South Korean police say HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk will be referred to prosecutors this week without being detained, after two earlier attempts to arrest him failed. The referral is expected to close a police investigation into the K-pop company’s 2020 stock market listing.
The probe has been running since December 2024. Referring the case without detention means Bang will not be held in custody as prosecutors take over the matter.
Read the full story at Music Business Worldwide.
Warner Music has appointed Mateusz Smółka as Managing Director of Eastern Europe, a newly created position. He starts the role on Monday, September 7.
Smółka joins from Spotify, where he spent eight years. His hire signals Warner’s continued push to build out regional leadership across Eastern European markets.
Read the full story at Music Business Worldwide.
SM Entertainment and Tencent Music Entertainment have launched a joint venture in Beijing called STE, tasked with developing and managing artists for the Greater China market. Zhoumi, a member of Super Junior-M, has been named chief executive of the new company.
STE said it is already working on a new Chinese idol group, with a debut targeted within the next two to three years. The venture marks a deeper push by SM into the Chinese market through a partnership with one of the country’s dominant music streaming and entertainment companies.
Read the full story at Music Business Worldwide.
The Trump administration has weighed in on the side of OpenAI in a closely watched copyright case, marking what appears to be the first time the federal government has taken a position in any of the fair use lawsuits filed against AI companies. The move signals Washington’s early leanings on how AI training practices should be treated under copyright law.
The development carries implications for the music industry’s own legal battles with AI firms, including the major labels’ suits against Anthropic and Suno, which similarly hinge on whether using copyrighted material to train AI models qualifies as fair use. A government stance favorable to AI companies in one case could shape arguments and outcomes in others working through the courts.
Music rights holders and their legal teams are likely to watch closely for signs of how consistently the administration applies this position across the broader wave of AI copyright litigation.
Read the full story at Music Business Worldwide.
Gorillaz have opened House of Kong, an immersive exhibition and pop-up shop, at the Agger Fish Building in Brooklyn Navy Yard, running September 1-28. The launch precedes the band’s September 29 headline date at Madison Square Garden, which the band describes as sold out.
The exhibition traces the band’s history from their 2001 debut single “Tomorrow Comes Today” through this year’s album The Mountain, according to the announcement. The space also displays the 1969 Chevy Camaro featured in the “Stylo” video and houses a gift shop selling exclusive merchandise, including a capsule collection tied to The Mountain, apparel, and collectibles spanning the band’s catalog. Entry to the shop is free; exhibition tickets require advance reservation.
The Brooklyn engagement kicks off a North American tour that runs through October, with stops including Orlando, Chicago, Toronto and Los Angeles before wrapping in Seattle on October 31. Stephen Gallagher’s studio SWEAR, which has served as creative director for Gorillaz live shows since 2018, produced the exhibition.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Jillian Condran, nastylittleman.com.
Finnish hardcore band Äpärät has released a new EP, Kun maailma palaa (As the World Burns), marking its first new recordings in six years. The five-track release includes three new songs and two re-recorded early tracks originally issued on Propaganda Records’ Hardcore ’83 compilation.
Founded in 1981, Äpärät will mark 45 years as a band next year. The group says the new EP ranks among the strongest in its catalog, with vocalist Ipe, now in his sixties, revisiting lyrics he wrote at 15. The EP is dedicated to the band’s late original guitarist, Saikki, who also played bass in Fishfaces.
The band has toured extensively outside Finland over the past decade, including dates in Central Europe, Mexico and the British Isles, and plans to return to the UK early next year. Kun maailma palaa is also being released on 10-inch vinyl, available at shows and later through record stores.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Juha Juoni, presshopper.fi.
Fort Worth-based country-soul singer-songwriter Dolan has released “Superhero,” a single inspired by friends whose young son underwent cancer treatment. According to the announcement, all net proceeds from Bandcamp purchases of the track from Sept. 1-30 will go to Cook Children’s Health Foundation’s Erase Kid Cancer initiative, timed to Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
The song, written by Andrew James Dolan and Robert Dale Alley, is framed as a parent’s bedtime reassurance to a child facing treatment, with imagery of doctors and loved ones as teammates. It was produced by Chris Sligh, who also played percussion, strings, bass and keyboards, with Dolan on acoustic guitar, mixing by Kevin Stokley and mastering by Sam Moses.
Dolan, who grew up singing gospel in West Tennessee and is now based in Fort Worth, has built his catalog around themes of fatherhood, adoption and mental health. The release is being promoted as part of a broader call for listeners to donate and share the track during the campaign.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Christy Walker-Watkins, 3on.e2ma.net.
Maugerville, New Brunswick roots rock band Engage has won Bronze for Band Single of the Year at the International Singer Songwriters Association Awards for its single “Unbattered,” the lead track from the group’s upcoming album ‘The Master Plan,’ according to the announcement. The band also picked up six nominations at the ISSA Awards and five at the 12th Annual Josie Music Awards, whose ceremony is scheduled for September 20 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville.
Frontwoman Carla Bonnell received four individual ISSA nominations, including Female Vocalist of the Year and Sound Engineer of the Year, the latter tied to her work engineering “Unbattered” under the mentorship of Jim Zolis of Zolis Audio, who handled the mix and master. Bonnell was also recently inducted into the New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame, with a gala planned for October 17 in Fredericton. Bandmate Rick Bartlett separately won Best Male Artist/Vocalist at the Itisnow Radio 2026 Music Awards this spring.
Formed in 2020, Engage previously earned a Bronze Award for its debut album ‘The Time Has Come’ at the ISSA Awards and nominations for its follow-up EP ‘Master Plan: Side “EH.”‘ The band, which also includes Vernon Daigle on bass and Greg Mansfield on drums, says it has already recorded three tracks for a planned third studio album.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Eric Alper, thatericalper.com.
Inuk singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark released her new single “For You,” also known in Inuktitut as “Igvit,” on September 8. The track is the lead single from her forthcoming EP “Disco Ball” and marks the first time she has adapted a personal poem into a song. Aglukark wrote the original poem in 2022 and developed it into the recording with longtime producer Chad Irschick, the Inuksuk Drum Dancers from Nunavut, Julianne Peters (Sweleyén) of the Tsq’éscen’ First Nation, and choral input from Inuk composer Deantha Edmunds.
According to the announcement, a portion of proceeds from the single will benefit The Orange Shirt Society and Aglukark’s own Arctic Rose Foundation, which supports Indigenous youth arts programming in the North. The Ontario Arts Council and collaborator Mary Piercey-Lewis supported sessions recorded in both Toronto and Iqaluit.
Aglukark, an Officer of the Order of Canada and three-time Juno winner, became the first Inuk artist to reach the Canadian Top 40 with 1995’s “O Siem.” She has a busy touring calendar ahead, including the Together for Nature tour with Terra Lightfoot in Ontario this September, a 30th-anniversary run tied to her album “This Child,” and her holiday production “Upinnaq: A Beautiful Christmas,” which plays multiple Ontario venues from November through early December.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Eric Alper, thatericalper.com.
TCU Press will release “Brother Al Stricklin Now: Memories of a Texas Playboy” on October 13, written by David Stricklin, son of Alton “Brother Al” Stricklin, the original piano player for Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. The book draws on family interviews and unpublished tape recordings to chronicle Stricklin’s career with the Western swing pioneers and his later-life rediscovery by a younger generation of fans.
According to the publisher, the memoir covers Stricklin’s early years, the formation of the Texas Playboys’ sound at Tulsa radio station KVOO in 1935, and anecdotes involving figures such as W. Lee “Pappy” O’Daniel and the Light Crust Doughboys. It also recounts a 1974 appearance at Austin’s Ritz Theater, where Asleep at the Wheel invited Stricklin onstage decades after his run with Wills, an event the author says reintroduced his father to live audiences.
David Stricklin, a historian with a Ph.D. from Tulane University, previously directed the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and serves on the board of the Bob Wills Heritage Foundation. The 220-page hardcover is part of TCU Press’s Texas Music Series and will be distributed by Longleaf Services.
Based on a press release provided to Music Industry Weekly by Shannon Houchin, cisionone.cision.com.