Spring is in the air, and Maisie Peters is back!
Ahead of releasing her excellent third album, Florescence, Music Week catches up with our former cover star to hear about her journey over the last half a decade – and her fierce ambitions.
The artist has ticked off milestone after milestone since bursting onto the scene in 2019 including a No.1 album, opening for Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay, and playing Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. And her bucket list continues to expand.
Music Week is let in on Peters’ plans for grander stardom alongside gaining insight from Atlantic Records UK co-presidents Briony Turner and Ed Howard, her manager Bobby Havens of Grumpy Old Management, and her agent, Summer Marshall of CAA. Expect to hear about the singer-songwriter’s desires to break big, how she deals with critics, and what it takes to master the art of being a pop star.
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We have a host of exclusives elsewhere in this month’s issue.
Kicking things off is Since ’93 co-president Riki Bleau, who sits down for The Music Interview.
Bleau goes deep on his years spent working across management, records and publishing, taking in successes ranging from Emeli Sandé and Sam Smith, to Tems and Tyla. He chats about the exciting growth of Afrobeats, Black music, and shares the grit and grind of building a music industry empire.
Next up is an exclusive two-part special with [PIAS].
In part one, strap in for a frank chat with co-founder Kenny Gates and newly appointed CEO Edwin Schröter to hear how the company is faring since its UMG takeover. In part two, we meet [PIAS] UK boss Jason Rackham and members of his team – Russell Crank, Sian Blewitt, Stephen Ellis and Lily Haddadi – for discussions about the importance of the industry “sticking with artists” and much more.
Completing this month’s features section: former Rinse FM and Beats 1 DJ Julie Adenuga sheds light on her new YouTube series and debates radio broadcasting’s future, while the head of BBC Asian Network, Ahmed Hussain, reflects on the station's successful move to Birmingham last year and why the industry can't afford to ignore it.
In The Big Story, Warner Music’s Simon Robson, Sony Music’s Dennis Kooker, the BPI’s Dr Jo Twist, and others, assess the scale of streaming fraud and how to fix it. Also in news, Ewan Jenkins and Jack Mangan, the co-founders of "new-gen artists" label Isekai Records, explain their strategy for creating viral hits. Andy Sloan-Vincent, Spotify’s head of music, Europe, is in Spotlight.
Bellah Mae stars in On The Radar, while Jack Savoretti features in Incoming.
In Hitmakers, producers Boo and Luis Navidad tell the tale of how Skye Newman’s “dirty soul” hit, Family Matters, took the charts by storm. Linda Perry, the 4 Non Blondes star and music biz polymath, looks back on her career for The Aftershow.
Rounding off this month’s line-up is the award-winning lawyer Sandra Namusiitwa, who offers up her career tips tips in Mentor Me (brought to you in partnership with Carla Marie Williams and Girls I Rate). And dig into the Music Week Awards 2026’s grassroots venue nominees with special help from MVT CEO Mark Davyd.
Lastly, in our expanded monthly charts section, we present the Top 75 Singles and Albums of the previous month, accompanied by revamped analysis pages, plus a host of new listings. These include specialist genre Top 20s for Americana, Classical, Hip-Hop & R&B, Jazz, Country, Dance, Folk and Rock & Metal. The issue is also home to streaming, compilations and vinyl charts.
The new issue of Music Week is available from April 21.
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