Right now, there’s no bigger story in UK music than Olivia Dean.
This summer, the buzz around the singer’s name got louder and louder, as the build-up to her second album The Art Of Loving gathered pace. Ahead of its release, she announced – and sold out – four shows at The O2, and became the first British female artist to achieve three simultaneous Top 10 hits since Adele. And that’s just for starters.
In a special cover story, Music Week joins the star and her team in the eye of the storm. Her longtime manager Emily Braham has seen her own career blossom in line with Dean’s, while Jo Charrington, leading the charge as president at Capitol UK alongside MD Tom Paul, believes the singer will define the future of the label. Welcome, then, to the Olivia Dean show. As she explains, “it’s kind of crazy” right now...
In this month’s edition of The Music Week Interview, we meet Association Of Independent Music (AIM) CEO Gee Davy. Relentlessly passionate and dedicated to supporting AIM’s members, the long-serving exec has been a prominent voice on a range of issues including AI, proposed acquisitions of independent companies by majors and more. Ahead of this month’s 15th edition of the Independent Music Awards, we get an audience with Davy to hear how she’s been “flexing my leadership muscles”.
Also in the features section, we bring you a deep dive into the machinations of Mass Appeal. CEO Peter Bittenbender relaunched the firm with rap icon Nas and late journalist Sacha Jenkins in 2013, and this year’s huge Legend Has It… project – including new releases by Nas & DJ Premier, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Slick Rick, De La Soul, Big L and Mobb Deep – represents its most compelling story yet. We meet Bittenbender, alongside VP, marketing Annie Chen and head of design Mike Lukowski to discuss hip-hop legacy.
Elsewhere, we meet Shoot Music founder Tom Roberts to chart the history of the company and quiz him about life as the architect of a bridge between music and sport via sync, live performances, bespoke recordings and more.
On top of all that, there’s a special report into the royalties sector and an op-ed from Todd Heppenstall, partner – arts, creative industries & sport at London-based executive search firm Saxton Bampfylde.
This month’s Big Story sees Island EMI Label Group president Louis Bloom tee up the new album from breakout UK star Lola Young, while the news section also features Music Week analysis of rock and metal’s impact on DSPs in 2025.
We meet Detroit producer Marc Kinchen aka MK in Hitmakers as he recounts the story of his 2025 smash Dior, a first No.1 record for MK and featured vocalist Chrystal.
The latest edition of The Aftershow sees Wyclef Jean spinning tales of working with Lauryn Hill, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé and more, as he gears up to release new music.
SoundCloud exec Ree Sewell stars in Mentor Me, as the company’s senior artist & label relations manager offers up her top tips. Completing the line-up in a packed issue are Alessi Rose, this month’s On The Radar act, Generator CEO Mick Ross, who takes on Spotlight, Ella Eyre, who tells the story of her solo reinvention in Incoming and AWAL’s emerging star Luvcat, who is our Making Waves act.
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 September 16.
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