It's time for something very special… Music Week is thrilled to reveal not one, not two, but three covers for our latest issue as Holly Humberstone, Darkoo and Mimi Webb all head up our New For ‘22 issue.
Holly Humberstone, of course, ended 2021 with the double whammy of being crowned BRITs Rising Star for 2022 and announcing a US tour supporting Music Week’s Artist Of 2021 Olivia Rodrigo. At the start of what promises to be an epic year, we meet the singer, plus Polydor, UMPG and Closer Artists, to talk new music, the future and her mission to make the music industry a better place. “As women, we’re trained that it’s a competition and there’s not space for all of us,” she explains. “But that’s not true at all.”
Up next, at the age of 20, Darkoo’s ideas are already helping to reshape the future of Afrobeats, as her genre-blending songs take flight around the world. As 2022 kicks into gear, the Nigerian-born artist, joined by Atlantic Records and her management team, tells Music Week about the passion, character and ambition that fuel her music. “I want to make a new type of Afrobeats,” she tells us. “Something no one has heard before.”
Last but not least – there’s three cover stories after all! – is Mimi Webb who has been busy lately staking a claim as one of UK pop music’s biggest TikTok success stories. In this revealing cover story, Webb – alongside RCA and her management team – traces her journey so far, talks viral success and explains why singing in restaurants is never a bad thing for an aspiring pop sensation. “Getting a record deal was amazing, but it was just the first step, the start of the rollercoaster,” she insists. “I knew I had to ace it.”
For the Music Week Interview, we go head to head with Concord's EVP of worldwide A&R Kim Frankiewicz. And believe us when we say that standing onstage at the Music Week Awards 2021 to claim the Independent Publisher Of The Year was just the latest in a series of triumphs that have comprised her career so far. In this 6-page interview, she guides us through her incredible, globe-trotting journey, from her early days working with INXS, to navigating the modern catalogue boom and more..
Next we move from the world of publishing to the live sector for another in-depth interview. It’s just over five years since Steve Homer left Live Nation to join AEG Presents with a mission to spearhead a new era at the live industry superpower. The start of 2022 brought the biggest surprise of his tenure so far, with the shock departure of his long-time partner Toby Leighton-Pope. Music Week meets the executive to find out what the future holds, with new venues, Brexit, the pandemic and more all on the agenda…
Also in the issue, we catch up Bauer Media Audio’s radio station KISS – and its sister channel KISS Fresh – which is on a mission to establish itself as the essential home of new music on the airwaves. Before we dive into the details with presenters Ellie Prohan, Henrie Kwushue, Tinea Taylor and Harriet Rose, Music Week joins content director Rebecca Frank as she outlines their bold masterplan...
Nor is that all when it comes to this issue’s features section as we celebrate the return of one the UK’s most successful groups, Bastille. It turns out that for their Ryan Tedder-assisted fourth LP Give Me The Future, a standard album campaign was nowhere near enough for the band or their label. Here, the group’s leader Dan Smith, joined by EMI president Rebecca Allen and their team, meets Music Week to map out the tech-focused next chapter of a million-selling band that is seeking to break new ground, and change the course of pop history...
Plus! As another year in the music business gets underway, Music Week gathers a selection of the industry’s leading names to ask for their big hopes for the next 12 months. So brace yourself for insight from the likes of Tony Harlow, Kanya King, Clara Amfo, Paul Hourican, Cassandra Gracey, Dan Chalmers, Lucy Dickins, Colin Batsa, Andrea C Martin, Carla Marie Williams, Merck Mercuriadis, Zeon Richards, Delessa James, Jackie Davidson, Paul Pacifico and many more…
In this month’s Aftershow the legendary Tori Amos reflects on her storied career, the pleasures and pressures of songwriting and what the music industry needs to remember more often. Meanwhile, in Hitmakers, Sam ‘Rømans’ Roman recounts the origin of Lewis Capaldi’s smash hit piano ballad Someone You Loved which was a UK No.1 for seven weeks in 2019 and reached the US summit after a 24-week rise…
In this month’s Big Story, we look at how UK talent is set to go global after strong chart impact in 2021. As British acts achieve the best No.1 albums result in chart history, BPI boss Geoff Taylor and major label execs look at the prospects for future superstars. And speaking of the global picture, also in news RCA’s David Dollimore and Stacey Tang share their vision for the company in 2022 hot on the heels of the Sony Music label’s No.1 market share performance in 2021.
Our spotlight Q&A interview features Natasha Gregory, co-founder at Mother Artists a year after she launched the company with her brother Mark Bent. Here she gives an update on the live agency and management firm – which represents Idles, First Aid Kit and Amy Macdonald, among others – and talks breaking acts, Covid disruption, and Brexit...
Also in Frontline, Staccs introduces its live & documentary streaming service in our Start Me Up spotlight, while we meet Alyx Holcome, Sophie K and Yasmine Summan – the team behind the fast-rising podcast series On Wednesdays We Wear Black.
In the latest Mentor Me page - a collaboration between Music Week and Girls I Rate - cultural commentator and broadcaster Zeze Millz offers her five top career lessons. Plus, as part of the Key Releases section, Incoming features Miles Kane who is back in action with his latest solo project, due this month on his new label BMG.
In her regular Digital Discourse column, Deviate Digital founder Sammy Andrews guides us through the dawn of Web3, while our Centre Stage column sees Music Venue Trust CEO Mark Davyd considers how the government can cut taxes to support grassroot venues.
And 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. The issue is also home to streaming, compilations and vinyl charts.
The new issue of Music Week is available from January 20.
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