Author: Press Room

A new report has shown the extent of racial bias in licensing against Black music events in London, while urging the government to assist in bringing change. Published yesterday (Wednesday October 14), the REMEL Report (Race Equality In Music Event Licensing) is the most comprehensive investigation to date into how licensing and policing shape the fortunes of Black and South Asian musicians, promoters and venues in the capital. It draws on surveys, interviews, focus groups, industry workshops, freedom of information requests and analysis of licensing data. Per the findings, Black events face disproportionate cancellations, restrictions or shutdowns compared with white-led…

It’s been over a year since Audrey Hobert released her debut album Who’s the Clown, but the world still can’t get enough of her whimsically addicting pop songs. It took them a while to catch on: Hobert released “Sue Me” in May 2025, but it didn’t hit the Billboard Hot 100 until August 2026, marking her first entry on the chart. It’s the very definition of a sleeper hit — and the power of rhyming “Bacardi” with “pilates.” The 27-year-old musician is just getting started. “I always say the most magical thing about writing this album was, it was my…

Blondie are readying their first album in nearly a decade. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein have enlisted Johnny Marr, Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock, and Beirut’s Zach Condon, among others, to guest on the LP. A single called “Spectral Eyes,” penned and played-on by Marr, is out now. Listen below. Out February 26, 2027, via BMG, the album is the last to feature the new-wave titans’ co-founding drummer Clem Burke, who died at 70 last year.Harry said in a press release, “This album is classic Blondie—an amalgamation of all our different influences and eras into something new. This music feels grounded in…

For most of the past 30-plus years, guitarist Joe Bonamassa has been a standard-bearer in the blues world. But without B.B. King, the 49-year-old’s career may not have received the boost it needed to take off. At 12, Bonamassa opened for King in Rochester, New York, and went on to play with the blues legend twice that year. The two kept in touch, with King evolving into a trusted mentor for Bonamassa.  Bonamassa carried their relationship in the years following King’s death in 2015, and in October 2024, he started making preparations for what would have been King’s 100th birthday,…

On Tuesday, Joni Mitchell obtained her dual citizenship in the U.S. and Canada — 62 years after living in the States. “I became a citizen so I could vote,” Mitchell tells Rolling Stone. “I’m a proud Canerican like Neil Young.” (Mitchell’s longtime pal became a U.S. citizen in 2020, 54 years after illegally crossing the U.S. border in a Pontiac hearse.) And now that she’s officially an American, Mitchell says she has some work to do. On Nov. 4, three days before her 83rd birthday, the legend will release NEWS, a collection of 23 paintings that tackle the 24-hour news…

It’s notoriously difficult to predict how the fine people at the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences will assess the past year when Grammy nominations are revealed on Nov. 16., considering voters’ rocky history — remember when Bonnie Raitt’s supremely under-the-radar “Just Like That” won Song of the Year in 2023 over Beyoncé’s “Break My Soul” and Taylor Swift’s 10-minute “All Too Well”? But there’s a strong scenario that we’ll see something historic in the Best New Artist category this year if pop songwriter Audrey Hobert and R&B singer Malcolm Todd are both nominated. They’re signed to different labels and…

Grian Chatten vuole parlare di Mina. «Ci tengo». Tempo fa è tornato nella cittadina dov’è nato. Avevo dato per scontato che fosse originario di Dublino e invece viene da Barrow-in-Furness, un posto nell’Inghilterra nordorientale affacciato sul mare con poco più di 50mila abitanti e un passato industriale. Camminando per strada Chatten ha notato un negozio di dischi chiamato TNT Records. «Non potevo credere ce ne fosse uno in quel posto, che cosa strana, sono entrato». Si è infilato in una cabina d’ascolto di quelle che si usavano un tempo per sentire i vinili prima di comprarli e ha messo su…

A new study from the Music Venue Trust has looked into whether current royalty distribution methods properly reflect the music being played in grassroots music venues – and found that only 21 per cent of tracks are properly registered. The pilot study came in collaboration with Audoo – a company that has developed technology to monitor and observe how royalties are collected and distributed to artists when their music is played. Carried out between August and September 2026, the study was conducted to see how accurately existing music licensing models reflect the repertoire being performed in grassroots venues. It was…

After nine years, Blondie have returned with their first collection of new music. Their album, High Noon, will be unveiled on Feb. 26, and the LP’s first single, “Spectral Eyes,” is out now. The upcoming LP marks the final recording of Blondie co-founding drummer Clem Burke, who died in April 2025 at the age of 70. The Hall of Fame musician was the backbone of Blondie’s smash hits and kinetic live performances. “This album is classic Blondie — an amalgamation of all our different influences and eras into something new,” frontwoman Debbie Harry said in a statement. “This music feels…

The author of a new book about the ’00s UK scene has spoken to NME about the “hedonism and high ideals” of the time, and if another such wave could ever happen again. Janine Warren is a former publicist for the likes of Johnny Marr, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, The Libertines, Marianne Faithfull, The Clash‘s Mick Jones, and many more. Having interviewed artists, friends and familiar faces from across the era along with figures including former NME editor Conor McNicholas and producer Paul Epworth, she has just published the acclaimed The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect:…