“Dancing in convertibles...” EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF George Garner george.garner@futurenet.com DIGITAL EDITOR Andre Paine andre.paine@futurenet.com FEATURES EDITOR Ben Homewood ben.homewood@futurenet.com CONTENT EDITOR/PRODUCER Miranda Bardsley miranda.bardsley@futurenet.com ART EDITOR Steve Newman steve.newman@futurenet.com CHARTS & DATA Isabelle Nesmon isabelle.nesmon@futurenet.com CONTRIBUTORS Adenike Adenitire, Sammy Andrews, Koury Angelo, Calvin Ceile, Mark Davyd, Niall Doherty, Anna Fielding, Charlotte Gunn, James Hanley, Paul Harries, Colleen Harris, James Hickie, Alan Jones, Louise Haywood-Schiefer, Emmanuel Legrand, David McLaughlin, Paul Stokes, Jennyfer J. Walker, Carla Marie Williams, Matt Yates COMMERCIAL ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR, MUSIC PORTFOLIO Lara Jaggon lara.jaggon@futurenet.com SENIOR EVENT MANAGER Madelene Andersson madelene.andersson@futurenet.com SUBSCRIPTION SALES 0208 955 7020 PRODUCTION B2B PRODUCTION MANAGER Matthew Eglinton matthew.eglinton@futurenet.com MANAGEMENT MANAGING DIRECTOR, MUSIC Stuart Williams UK CRO Zack Sullivan COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR Clare Dove HEAD OF PRODUCTION US & UK Mark Constance GLOBAL HEAD OF DESIGN Rodney Dive HEAD OF DESIGN (MUSIC) Brad Merrett GROUP ART DIRECTOR B2B Nicole Cobban COMMERCIAL FINANCE DIRECTOR Dan Jotcham INTERNATIONAL Music Week is available for licensing and syndication. Contact the licensing team to discuss partnership. HEAD OF PRINT LICENSING Rachel Shaw licensing@futurenet.com MusicWeek 121 - 141 Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London, W2 6JR Editorial: 0330 390 6751 Advertising: 020 3878 3723 Subscriptions: 0208 955 7020 For any queries with your subscription please contact the number above Email musicweek@abacusemedia.com musicweek.com/subscribe All contents © 2024 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered office: Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, amend, adapt all submissions. Music Week is a member of the Periodical Publishers’ Association ISSN – 0265 1548 Printed by Buxton Press Ltd, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE Welcome to Music Week... Dinner is served For my first editorial of the year, I’m setting myself a challenge: I’m going to talk about 2024 without mentioning artificial intelligence. For one, we covered it in-depth in our 2023 In Review issue. For another, there are other things to pay attention to, y’know. So, to the other question on every executive and manager’s lips right now: can the UK – or any other country, for that matter – break a new act on a global scale in 2024? This against a run of successive years in which returning superstars have dominated the attention economy. With a slew of big hitters all due back in the coming months, it will be interesting to see how, and where, newer acts’ stories can find space to be heard. Especially for those who can’t get things trending at the drop of a hat. Adding further complexity is the increasing compression of the music calendar in terms of release windows. Q4 is not the Q4 it used to be. On Friday, November 1 this year, a new Mariah Carey viral video will presumably herald the takeover of Christmas songs and albums. Forget 12 months – the feeling is very much that an 11-month calendar no longer exists for new releases. So how can new acts cut through? This month’s cover stars, The Last Dinner Party, might hold the answer. “For a while, bands had this manufactured effortlessness – they didn’t really give a shit and thought that was cool,” frontwoman Abigail Morris tells Music Week. “We would rather make it look like we’re putting everything in and bleeding out on stage. You want to create a world to inhabit. You can’t expect to have a dedicated audience if you are not giving yourselves equally to the aesthetic as to the music.” That this year’s BRITs Rising Star and BBC Sound Of… poll winners TLDP have enjoyed such success early on is not by chance. They emerged fully formed, not only with a unique sound but also a compelling aesthetic fans can buy into. From Kiss and Slipknot to My Chemical Romance, Bring Me The Horizon and Ghost, rock has excelled at harnessing the power of pageantry and the in-it-for-the-long-haul, participatory community it can foster. Clearly, there remains real traction in this approach. Nothing will ever – or should ever – trump having incredible music. And no, not all acts need a prescribed look. But in a day and age where new acts are competing against the combined pull of pre-existing superstars (and their greatest hits!), gaming, film/TV streaming and social media, you suspect now more than ever, big breakthroughs may require some altogether bigger ideas to support them. George Garner, Editor-In-Chief IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT We would like to advise all of our customers to please log in to your account on musicweek.com We would like to advise all of our customers to please log in to your account on musicweek.com and make sure your contact details are correct. We must have your email address, regardless of the and make sure your contact details are correct. We must have your email address, regardless of the subscription option you have, in order to send you the Weekly Digital Chart Packs. If you need additional subscription option you have, in order to send you the Weekly Digital Chart Packs. If you need additional information please contact customer service at musicweek@abacusemedia.com or +44(0)20 8955 7020 information please contact customer service at musicweek@abacusemedia.com or +44(0)20 8955 7020 musicweeknews @musicweek musicweekinsta