A Los Angeles judge ruled that the 36-year-old woman accused of shooting at A$AP Rocky and Rihanna’s Beverly Hills home in March is mentally fit to stand trial.

According to The Associated Press, the ruling was made by Judge Maria Cavalluzzi during a hearing at Los Angeles County court on Tuesday (Sept. 29). “Criminal proceedings are reinstated,” Judge Cavalluzzi said following months of psychiatric evaluations.

The 36-year-old has remained in custody since her March arrest and she didn’t speak at the hearing. She’s currently facing 13 felony charges, including one count of attempted murder, 10 felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm and three felony counts of shooting at an inhabited dwelling or camper. She faces up to life in state prison if convicted.

Prosecutors allege that the woman drove up to the Beverly Hills residence owned by the celebrity couple on March 8 and fired more than 20 rounds at the home from an AR-15-style rifle out of her Tesla window.

The woman fled the scene, but a police helicopter spotted her car and followed it to a Sherman Oaks shopping center parking lot, where the suspect was apprehended about a half-hour following the 911 call. She has remained behind bars while being held on $1.875 million bail.

Rihanna was home at the time of the shooting with their three children and a nanny, but no injuries were reported. Bullet holes were found by authorities in the property’s gate and an RV parked in the driveway.

The suspect, an Orlando, Florida, native, has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges against her. She’s due back in court on Wednesday.

Prosecutors want a harsh prison sentence for an AI fraudster who stole more than $8 million in music royalties, telling a judge the man spent years ripping off “hard-working and often underpaid” artists and songwriters.

Michael Smith, 54, admitted in March to using AI to generate thousands of songs and streaming them billions of times with bots. But last week, he said he deserved no prison time, arguing the harm to any single artist was “insignificant” and “no victim suffered any real harm.”

In a response filing Tuesday (Sept. 29), the feds begged to differ. Urging the judge to sentence Smith to at least 46 months in prison, they say that for more than six years Smith “labored almost daily to perpetrate massive fraud” and did, in fact, directly harm working musicians.

“Smith was the architect of, and led, a sophisticated and multi-faceted fraud scheme over the course of many years to divert musical royalties from legitimate and hard-working songwriters and other rightsholders to himself,” prosecutors wrote. “A lenient sentence will send precisely the wrong message: streaming fraud will not result in meaningful punishment.”

The case against Smith represents the first U.S. criminal enforcement over streaming fraud, a longstanding problem that’s been made worse by AI tools that can churn out fake songs and then play them on repeat. Streaming royalties are divvied up from a finite pool of revenue, meaning fake streams siphon off money from real artists.

Smith was arrested in 2024 on a three-count indictment that charged him with using thousands of bots to continuously stream songs on Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms starting in 2017. In March, he entered a guilty plea on a single count of wire fraud conspiracy and agreed to forfeit more than $8 million in streaming fraud proceeds.

Wire fraud conspiracy carries a five-year maximum prison sentence, and federal guidelines call for between 46 and 57 months in Smith’s case. But federal probation officials recommended a lighter sentence of 24 months.

Last week, Smith’s lawyers pleaded with the judge to avoid sentencing him to prison altogether. They said he was “profoundly sorry” and has “accepted full responsibility” for his crimes, but they also said he had caused only “tiny, immeasurable losses” spread across millions of songwriters and artists.

“The effect each individual stream of one artist’s song has on every other artist’s share of total streams is not akin to a drop in a proverbial bucket — it is a drop in an ocean,” Smith’s lawyers wrote. “No individual artist or songwriter suffered any perceptible harm from Mr. Smith’s conduct.”

But in Tuesday’s filing, federal prosecutors say Smith’s scam has “all the hallmarks of the most serious white-collar crime,” and that he “stole from hard-working (and often underpaid) songwriters, artists, and other rightsholders.”

“Streaming fraud redirects a portion of the existing royalty pool from every single legitimate rightsholder to fraudsters,” the feds wrote. “Musical royalties that Smith fraudulently obtained came at the expense of the creators whose rightful royalties were siphoned away because every fraudulent stream perpetrated by Mr. Smith diluted the value of every legitimate stream.”

A judge says Ticketmaster can be sued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for allegedly enabling mass-scale ticket reselling on its secondary market.

A Monday (Sept. 28) court order, obtained and first reported by Billboard, denies Ticketmaster’s motion to dismiss the bombshell lawsuit brought by the FTC a year ago. The decision does not endorse the truth of the federal agency’s claims, but it holds that they are legally sufficient to move forward into the next phase of litigation.  

The FTC sued Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation under the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, which makes it illegal to circumvent a ticket issuer’s security measures. The agency claimed Ticketmaster violated this statute by allowing brokers to bypass its ticket purchasing limits with hundreds or sometimes thousands of accounts under fake names. According to the lawsuit, Ticketmaster enabled this conduct so that brokers would resell large swaths of tickets on its own secondary market, thus generating billions of dollars in resale fees for the platform.

Ticketmaster’s leadership denies these allegations, with Live Nation legal chief Dan Wall testifying before Congress earlier this year that the company has “walked the walk” on anti-broker initiatives to protect artists and fans. But Ticketmaster’s motion to dismiss argued that the FTC lawsuit has an even more fundamental defect: namely, that the BOTS Act is only meant to be wielded against individual resellers, not the ticketing platforms that host them.

Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, however, roundly rejected this argument in Monday’s order. “The BOTS Act does not preclude platforms from facing liability,” wrote the judge, “and the court will not read it as doing so.”

According to Judge Frimpong, the FTC’s lawsuit lays out sufficient allegations that Ticketmaster allowed ticket brokers to bypass purchase limits. The judge cited an internal email in which a senior executive said they “turn a blind eye as a matter of policy” to this conduct, as well as other communications that allegedly show Ticketmaster was aware of specific brokers who frequently generated fake accounts.

“Upon identifying violators, Live Nation and Ticketmaster could have implemented measures to curtail continuing violations of ticket purchase limits,” wrote Judge Frimpong. “However, the FTC maintains that Live Nation and Ticketmaster ‘have reduced, discontinued, or declined to implement the use of tools that could effectively enforce ticket limits against brokers,’ thereby enabling circumvention. Thus, the complaint illustrates that Live Nation and Ticketmaster had knowledge of the violations, had the opportunity and means to counter the violations, but elected to allow scalpers and brokers to bypass ticket purchase limits.”

The judge also ruled that the FTC can level deceptive business practice claims against Ticketmaster over drip pricing — i.e., the practice of tacking on additional fees at checkout. Though Ticketmaster says it now employs all-in pricing, Judge Frimpong says the long-term use of a mere “plus fees” qualifier could be considered “vague and ambiguous” enough to sustain the FTC’s claims.

Reached for comment on Monday’s decision, Ticketmaster said in a statement, “Ticketmaster remains the leader in the fight against bots and other technical exploits that scalpers use to steal tickets from real fans. We continue to believe that this lawsuit is misguided and will ultimately fail.”

A rep for the FTC did not immediately return a request for comment. The case will now enter the evidence discovery phase, followed by an eventual trial unless a settlement is reached.

The lawsuit is part of the FTC’s recent emphasis on BOTS Act enforcement under a directive from President Donald Trump. In addition to the Ticketmaster lawsuit, the agency sued broker Key Investment Group last year for allegedly using fake Ticketmaster accounts to flip tickets for Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour. The FTC received a judge’s green light to move forward with that case in April.

Meanwhile, Live Nation and Ticketmaster are wrapped up in a high-stakes antitrust lawsuit that could have huge implications for their future. A jury ruled at trial that the combined companies had worked to suppress competition, and now dozens of state attorneys general are urging a judge to break them up. Live Nation denies all wrongdoing and says divestiture is unnecessary.

Stella Lefty, whose breakthrough hit “Boston” is No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart for a second consecutive week, has left Disruptor Management, according to sources.

Disruptor helped guide Lefty’s ascent from unknown artist to one of 2026’s biggest breakthroughs and one of the year’s most successful acts. With the two-week No. 1 status of “Boston,” Lefty became the first solo-billed woman to have a debut single spend multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart since Gretchen Wilson, whose “Redneck Woman” spent five weeks at No. 1 in 2004. The song also peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Long Way Home, Lefty’s debut album, reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200. She will also embark on a sold-out tour in November.

Disruptor director of A&R and management Zach Horowitz, who had managed Lefty with Disruptor CEO Adam Alpert, told Billboard in June that he found Lefty online while he was still in college a number of years ago and she was a burgeoning singer-songwriter from Chicago.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is that we’ve been building Stella’s fan base for years. Support runs with [several acts], fan pop-ups in New York and L.A.,” Horowitz told Billboard. “We’ve always wanted to super-serve the people who were there from day one. Those fans became the foundation, and as the project has grown, it’s felt like a real community rather than just people streaming songs.”

Lefty also made a recent change with her press representation, switching from Align to Nashville-based Sweet Talk PR.

Lefty’s tremendous success has come with a vicious backlash. As the daughter of billionaire Groupon founder Eric Lefkofsky, she was labeled a “nepo baby.” Online critics have questioned her country authenticity since she is from Chicago. She also has been criticized for her songs sounding too similar to other artists, though she has credited songwriters like Noah Kahan, who received a songwriting credit on “Boston” as the song interpolates “Stick Season,” while writers Tia Sillers and Mark Selby are credited on “Summer You Were Mine” for the song’s similarity to The Chicks’ 1998 hit “There’s Your Trouble.”

Despite her online detractors, Lefty has plenty of supporters within the country music industry, including country superstar Randy Travis. After she posted a video on Sept. 22 singing an unreleased song that references country influences, including Travis, the country legend posted an encouraging message on her TikTok: “Thank you for the nod, Stella! I’ve always thought you could stand toe to toe with the very best in Nashville. Keep believing … face to the sunshine and shadows fall behind you!”

Kelsea Ballerini also showed support for Lefty after the singer made her Grand Ole Opry debut and shared a post backstage with two young St. Jude cancer patients that, incredulously, drew criticism. “Opry member chiming in!!… From different backgrounds and hometowns and generations, we can find ways to say and sing things that resonate with people that fill the seats… and that is always the goal, right?… [The Opry is] about celebration of all kinds of country music,” Ballerini wrote. “New, old, traditional, current, however you wanna say it. It’s all important.”

In August, Lefty told Billboard she was grateful to have been accepted by the country music community. “It’s so crazy to be so embraced in a genre that I’ve always loved,” she said. “Country music has been such a huge part of my life. And I feel like it’s always scary when you start making music that kind of bleeds into a genre. Country is so specific about who they embrace and how they go about things, so to be accepted in that world is truly the greatest honor.”

Disruptor, which also has a joint label venture through Sony, continues to represent a full slate of artists on both the management and label side.

Reps for Disruptor and Lefty, as well as her attorney and her label Atlantic Outpost, either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment.

Patti LaBelle, Common, Public Enemy and label executives Nicole Wyskoarko and Tina Davis were among the esteemed honorees feted at the Black Music Action Coalition’s sixth annual BMAC Gala. Rooted in themes of pride, perseverance and purpose, the fundraiser was presented by Live Nation and hosted by radio personality/entrepreneur Kenny Burns.

Joining BMAC co-founder and president/CEO Willie “Prophet” Stiggers in welcoming guests inside the Beverly Hilton ballroom in Beverly Hills were board members Ashaunna K. Ayars, Caron Veazey, Damien Smith, Naima Cochrane, Shawn Holiday and Shay M. Lawson.

“Tonight is bigger than a gala, we’re gathering at a moment when too much is at stake for us to simply celebrate and go home,” said Stiggers in his opening remarks. “Black music has always been more than music. It has been how we told our story when others tried to write it for us, how we held onto our humanity when this country tried to deny it. We have turned pain into purpose, struggle into sounds and survival into something the entire world would eventually call culture.”    

The jam-packed evening featured the following award presentations:

The BMAC Sylvia Rhone Visionary Award to Interscope Geffen A&M president/head of urban A&R Nicole Wyskoarko, presented by pioneering music industry executive Rhone

BMAC Harry Belafonte Change Agent Award to Common, presented by his mother, Dr. Mahlia Hines

BMAC Icon Award to Patti LaBelle, presented by director Lee Daniels

BMAC Founders Award to Kevin Shivers, Lee Anderson, Mallory Smith and Marty Diamond of THE·TEAM, presented by Jamea Kollie, participant in the BMAC Music Accelerator Program at Tennessee State University

BMAC Social Impact Award to Public Enemy, presented by rapper Big Daddy Kane

BMAC Clarence Avant Trailblazer Award to EMPIRE president Tina Davis, presented by singer Montell Jordan

BMAC 365 Award to Arielle Vavasseur, Dylan Siegler, Kristin Jones, Markie Ruzzo, Sharlotte Ritchie and Susan Mazo of Universal Music Group’s Global Impact Team presented by Stiggers and FLO.

Upon receiving his award, Common reflected on the guidance he’d received from Belafonte over the years. “He showed me that having a rebellious heart to speak up, to stand up … and putting yourself in harm’s way to stand up for millions before you is God at work.”

Chuck D and Flavor Flav were greeted with a standing ovation while accepting Public Enemy’s award. Before the duo led the audience in a “Fight the Power” chant, Chuck D declared, “Action means do something, coalition means we’re all together. There’s no ‘I’ or ‘little you,’ We turn ‘me’ into ‘we,’ and that’s what it’s all about.”

In addition to her BMAC honor, the legendary LaBelle was treated to two surprises. The first was from the RIAA and BMAC: a plaque saluting her legendary career. The second was a musical tribute featuring several of her classic hits — including “The Best Is Yet to Come,” “You Are My Friend” and “Love, Need and Want You” — performed by Chanté Moore and Le’AndriaJohnson. Also performing for the audience were Big Daddy Kane and MAJOR.

Gala proceeds will benefit BMAC’s various initiatives, programs and grants. Those encompass the BMAC x America250 initiative, Music Maker grants, Music Accelerator programs, BMAC Live and BMAC Live R&B Tour Edition in collaboration with Live Nation and the BMAC Restore & Rebuild LA Program.

The evening before the gala on Wednesday (Sept. 23), BMAC and WME hosted the BMAC x America250 Voice of Tomorrow celebration honoring the next generation of Black artists.  In addition to a panel discussion, the event featured musical performances from BMAC Voices of Tomorrow artists DJ Stussy, The Reasn and RAHBI, along with Anzie Blue recording artist Pynk Beard.

Artist and social activist Common was presented with SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange’s inaugural Artist Impact Award at The Luckman Club/Soho West Hollywood on Thursday afternoon (Sept. 24). As described by the two organizations, the award “honors an artist whose work crosses creative boundaries. It recognizes contributions across music, film, television and media that have shaped culture, expanded artistic possibility and inspired new forms of storytelling.”

Ahead of the award presentation, Common, SAG-AFTRA national executive director & chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland and SoundExchange president/CEO Michael Huppe spoke exclusively with Billboard about the genesis of the award and what it represents moving forward.

“When it comes to social activist work and impact, I don’t always want to be awarded for that,” said Common. “That’s not why I do it. I’m doing this because I want to elevate people; to be there as a light for other individuals and help them reach their highest levels. I feel grateful that we get to actually put a light on the fact that what SAG-AFTRA does is great for artists and what SoundExchange does is great for artists. When I got to do the movie Selma, it made me feel like I could do more. This [award] makes me feel like I’ve got to do more.”

The genesis of the Artist Impact Award stems from the more than two-decade relationship between SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange. As part of its charter, SoundExchange distributes 5% of its annual collections (roughly $50 million) to SAG-AFTRA to ensure that non-featured performers, including background singers and session musicians, receive the royalties they have earned when their work is used on digital platforms.

“We share the mission in making sure that all creators get paid appropriately, respected appropriately in the economy that we’re in today,” emphasized SoundExchange’s Huppe. “We started talking about how so many actors and artists are no longer just one or the other. Common is a great example. He’s a musician, storyteller, actor, author, producer, entrepreneur and advocate. We agreed that it’s important to celebrate the people who cross those divides and refuse to just stay in one lane.”

Added Crabtree-Ireland, “This [partnership] exemplifies what we’re trying to do here today: take an artist who has crossed over these different boundaries and, more importantly, who has delivered such a true vision in his music and activism. I’m so glad that we came together to start this award process because I believe that when we acknowledge artists for that, it helps encourage other artists to do it. And when other artists do it, it helps encourage our society to do it more. And we really need that now as much as we’ve ever needed it.”

Andra Day, Rebecca Ferguson, Janelle Monáe and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson served as the host committee for the intimate luncheon/presentation. Among the guests spotted celebrating Grammy, Oscar and Emmy winner Common were Universal Music Group general counsel and executive vp of business & legal affairs Jeffrey Harleston, veteran tour manager Tina Farris, Grammy-winning producer-songwriter No I.D., Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb, activist Shari Belafonte, DJ-producer D-Nice and actor Anthony Anderson.

Common also marked the launch yesterday (Sept. 25) of Jeffery Park, his new limited-edition wine brand created in partnership with Argentine winemaker Karim Mussi and Gopuff. The brand — named after a neighborhood park near Common’s childhood home on Chicago’s South Side — debuts with a 2024 pinot noir, which was served at the SAG-AFTRA and SoundExchange award luncheon.

“The premise of Jefferey Park,” Common told Billboard, “is about togetherness, joy and sharing good times.”

A legendary Nashville institution is celebrating Canadian country music.

Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry has unveiled a grand celebration for Oct. 29 titled “Grand Ole Opry: Celebrating 50 Years of the CCMA.” The event will shine a light on the Canadian Country Music Association. The special broadcast will gather Canadian artists from different generations, highlighting those who have put the Canadian country scene on the map and the others who are carrying it into the future and will air on iHeartRadio on Nov. 6.

This past weekend (Sept. 19), singer Jess Moskaluke was brought to tears upon being surprised with an invitation to make her Opry debut while at the CCMAs, a performance that is now known to be part of the 50th anniversary celebration.

Joining Moskaluke on the lineup are Canadian singers Terri Clark, who is among the select list of Opry members, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Gord Bamford, Paul Brandt, Tami Neilson, Tenille Arts and Brett Kissel, who was honoured with the Gary Slaight Humanitarian Award at this year’s CCMA Awards.

The reveal follows numerous crossovers between both institutions, as established country singer Kalsey Kulyk was also recently invited to make her Opry debut in November while performing at the CCMAs Legends Showcase, receiving the news via a surprise video message from American country hitmaker Lainey Wilson. This year’s CCMA Awards broadcast also featured Stella Lefty’s recent Opry debut, where she performed “Boston,” her chartbreaking track that has held steady at No. 2 on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 for multiple weeks. The performance is also set to be included in the anniversary broadcast.

The CCMA has set up a number of recent international initiatives to spotlight Canadian artists in other parts of the world. In August, the non-profit unveiled the inaugural Canada-Australia Country Music Exchange, a new program and pilot project to introduce Canadian and Australian country musicians into each other’s markets.

Read more here.

Riley Green to Headline 2026 Grey Cup Halftime Show in Calgary

Riley Green is taking the stage at Canada’s football championship.

The Canadian Football League (CFL) unveiled today (Sept. 24) that American country star Riley Green will headline the Grey Cup Halftime Show, which takes place at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium on Nov. 15. Fresh off the release of his album That’s Just Me last Friday (Sept. 18), the country hitmaker joins a list of past headliners including mgk, Jonas Brothers and Green Day, who have taken the stage during the Canadian championship game.

“I’m excited to finally get to experience a Grey Cup and be part of the energy surrounding it. Getting to perform at halftime in front of that crowd is going to be a hell of a time, and a pretty special way to wrap up what’s been a really wild year!” Green says.

Last year, the choice of mgk caused some controversy for the CFL as many thought the halftime should be headlined by a Canadian artist. With trade wars intensifying between Canada and the U.S., those criticisms will likely persist. However, Green fits a hot moment for country in the Canadian market.

The hitmaker has topped the Billboard Canada Country chart on four occasions with tracks like “There Was This Girl” (2018), “Half of Me” with Thomas Rhett (2022), “Worst Way” and the Ella Langley-assisted “Don’t Mind If I Do” (2025). Langley has since hit No. 1 with her mega hit “Choosin’ Texas,” which is now the third-longest No. 1 in Billboard Canadian Hot 100 history, highlighting an upward trend in country music in Canada which made Green a fitting choice for this year’s halftime performance.

The pre-game festivities, meanwhile, are full of Canadian spirit, with Halifax-born singer Sarah McLachlan set to perform the national anthem before kickoff. McLachlan recently made a high-profile appearance at pop star Olivia Rodrigo’s Daisy Chain Fields festival in August, where she performed her own hits “Building a Mystery” and “Angel” with Rodrigo, the latter serving as a tribute to the late Dolly Parton. Canadian music legends Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo will give a special guest performance, and James Barker Band will play the kickoff concert before the game, adding to their streak of major Canadian appearances this year.

Read more here.

A surfboard brand unsuccessfully sued Lady Gaga over her Mayhem album — but in a new court filing, the company says this loss does not automatically mean it should be on the hook for the star’s hefty legal bills.

Last month, a judge threw out Lost Surfboard’s claims that the title of Lady Gaga’s chart-topping 2025 album Mayhem infringed its trademarks for a “Mayhem” brand of surf equipment. The pop superstar (Stefani Germanotta) has since argued that Lost should repay her $232,000 tab from the elite law firm Gibson Dunn.

Lost opposes this request in a Thursday (Sept. 24) court filing, first obtained and reported by Billboard. The surf company, which is appealing the dismissal of its case, says it had a valid basis for suing Lady Gaga, and that legal fees should only be granted in extreme situations when a lawsuit was obviously unreasonable from the start.

“Attorneys’ fees are the exception, not a consolation prize for the prevailing party, and this case does not stand out,” write Lost’s lawyers in the opposition.

Lady Gaga’s team has argued that the case was a “publicity stunt” designed to extract a settlement from the famous singer. But Lost says this is simply not true: “Lost’s real purpose in filing its lawsuit was to protect a registration it owns … against use of the identical word with nearly identical stylization on apparel,” reads the filing.

Lost points out the lawsuit was dismissed on highly technical grounds; the First Amendment makes it very difficult to sue over the use of trademarks in artistic works like music and movies, and Judge Fernando M. Olguin ruled that Lost couldn’t get over that hurdle without showing that Lady Gaga intentionally tried to dupe consumers with her use of the word “mayhem.”

“Defendants ultimately prevailed under … a fact-intensive defense turning on artistic relevance and explicit misleadingness,” Lost says. “Defendants now attempt to recast that merits ruling, with the benefit of hindsight, as proof that Lost’s claims were unreasonable from the outset. It proves no such thing.”

Lost also argues in Thursday’s filing that Gibson Dunn’s $232,000 fee request for 150 hours of legal work is “inflated.” The surf company says this amount should be reduced even if Lady Gaga does get awarded some fees.  

Lady Gaga’s lawyers did not immediately comment on the filing on Friday (Sept. 25). A hearing regarding legal fees is set for Oct. 15.

Mayhem debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in March 2025 and spent 63 weeks on the chart. Lost sued Lady Gaga the same month, alleging the album title infringed both the name and stylized red logo from Mayhem surfboards it had been selling since the 1980s.

Lost sought to bar Lady Gaga from selling Mayhem merch online or at stops of her global Mayhem Ball tour, which ultimately grossed more than $400 million during its yearlong run. But Judge Olguin refused to issue an injunction last December and then dismissed the case altogether in August.

“These allegations are conclusory and insufficient to constitute an explicit indication, overt claim, or explicit misstatement identifying Lost as the source of Lady Gaga’s work,” wrote the judge in his decision. “The use of a mark alone is not enough … and nothing in the [lawsuit] suggests or otherwise indicates an affirmative misrepresentation in connection with the source or the content of Lady Gaga’s work.”

Lost appealed that ruling last week.  

The Music Venue Trust has teamed up with Drowned In Sound to launch a brand new print music publication titled Shownotes celebrating the live scene in the U.K.

Beginning in November, 50,000 copies of Shownotes will be available at over 500 live music venues across the U.K. The launch will be nationwide and stocked in a number of grassroots and independent venues.

The launch is made possible via a grant from the MVT, which champions the U.K.’s grassroots music scene. The MVT is one of the beneficiaries of the LIVE Trust, which distributes funds raised from ticket donations to a number of key initiatives across the live sector.

The title will be edited by writer and author Hannah Ewens, who has previously held positions at Rolling Stone U.K., Vice and more. Raissa Pardini, a designer who has worked with The Rolling Stones, Blur and Bikini Kill on poster designs, and with companies like Apple and Adobe, will lead the title’s visual look and feel. They’ll be joined by an all-female editorial team including Edinburgh-based Arusa Qureshi, and Negativland founder Kate Jeffrie.

Speaking on the news, Ewens said, “Music journalism can feel static and drained of life, especially after years of rolling staff cuts and publications folding. The concept of a magazine that uses something as visceral and immediate as the live experience as the lens through which to understand and celebrate music is a perfect antidote to that.”

She added, “I believe that the dominance of short-form video and filmed content, at the expense of quality writing and print, doesn’t serve artists or fans. Being able to sit with beautifully written, intimate profiles, esoteric long-form thinking, and curious investigations still matters. Shownotes will be something fans can leave with after a gig, relive the excitement through at home, and use to start planning their next show. On a personal note, I’m obsessed with print, and being able to commission my weird ideas and some of my favorite writers and photographers is a pleasure I feel blessed to indulge in again.”

Drowned in Sound publisher Sean Adams added, “My hope is that the editorial and recommendations will inspire fans to discover their local scenes and take day trips around the UK to check out genres of music outside of their algo-bubble. Our mission is to get more people to go to more gigs and, beyond just recommending shows, we have some projects beyond the magazine up our sleeves…”

When G Flip tackles the pre-game entertainment at the AFL’s 2026 Grand Final Day, they enter the big occasion as a winner.

The singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist will line-up Saturday (Sept. 26) for the pre-game entertainment at the imposing Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the reigning champion Brisbane Lions take on the best from the west, Fremantle Dockers.

G Flip’s “Bed On Fire” has been burning up the national AirPlay Charts (powered by RCS Media Monitors), where it’s just the third homegrown No. 1 this year, the first leader for G, and a first for AWAL, the independent artist’s label partner.

“Bed On Fire” was ignited by a TV sync, and has claimed some prized scalps on the way to the top of the national airplay chart — where it has stayed for the past three weeks. The track is now the longest-running Australian No. 1 APC single at radio this year.

The cut went like wildfire when it appeared in Amazon’s hit series Off Campus in May. Thanks to that sync, “Bed On Fire” charged into the top 40 of the ARIA Singles Chart where, for a time, it was one of only two domestic cuts in the top 40. That exposure launched G Flip into severa lBillboard charts, including Alternative Digital Song Sales chart (at No. 2) and Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, with a peak of No. 46.

Now certified gold in Australia, “Bed On Fire” is G’s most streamed song with upwards of 67 million total streams — peaking at 982,000 plays per day, according to reps for Sony Music Australia’s radio team, which worked alongside AWAL.

The single has eclipsed G’s previous biggest radio success in their homeland, “Disco Cowgirl,” which peaked at No. 23, and is the artist’s most-broadly played radio single to-date, spun across more than 138 stations.

G has been in red-hot setting form in their homeland, where in early 2024, they established a then-record by landing a total of seven songs in triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown, including the No. 2 ranked track, “The Worst Person in the World”. That bettered the mark previously held by rock trio Wolfmother, which scored six entries in a countdown two decades earlier, in 2005 (Charli xcx and Billie Eilish have since raised the bar, with eight entries each).

Earlier, in 2023, G landed a first ARIA No. 1 album with DRUMMER, released via Future Classic/Universal (their debut from 2019, About Us, peaked at No. 6), and bagged two ARIA Awards.

“Bed On Fire” appears on their third studio album, Dream Ride, G’s first via AWAL Recordings. Dream Ride sped to No. 4 on the ARIA Albums Chart last September.

G has been in-demand all year. It was another stadium, another game, when G performed a mini-set in March at the 2026 AFC Women’s Asian Cup Closing Ceremony, hosted at the Stadium Australia (Accor Stadium) in Sydney.

Also, the Melburnian recently captured a swag of nominations for the 2026 ARIA Awards, including solo artist of the year.

After completing a mid-summer lap of North America, G Flip will flex their considerable talent this weekend at the biggest venue in the land, the MCG, where more than 100,000 football fans are expected to fill the stands. They join Michael Paynter and Mike Brady in the pre-game lineup, joining headliner Kylie Minogue. 

A chance to see G at The ‘G.