LATEST ARTICLES

Michael Dorf to Stage Tom Waits Tribute Concert at Carnegie Hall in March 2027

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Michael Dorf Presents will hold the 22nd annual installment of its Music Of benefit concert series at Carnegie Hall on March 10, 2027, this year honoring the songbook of Tom Waits. Longtime Waits collaborator Greg Cohen, who played bass on albums including “Swordfishtrombones” and “Rain Dogs,” will serve as musical director, leading a house band that includes Smokey Hormel, Rob Burger, Jay Bellerose and Cyro Baptista. The performing lineup will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Music Of series, which launched in 2004, has previously staged Carnegie Hall tributes to artists such as Billy Joel, Prince, Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin. According to the announcement, the series has directed more than $2.5 million to music education nonprofits to date, and net proceeds from the Waits tribute will again benefit such programs.

Dorf is also introducing the Glen Hansard Award, a new annual $25,000 scholarship for a young artist nominated by the series’ beneficiary organizations, named for musician Glen Hansard, who has performed at eight of the tribute concerts.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by The Press House.

IMOGEN celebrates five years of Wigs with new EP, EU dates and live show debut

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Producer IMOGEN is marking the fifth anniversary of her label Wigs with a new collaborative EP, a run of European anniversary dates and the debut of a new live show. The four-track EP, “Back To The Halcyon,” is a collaboration with Regal86, with each producer contributing two tracks and reworking the other’s material. Lead single “One Night In 1992” is out now, with the full EP arriving October 16.

The anniversary celebrations kick off the same day at Tresor Berlin, with further European dates to be announced in October, according to the announcement. Wigs began as production workshops and parties during the 2021 lockdown before formalizing as a label in 2023, with past releases and events involving artists including DJ Stingray 313, Helena Hauff, Roza Terenzi and Sunil Sharpe.

IMOGEN will also debut her first live show, combining improvised hardware performance with dubplate vinyl, at Gaffe on December 12, with the format set to continue developing into 2027. She has released music on Tresor, Fabric, Mute and Voitax and holds residencies with Tresor and NTS.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Aoife Lavery | Neighbourhood PR, neighbourhoodpr.com.

Munich Duo Schrotthagen Set Third Album ‘Neue Welt’ for November Release

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Munich duo Schrotthagen will release their third studio album, Neue Welt, on November 27 via Universal Music. The project, made up of composers Giovanni Berg and Dieter Schleip, describes its sound as “cinematic techno,” blending electronic production with film-scoring techniques the pair developed separately before forming the group in 2023.

The new record explores themes of artificial intelligence, social media and dreaming, centered on a concept the duo calls the Dream Machine, in which characters escape into artificial dream worlds while their physical selves deteriorate. It follows 2024’s Sturm und Drang and 2025’s Nostalgie and Traurigkeit, continuing what the band frames as a multi-album conceptual arc moving from freedom and memory toward questions about technology and authenticity.

Schrotthagen will tour Europe this autumn and winter in support of the album, with dates in Zurich, Toulouse, Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg and a hometown show at Tonhalle München on December 12. According to the announcement, the band has drawn a growing international following, citing more than 924,000 monthly Spotify listeners, and says it is developing a live show with reactive stage and lighting elements inspired by the album’s Dream Machine concept.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Aoife Lavery | Neighbourhood PR, neighbourhoodpr.com.

Hamilton’s AOIFE Releases New Single “Johnny”

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Hamilton, Ontario singer-songwriter AOIFE has released a new single, “Johnny,” a track structured as an unsent letter to a former lover. The song was inspired by the film “The Last Letter from Your Lover,” according to the announcement, and blends indie folk with country and rock elements, driven by acoustic guitar, sliding bass lines and electric guitar work from her backing band.

The track was recorded at Hamilton’s Grant Avenue Studio, produced by Andrew Lauzon, co-mixed with Tyler Bruce and mastered by Noah Mintz. AOIFE gained access to the studio after winning The Road to Supercrawl in 2025, a prize that also secured her a spot on the festival’s main stage.

“Johnny” follows AOIFE’s previous single “High” and her debut EP “When All Is Said and Done.” Earlier this year she performed for CBC Music’s Road to the Junos broadcast during Hamilton’s turn hosting the award ceremony, with that set available on CBC Gem and YouTube.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Eric Alper, thatericalper.com.

Kira McSpice to Release ‘The House’ on Danger Collective Oct. 23

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Gothic folk artist Kira McSpice will release her new album The House on October 23 via Danger Collective, the third installment in her planned four-part series inspired by her Saturn return, according to the announcement. The 12-track LP was co-produced with Sean Brennan and Tyler Skoglund and recorded at The Granite Church in Redding, Connecticut, a former place of worship now operating as a nonprofit community space.

According to the announcement, the album explores McSpice’s childhood in Harlem, Georgia, drawing on a guided trance session and a subsequent visit to her former family home. She enlisted a choir of friends to sing on the record and incorporated field recordings of ambient sounds, including one segment originally recorded as background noise that was repurposed for the track “Wreckage,” a song about the death of a friend from epilepsy.

McSpice, a classically trained cellist who now performs on guitar and voice, describes the record as an effort to process family trauma and childhood grief through a lens of spirituality and Catholic upbringing. The single “Return” is out September 30 ahead of the full album release.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Vic Borlando.

Sound Rink, Laylo Partner on Artist Presale and VIP Tools

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Sound Rink, a VIP and presale ticketing platform, has partnered with fan messaging platform Laylo to help artists boost revenue ahead of tours. Under the partnership, Sound Rink will help artists set up and use Laylo’s tools, combining mailing lists, social feeds and e-commerce data into unified channels for reaching fans, according to the companies.

The companies say an early pilot showed artists increasing presale and VIP revenue by as much as 2x, 3.5x and 16x compared with previous tours, with one unnamed established act generating close to $200,000 before a tour began. The companies also say the arrangement gives artists access to first-party fan data they can retain for future marketing and touring.

Sound Rink says it has helped sell more than 500,000 tickets across over 250 tours and paid artists $24 million since 2023. Laylo, backed by Y Combinator, Eldridge and the founders of C3 Presents, says its platform has powered more than 250 million fan actions and over $1 billion in sales since 2021, with clients including Outside Lands, All Things Go, CRSSD Festival and Ariana Grande.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Christian Harp, rockpaperscissors.biz.

UMG Names Libby Bush President of New Global Brands and Commercial Partnerships Unit

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Universal Music Group has appointed Libby Bush to the newly created role of President, Global Brands and Commercial Partnerships, effective November. Bush will lead a new function combining UMG’s brand, media and commercial partnership businesses, including Universal Music Group for Brands, and will report to UMG Chief Operating Officer Boyd Muir.

Bush joins from Creative Artists Agency, where she was Global Head of Entertainment Partnerships and a member of the Agency Board, having founded the division. She previously founded Tandem Entertainment, an entertainment partnerships agency CAA acquired in 2020, and held brand partnership roles at Marvel Entertainment, ABC Entertainment, the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and the NBA. She currently sits on the board of Turtle Beach Corporation.

According to UMG, the hire is intended to bring together the company’s labels and businesses to develop commercial collaborations spanning digital platforms, physical products and live experiences. The company says the appointment follows other recent moves to build out its central operations under Muir, including the naming of Tseyin Foo as President, Global Supply Chain, and Hannah Poferl as Chief Data Officer.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by UMG Communications, cisionone.cision.com.

Omer Adam Sets Two U.S. Arena Dates for Fall Tour

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Israeli pop star Omer Adam will perform two U.S. arena shows this fall, promoted by Live Nation. He plays Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California on Oct. 29 and Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Nov. 1.

Presale tickets begin Sept. 30 at 10 a.m. local time, with general onsale following Oct. 1 at LiveNation.com. VIP packages, including premium tickets and early venue entry, will also be offered through vipnation.com.

The shows follow Adam’s previous sold-out performance at Madison Square Garden, according to the announcement. His catalog includes the songs “Tel Aviv,” “Modeh Ani” and “Shnei Meshugaim,” and his single “Malkat HaDor” reached No. 1 and ranked among Israel’s most-streamed songs of 2025, per the release. The new show will feature a live band, dancers and video production elements.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Intuit Dome PR, intuitdome.com.

EVEN Launches Studio, a White-Label Direct-to-Fan Platform for Artists

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EVEN has introduced EVEN Studio, a direct-to-fan product that lets artists build a branded destination on their own domain for music releases, ticketing, merchandise, livestreams and fan community, consolidating functions typically spread across multiple platforms.

The product’s pre-order model gives buyers immediate access to up to four tracks ahead of an album’s release, with music rolled out incrementally through the campaign. According to the announcement, qualifying redeemed album sales can be reported to the charts under applicable rules, allowing artists to build momentum and direct revenue ahead of a wide streaming release.

EVEN co-founder and CEO Mag Rodriguez said Studio is meant to complement rather than replace streaming, positioning it as infrastructure the company builds and operates on artists’ behalf rather than another platform for them to manage. The company says the same artist destination can extend beyond an album into physical merchandise, tour announcements, presales and hospitality offerings.

EVEN, which launched in April 2024, says it supports more than 30 global payment methods across 140 currencies and reports eligible sales to Luminate for Billboard chart inclusion. EVEN Studio is currently available by invitation to artists and their partners.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Carrie Davis, cdconsultingco.com.

Nashville Duo Burn the Treaty Debuts New Single “There Was a Time”

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Nashville duo Burn the Treaty has released “There Was a Time,” a new single the act describes as part of its self-coined “Spooky Roots” style blending Americana, country, folk and rock. The song was written by the duo’s two members, singer/songwriter Morgan Bracy and Scott Carter, and was produced, engineered and mixed by Scott Gerow at Battery Lane Music.

According to the announcement, the track explores themes of cultural disposability and the tension between honoring the past and moving forward, centered on the lyric “I’m a victory flag that knows how to lose.” The recording features Nashville session musicians Brian Allen on bass, Billy Justineau on keyboards and Marcus Finnie on drums, with Gerow also playing guitar and banjo.

Bracy and Carter, who both took extended breaks from music before reconnecting at a gathering in North Carolina’s Nantahala National Forest, later married and formed Burn the Treaty in Nashville. The duo previously released the EP “Sticks and Stones,” produced by Mitch Dane, and has performed at venues including The Bluebird Cafe and 3rd & Lindsley. The single is out via EWOFU Records with distribution through DistroKid, and the pair plan additional singles through 2027 along with a return to the studio with Gerow next spring.

Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Christy Walker-Watkins, 3on.e2ma.net.