AGP Executive Report

Grammys Fallout: BTS says it won’t submit music for the 2027 Grammys, pointing to the new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category and arguing songs shouldn’t be split by region or language. Music Loss: Oscar-winning Irish musician Glen Hansard (Once, The Frames) dies at 56 in a motorcycle crash outside Dublin, prompting tributes from major artists. Electronic Icons: French DJ/producer Kavinsky, known for “Nightcall” from Drive, dies at 50. Beatles Back in Focus: UMG and Apple Corps announce an expanded Rubber Soul special edition for Oct. 2, with new mixes plus unreleased session material. Local Scene Spotlight: Rothko Records lines up an Auckland alt/heavy showcase at Big Fan on Sept. 11, while an Oxfordshire 18-year-old music prodigy readies a debut EP/album drop Aug. 1. Pop Culture Flashpoint: Noah Kahan and others react to the White House using songs in political videos, with Kahan saying he’d never approve.

BTS vs. Grammys: BTS says it won’t submit music for the 69th Grammy Awards, framing it as a protest against dividing pop by region or language after the Recording Academy launched a new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category. Global Pop Tour News: Tyla announces a 34-date A*Pop World Tour starting Oct. 12 in Paris, with stops across Europe, North America, and Africa including Lagos, Cape Town, and Johannesburg. Festival Radar: Outside Lands 2026 is back in San Francisco with Charli xcx, The Strokes, and Rüfüs Du Sol leading a sold-out lineup, plus a big expansion of food programming. Tech + Listening Health: A new push for the “AirPods 60-60 rule” urges listeners to keep volume under 60% for 60 minutes, then take a break to reduce hearing damage risk. Local Music Scene: Finland’s festival fortunes split sharply, with northern events like Qstock and Simerock thriving while some southern festivals struggle. Craft Meets Modernity: Austria’s Grassmayr Bell Foundry is using 3D printing, scanning, lasers, and simulation to speed up bell polishing while keeping centuries-old casting alive.

Broadway & Pop Culture: Prince’s “Purple Rain” musical is set for Broadway at the Majestic Theatre in March 2027, with previews starting March 12 and opening April 12, bringing more than 20 hits to the stage. Rock & Activism: Tom Morello is gearing up for his solo album Everyone Gets Everything They Want (Sept. 25) and previewed it with “Date Night,” an anti-Nazi track about WWII Dutch spy work. Global Pop Spotlight: Tyla’s APop* is getting reviewed as ambitious and future-facing, blending amapiano and more into a South African pop push aimed at global listeners. K-Pop Charts: BTS’ “Normal” returns to multiple UK charts as the group’s comeback momentum keeps building. Music Tech/Business: Dance/Electronic is flagged as 2026’s fastest-growing genre, with streaming and touring driving the surge. Privacy & Security: Ariana Grande sued anonymous hackers over alleged theft and leaks of unreleased music and private footage. Live Music & Community: Lollapalooza 2026 lands July 30–Aug. 2 in Chicago’s Grant Park, with streaming via Hulu/Disney+.

Legal Drama: Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled prosecutors presented enough for D4vd (David Anthony Burke) to stand trial for the murder and dismemberment of a 14-year-old girl, with the DA later deciding whether to pursue the death penalty. K-Pop Rollout: JYP’s new girl group OURBIRTHDAY has completed its 7-member lineup, adding four “Side B” members ahead of debut. Pop & R&B Business: Miley Cyrus has signed with Atlantic Records after leaving Columbia. Streaming/Release Buzz: JENNIE’s “Less Than a Lover” topped a weekly new-music poll with 62% of votes. Tour News: Tyla confirmed the final African dates of her A*POP World Tour in Cape Town and Johannesburg for January 2027. Music Culture: Abbey Road’s “Reframed” photo exhibition opens in London in August, spotlighting nearly a century of music photography. Safety/Privacy: Ariana Grande sued anonymous hackers over leaked unreleased songs and media. Missing Artist: Linda Perhacs has been reported missing after months without contact. Live Music: Lollapalooza 2026 streams on Hulu/Disney+ in the U.S., with major headliners including Charli XCX and Lorde.

Streaming & Film Buzz: “Hadestown: The Musical” is extending its live-stage cinema run after a huge opening, while the “Michael” Jackson biopic lands on Starz Aug. 10 (plus a TV debut the same day) after crossing $1B at the box office. Broadway & Pop Legacy: Prince’s “Purple Rain” musical is headed to Broadway in 2027 with previews starting March 12 and an April 12 opening. Local Music & Community: Rochester’s city arts grants are putting real money into school music education, and Southern Indiana’s summer calendar keeps rolling with free outdoor concerts and themed nights. Jazz Spotlight: The Greencastle Summer Music Festival hosts “The History of Jazz,” and West Palm Beach’s Red Velvet Jazz Rooftop Series returns with Nikki Kidd. Global Scenes: Morocco’s youth-led protests have seen rap lyrics targeted amid crackdowns, while Tampa rockers Los Zumo drop “Cadenas” and Georgia trio Mandili adds Bulgaria dates. New Releases: Oliver Rees (“Content”) and Keesha Blair (“Peaceful Power”) lead fresh indie/alt and soulful R&B drops.

K-Pop Global Push: South Korea is set to launch “Fanomenon,” a Coachella-style global music festival in Seoul from Dec 2–12, 2027, with major concerts, fandom awards, and exhibitions across Seoul Arena and KINTEX—aimed at boosting tourism and making Korea the hub for fandom-driven culture. Pop Star Moment: Tom Grennan dedicated his York Racecourse concert to 17-year-old Mariella Rose, closing with her favourite song after her death earlier this year. K-Pop Milestones: BTS’ “Butter” cleared 1.1 billion YouTube views, while BLACKPINK’s “DDU-DU DDU-DU” became the first K-pop group music video to hit a similar milestone on the platform. Classical Crossover: Sue Perkins returns to Classic FM with “Classical Pioneers,” a travel series pairing explorer stories with music from Howard Goodall to Gershwin. Live & Local: Nice Jazz Fest wrapped a three-night reset, reporting €800,000 in savings while keeping 18 concerts and expanding free street programming. Tech for Creators: Google is turning Flow Music Spaces into a fully integrated AI music studio for creating, editing, and collaborating with text-based tools.

Festival Energy: Eaux Claires Festival returns to Eau Claire with genre-hopping sets and a standout one-off “Aaron and Fred” collaboration between Aaron Dressner and electronic artist Fred Again. Touring & Rock News: John Mellencamp brings his “Greatest Hits 2026” run to the PNC Bank Arts Center, stopping “Pink Houses” over a Gulf of Mexico lyric moment that gets the crowd roaring. Live Music Safety: Rochester’s Riverside Concert is set to go ahead despite an Extreme Heat Warning, with on-site EMS, cooling space at the Mayo Civic Center, and water/electrolytes planned. Local Scenes Giving Back: Kankakee bands raise $1,500 for tornado relief through summer concerts. Pop Culture & Rights: Katy Perry blasts the White House for using “Firework” in an Iran-strike TikTok without approval. Privacy Crackdown: Illegal sales of K-pop stars’ private info are rising online, with Big Hit reporting accounts to police. New Releases: ILLIT drops the official MV for “I Got Your Back” featuring JISOO and MOMOKA of HANA. Community Music: Qatar’s Voice of the Gulf refreshes its Gulf Sessions with a new daily digital schedule to help fans follow performances. Global Heritage: India’s “Mann Ki Baat” spotlights Tripura’s Chongpreng instrument and efforts to revive it. Security Incident: A man is stabbed in Soho after chaos in a queue for Latto’s pop-up event.

Pop Album Drop: Shania Twain returns with her autobiographical seventh studio album Little Miss Twain, blending country, pop, rock, soul and bluegrass as she revisits the sounds and memories that shaped her before fame. K-Pop Milestone: BLACKPINK’s DDU-DU DDU-DU hits 2.4 billion views, the first K-pop group video to reach the mark. Artist vs. Government Use: Katy Perry blasts the White House for using her “Firework” in a TikTok about Iran strikes, saying she didn’t approve it and won’t condone using her message to soundtrack violence. P-Pop to Tourism: SB19 are named the Philippines’ newest tourism ambassadors by the DOT, with the group positioned as a global cultural bridge. Metal on the Big Stage: Mumbai psych/sludge metal band Midhaven wins India’s spot for Wacken Open Air in Germany. Local Live Music: London’s K-Music Festival returns for its 13th edition, expanding beyond K-pop into hip-hop, jazz and game soundtracks. Grassroots Venue Watch: North London’s Radial opens as a small-capacity hub for live music, workshops and “sound-based” wellness classes.

Youth Jazz Spotlight: South Africa’s National School of the Arts hosted Jazz for Young People, a youth-led day mixing live jazz with fashion, photography and art, guest-curated by Msaki and framed as a glimpse of the next generation of jazz talent. Festival Fallout: Cincinnati’s Cincy Soul food festival was canceled at the last minute over a permit dispute, leaving Black-owned vendors scrambling as the city and organizers trade blame. Broadway-to-Screen Buzz: “Hadestown” lands in movie theaters with a review praising its myth-meets-rock energy and crowd-pleasing momentum. Local Live Music: Pasadena’s Michael Haggins closes the city’s free Jazz in the Park series Sunday, capping an eight-week run. Pop Culture Clash: Katy Perry condemned the White House’s use of “Firework” in a military strike video, calling it a violation of her song’s message. New Album Watch: Charli XCX released “Music, Fashion, Film,” with reviews framing it as sharp, post-punk-leaning pop perfection. Metal Milestone: A roundup marks Metallica’s “Kill ’Em All” debut and its lasting impact on American heavy metal. Community Pop-Up: Sheboygan’s Boys & Girls Clubs announced a Blue Door Pop Up series with live music and fundraising at local coffee and music spaces. Hardcore Loss: Lou Koller, co-founder of Sick of It All, died at 59 after a two-year cancer battle.

Pop Album Spotlight: Egyptian singer-songwriter Amro El Meligy turns heartbreak into upbeat, genre-bending pop on his third album Ana Etghayart, moving between Arabic, English and French as he processes abandonment with a “playful but dark” sound. Orchestral Rock: St. Vincent brings her “orchestral rock magic” to the Detroit Opera House with the Detroit Opera Orchestra, revisiting hits and deep cuts after a Royal Albert Hall collaboration. K-Pop Chart Power: CORTIS’ “REDRED” stays at No. 1 on Apple Music Korea’s daily chart for 90 straight days, cementing a major early-career run across Spotify and YouTube Music. African Pop Expansion: Tyla doubles down on redefining “African pop” with APop, pushing back on narrow expectations and leaning into a wider range of influences. Live Music & Community: Des Moines Performing Arts returns with *Made in the Midwest, spotlighting indie, soul, jazz and bluegrass acts in a revamped Stoner Theater. Traditional Music: Irish fiddler Martin Hayes curates Masters of Tradition in Bantry, mixing concerts and conversations across evolving folk lineages. Cultural Crossovers: Chinese Arts Week at Lincoln Center spotlights contemporary music and electronic duo Taiga alongside major dance and fusion performances. Local Scene Notes: Wirral Libraries brings a pop-up library to Birkenhead Park with “Read to the Beat” activities linking stories, music and creativity.

Pop Album Drop: Charli XCX releases “Music, Fashion, Film,” her first full-length since “Brat,” with critics framing it as a reinvention that leans more pop-rock and spotlights a spoken-word closer featuring David Cronenberg. TV Performance: Tyla brings “Is It Love” and discusses “A*Pop” on NBC’s “Today,” tying the album’s title to expanding what pop looks like from South Africa. Chart/Club Buzz: Madonna’s “Danceteria” hits No.1 on Music Week’s Commercial Pop club chart, continuing momentum from “Confessions II.” Live Music News: Jon Bon Jovi ends an MSG show early due to a sinus infection, promising reschedules. Community & Culture: Austria’s Christuskirche in Graz will broadcast a Schlager-style pop worship service live on national TV and radio. Local Scene: Cincinnati cancels Cincy Soul Fest over missing permits, while Australia’s festival burnout story points to country festivals rising as legacy events fade. New Releases: aespa debuts its first Japanese mini album “KISS N TELL,” and Katseye drops “Animal” ahead of its EP “Wild.”

Pop & Global Releases: Tyla’s A*Pop review spotlights her sun-soaked, genre-hopping pop swagger, while Charli xcx’s Music, Fashion, Film lands as a guitar-forward, post-Brat pivot. Classical Meets Jazz: Keir GoGwilt’s The Zarabanda Variations turns the sarabande into a free-jazz, baroque-strings, spoken-word dive into colonial Latin American roots. Streaming & Tech: Qobuz rolls out a refreshed Music Player with real-time lyrics, a redesigned interface, and Siri integration. Live Music & Festivals: Columbus hosts the free Jazz & Rib Fest July 24-26; Dublin’s Irish Festival returns July 31-Aug 2; and Edinburgh Fringe gets a student-made MUSE: The Shakespeare Mayhem Musical. Industry & Culture: PRS for Music names Ben McOwen Wilson as CEO; and Kenya signals a bigger global push as Sony, Universal, and Warner plan Nairobi offices. Legal/Tribute: A Westlife-era tribute act feud escalates after Bon Jovi lawyers send a cease-and-desist over a similar name.

K-pop Meets Toys: Hasbro unveiled the “KPop Demon Hunters” Rumi Sain-Geom Premium Electronic Sword at SDCC, a $224.99 collector item with motion-activated light and sound, slated for July 1, 2027. K-pop Meets Grammys: BTS is positioned for a major Grammys push as the Recording Academy adds a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, potentially reshaping how K-pop gets recognized. Jazz Loss: Montreal jazz pianist Oliver Jones died at 91, leaving a legacy of mentorship and decades of recordings; fans are revisiting essentials like “The Lights of Burgundy.” Jazz Spotlight: Ravi Coltrane joined the Philadelphia Orchestra for “Coltrane 100,” with newly orchestrated symphonic takes on his father’s work. Extreme Metal Debut: Wishaw death metal band BrainBath announced its debut album “HeadHunted” for Aug. 7, with international vinyl/CD distribution and a new single/video. Local Music Life: Downtown Menlo Park launches “Fourth Fridays,” a free monthly multi-stage series starting July 24. Music + Tech: Geekbench 7 is out, updating tests for modern workloads and new GPU-focused media tasks.

AI Music Flood: Deezer says about half the tracks uploaded in June were AI-made, roughly 90,000 a day, and a test found listeners could barely tell the difference. Pop Star Spotlight: Shania Twain says her new album Little Miss Train may not feel “relatable” in lyrics, but she believes the music’s soul and genre mix will land. K-Pop Charts: Billboard crowns rookie KiiiKiii’s “404 (New Era)” best K-pop song of 2026 so far, with AKMU’s Flowering as top album. Jazz Loss: Canadian jazz icon Oliver Jones dies at 91 after a long illness. Traditional Music: Belfast’s free Titanic Céilí returns at the Slipways with live Irish/Scottish music and dance ahead of the All-Ireland Fleadh. Live & Local: Buffalo’s Concert in the Park brings rock and soul; Livermore launches Club Bankhead with bassist Marty Isenberg’s Wes Anderson-inspired jazz-cabaret show. Film/Screen: Universal confirms a Snoop Dogg biopic, Snoop, for Aug. 6, 2027.

Streaming & Rights: SoundCloud has acquired decentralized music platform Nina Protocol, months after Nina’s shutdown, aiming to preserve its editorial archive and “genre map” while expanding tools for independent artists. Pop Culture: Disney dropped the first trailer for Camp Rock 3, with the Jonas Brothers returning to Disney+ on Aug. 14 and a new cast joining for a hunt for the next breakout star. AI in Music: A new industry op-ed lays out ethical AI licensing principles—consent, fair compensation, and transparency—arguing artists’ vocal rights shouldn’t be on the table. Live Music (US): Gridlife Summer Apex returns to Watkins Glen July 24-26 with expanded race fields and major DJ/producer names including Shaquille O’Neal (DJ Diesel) and T-Pain (Teddy Pain). Local Scenes: Lakes Area Music Festival’s Prelude Series brings free chamber concerts (Thalea String Quartet) across Minnesota July 25-26. Rock & Legacy: Tributes and reflections continue around Ozzy Osbourne’s first death anniversary, including commentary on his craft and what “imperfection” means for modern creators.

K-pop Shake-Up: NewJeans has teased a comeback as a four-member group, with videos and photos posted for “2026 Summer of NewJeans,” leaving out Danielle and continuing the fallout from its ADOR dispute. Rock & Pop Spotlight: Squeeze are set to return to New Zealand in April 2027 with the Tried, Tested and Trixies Tour, celebrating 53 years of hits from “Up the Junction” to “Tempted.” Metal & Memory: One year after Ozzy Osbourne’s death, tributes and controversies keep rolling in, with Kelly Osbourne saying she “aches every single day.” Live Music Calendar: Windcraft Music Fest returns July 24–26 in Cyprus with concerts, workshops, and a big free parallel program. Community & Culture: A Cork DJ, Mark “Beanzy” O’Brien, died after being found unresponsive at Love is a Stranger Festival; tributes continue ahead of his funeral. Local Fandom: Max Collector: Collectors Con Year 4 is back at SM North EDSA until July 30 for global collectibles and pop-culture pop-ups.