate, sees UTA’s director of brand strategy, Irene Agbontaen, give her top five tips on how to make it in music.
Taking on The Aftershow this month is Insanity Group founder Andy Varley, who, as the business turns 25, charts the evolution of a company that began in his teenage bedroom and went on to become a sprawling management and records juggernaut. His story takes in a sliding doors moment with a pre-fame Adele and much more.
In this month's Big Story, we reveal the full extent of the dance music streaming boom based on exclusive Official Charts Company data, alongside key insights from Warner Records A&R manager (and KISS DJ) Anton Powers, Defected CEO Wez Saunders, Atlantic promotions supremo Damian Christian and Becky Hill's manager Alex Martin. Also in Frontline, we hear from longtime Arctic Monkeys manager Ian McAndrew, CEO of Wildlife Entertainment, about the band's highly-anticipated return this month along with music retail reaction.
In our Spotlight Q&A, Dice founder & CEO Phil Hutcheon tells the inside story of the ticketing and music discovery platform's incredible growth trajectory. As well as helping to make paperless ticketing the new normal, Dice's algorithm's are helping to power the live music ecosystem. And there's more innovation to come…
With dance music’s chart domination still in full force, it’s the perfect time to get the story of how it works from the inside, as chart-topping sensation Eliza Rose stars in On The Radar to talk underground success and her plans to blaze a trail through the business.
In this month’s Making Waves we meet indie stars Jockstrap, while Sync Story features David Bowie soundtracking a new spot for Paco Rabanne.
In Rising Star, we meet Oli Welch, A&R at D4 D4NCE and DFTD, for a discussion about all things dance music. Our start-up of the month is on-demand vinyl platform ElasticStage, and this issue’s featured podcast is Not A Groupie.
Supergrass legend Gaz Coombes reveals all about his fourth solo album Turn The Car Around in our latest Incoming interview.
In his new Centre Stage column Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd calls for support from the government as costs spiral out of control for grassroots music venues.
Meanwhile, in her Digital Discourse column, Sammy Andrews spells out why the industry needs to reassess its relationship with catalogue.
And as ever, the expanded Archive section sees us flick through the pages of 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. The issue is also home to streaming, compilations and vinyl charts.
The new issue of Music Week is available from October 18.
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