Music Week

We are the leading trade media brand for the UK music industry with unrivalled access to game-changing artists and executives. Music Week remains essential reading for anyone who needs to understand the business of music.

Music Week

Welcome to Music Week

THE BIG STORY • Your essential primer for the month ahead

Human rights: Ivors Academy to honour ‘amazing composers’ • CEO Lord Neri and director of awards Fran Matthews explain how their new ceremony will push back against generative AI and celebrate the craft of scores

FOR THE RECORD • SOME OF THE BIGGEST STORIES FROM THE PAST MONTH IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS

SPOTLIGHT SHINING A LIGHT ON MUSIC’S BIGGEST NAMES • As CEO of the Country Music Association since 2014, Sarah Trahern has overseen impressive global growth for the genre. Ahead of her retirement at the end of the year, she celebrates landmark success for Luke Combs and Ella Langley, acknowledges the UK’s embrace of the Nashville sound, and tees up her final CMA Awards…

START ME UP • THE NEW COMPANIES DRIVING MUSIC’S FUTURE

IN POD WE TRUST • INSIDE THE BEST MUSIC PODCASTS

CAMPUS DRIVERS/PIXEY • Ahead of the French-language college romance series landing, we learn why a remix of Pixey’s The Thrill Of It made the cut…

RISING STAR • Meet the industry’s brightest new talents…

ESSENTIAL INFO

AMBLE • Fast-rising Irish folk trio Amble are dreaming big when it comes to their second LP, Love And All Its Wares. Ahead of its early 2027 release, the band talk about giving up jobs in teaching and science to sign with Warner Records, why AI is the “antithesis” of art, and the benefits of internal rivalry…

KEY RELEASES

INCOMING • As DIIV return, band leader Zachary Cole Smith reveals how losing his home to the LA wildfires inspired their fifth album Zirp!, and discusses working with AG Cook, guitar music and his issues with the industry…

THE PLAYLIST

TASTEMAKERS • The industry’s favourite new sounds

MAKING WAVES • THIS MONTH’S HOTTEST BRAND NEW ACT

HOTSHOTS

WHAT DREAMERS ARE MADE OF • You might not expect a band of their incredibly successful vintage to feel nerves jangling before a new album release, but that’s exactly where Music Week finds Take That. Poised to release their 10th full-length Dreamers, their apprehension is down to being full of “ambition and desire”. And, in the wake of a hit Netflix series and the smash return of their Circus tour, why wouldn’t they be? Here, joined by Corduroy Artists, Island EMI, UTA, SJM Concerts and more, the trio tell us why, in 2026, they’re bigger than ever…

ROLE CALL • MEET TEAM TAKE THAT

THE Music Week INTERVIEW SULINNA ONG • “I’m the world’s worst morning person!” Sulinna Ong tells Music Week at the start of our 7:30am conversation, but what ensues gives us reason to doubt her proclamation. In her first interview since leaving her role as global head of editorial at Spotify to manage U2 with Full Stop Management’s Irving and Jeffrey Azoff, the LA-based exec is in sparkling form. As U2 begin a huge album campaign, she reveals all about their new era and with contributions from both Azoffs - explains why she left streaming for the “scary” world of management…

MUSIC WEEK X GIRLS I RATE PRESENTS MENTOR ME • THE MOST INFLUENTIAL AND SUCCESSFUL WOMEN ACROSS THE MUSIC AND CREATIVE INDUSTRIES SHARE THEIR TOP 5 CAREER LESSONS…

“IT’S NOT ABOUT HOW MUCH MONEY YOU’RE MAKING – IT’S HOW MANY TICKETS YOU’RE SELLING” • Now one of the biggest agents in UK live music, Josh Javor recently took sole charge of WME’s London operation and, to celebrate, Music Week meets him for his first interview in the role. Here, he reflects on his pivotal relationship with the late Steve Strange, what comes next in Coldplay’s evolution...