DEALS
Hipgnosis has acquired the catalogue of ‘Despacito’ co-writer Erika Ender. “I am very excited about this partnership with Hipgnosis”, she says. “I’ve always believed that music is eternal. I’m confident my songs are in good hands with Merck [Mercuriadis] and his team, and they will do their best to keep my catalogue active, present and alive, as they honour and recognise that the songs are the seeds to the entire music industry, the message that touches and marks people’s lives and where it all begins”.
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APPOINTMENTS
[PIAS] has appointed Tom Keil as Global Head Of Dance & Electronic and EVP A&R. He joins from Ultra Music. The label has also announced the launch of new electronic music division [PIAS] Électronique. “I am very happy and proud to be joining [PIAS] and am very grateful to [co-CEO] Kenny Gates and the whole team for this great opportunity”, he says. “Besides signing new and exciting artists it is going to be an amazing experience to be working with the great catalogue that [PIAS] has built over four decades. It makes me feel like a kid in the candy store!”
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RELEASES
Metallica have released ‘72 Seasons’, the title track of their new album, which is out on 14 Apr.
McFly have released new single ‘Where Did All The Guitars Go?’, the first from new album ‘Power To Play’, which is out on 9 Jun. “On every album, there’s a song which becomes a foundation, a lightbulb moment, and this was it”, say the band. “Guitars, honesty, energy, all these personality traits are what give us the band’s identity. We want to reach that kid with long hair, get them excited about music and make them want to pick up a guitar and jump on their bed. That’s what this record is about”.
Professor Green is back with new track ‘Pop Shxt’, taken from an EP of the same name which will be out later this year. He’s also announced a new record deal with Cooking Vinyl, saying: “To join a label so renowned, offering me the freedom to release music at the momentum I’ve been itching to tickles me in all the right places. No more major label bureaucracy and red tape, just enthusiasm and aligning values”. Tour dates are also coming up next month.
French The Kid has released new single ‘Quiet Kid’. “After hearing the beat I felt like it needed some emotion to the verse, as the chorus is so strong”, he says. New mixtape ‘No Signal’ is out on 14 Apr and he will be touring in May.
Felicita has released new single ‘Spalarkle (Alys)’, featuring Caroline Polachek. The track is taken from new album ‘Spalarkle’, which is out on 5 May.
Be Your Own Pet have released their first new song for more than fifteen years, titled ‘Hand Grenade’. Says vocalist Jemima Pearl: “‘Hand Grenade’ started out as a threat to the people who harmed me, that I will make them suffer as I have suffered. But the song grew like a mirror to my own grief process, through anger, denial, sorrow. In the end I gain my power back not through violence, but through self acceptance and rejection of the labels others might put on me. I define myself, no one else”. The band will play London’s Moth Club on 6 Jun.
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GIGS & TOURS
Brix Smith will tour the UK in May, finishing with a show at The Lower Third in London on 28 May. Tickets are on sale now.
Check out our weekly Spotify playlist of new music featured in the CMU Daily – updated every Friday.