New Music and Tours

Janelle Monáe dropped a new song called ‘I Like That’, another single promoting her upcoming album, Dirty Computer, which is due on the 27th of April. This year only, Monáe has also released three other singles, ‘Django Jane’, ‘Make Me Feel’, and ‘PYNK’, which are all available to stream. Her previous record The Electric Lady was released in 2013.

Florence + The Machine return with a new single ‘Sky Full Of Song’, an emotional ballad, which will also be released on a 7” vinyl format for 2018 Record Store Day on 21st of April.

Although no official announcement of a new album has been made so far by the band, the newest single, as well as a handful of live performances scheduled for the summer, may indicate that a new record from Florence + The Machine will appear sometime this year. The band’s last album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, was released in 2015.

Laura Marling and Mike Lindsay have teamed up to perform together in a new project, LUMP. The duo’s self-titled album will be released on the 1st of June via Dead Oceans and will be supported by a UK tour. LUMP will perform in London, Hebden Bridge, Manchester, Cardiff and Bristol in the first half of June.

LUMP’s first single ‘Curse Of The Contemporary’ has already been released and features an animated video directed by Esteban Diacono. The video director added “I wanted to create a video that was joyful and interesting while at the same time retaining an innocent and tender overall vibe. […] Visually, I took inspiration from the idea of California as a Dream Factory, from the idea of big movie sets that could transform themselves, give shape and colour to dreams and spark the imagination.”

Marling’s latest album, Semper Femina, appeared in 2017, while Lindsay’s bands, Tunng and Throws, dropped their debut, eponymous records in 2016.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are embarking on a tour in North and South America, which will kick off in October 2018. The tour will include dates in Mexico City, Santiago, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles, Washington, Brooklyn, and Toronto. They’ll will be joined by Cigarettes After Sex on the selected US dates.

A short preview of the tour is available to watch below.

Music Business

Quite a lot of news have been coming up recently about Spotify and its latest developments, having gained a lot of attention due to its decision to go public earlier this month, which led the Spotify to become the largest and most valuable music company in the world. Daniel Ek’s company is now worth a staggering $25 billion, regardless of the fact that it’s still not making any profit, despite having 71 million paying subscribers.

Some of the most recent business decisions made by Spotify are also noteworthy. The world’s most powerful music platform decided to team up with Hulu in the United States, announcing that ‘Spotify Premium with Hulu’ will be available as a bundle for $12.99 per month, $3 more than Spotify’s Premium membership.

Tim Connolly, SVP, Head of Distribution and Partnerships at Hulu added: “Hulu and Spotify are brands that are defining how fans connect with entertainment in the future, and we are excited to expand our partnership to bring this combined package to all existing and new Spotify Premium subscribers.”

At the end of March, Spotify claimed that it is aiming to reach between 92 – 96 million paying subscribers by the end of 2018, a growth of about 23 million subscribers. Spotify also forecasted to make €4.9 – €5.3 billion in revenue by the end of the year.