The trio have been signed to House Anxiety since 2020 – they claim that their label was supposed to issue them royalty checks every six months, but they only received their first in October 2024. They also alleged this royalty statement had “vast sums” wrongly deducted, and failed to include £217,000 that House Anxiety had received in a licensing deal with a subsidiary of major label Sony.

In a statement for the BBC, the Bradford bassline stars said, “Like all other bands, we don’t look for litigation, but when faced with a label that won’t let us put our own music out ourselves for our fans and not pay us royalties owed from our own music, we felt we had no other option.” Their claim also explains that they can’t work out an accurate figure that they’re owed until they receive a full set of accounts but believe it will add up to £400,000 at least.

Jamie Hodgson, founder of House Anxiety, responded to the accusations against the label: “We totally refute these claims and welcome the opportunity to clarify these inaccuracies.” Speaking of the group and their successes, he said “As an artist-friendly independent label, we remain hugely proud of every element of Full Wack No Breaks and all the hard work that went into its campaign, then stepping aside to allow BBCC to pursue their dreams of being a major label artist. There will be no further comment at this time.”

The northern MC’s rose to prominence in the 2020s. Their full-length releases Full Wack No Breaks and Disrespectful, both distributed through House Anxiety, were met with critical acclaim, with their bassline and garage revival beats, grimey flows and rowdy, humorous lyrics sticking out in an underground scene more used to stone-faced seriousness.

They had to stick to their guns to see if their up-tempo regional sound could catch a bigger crowd. “There’d been other MCs from Bradford that’d tried, and it just hadn’t worked for them,” Gareth “GK” Kelly told The Rolling Stone. “When we started doing it, I was saying to Kane, ‘[Listeners] don’t want this.’ And he was like, ‘No, they do. We just gotta stick with it.’”

Their breakthrough track, “450”, reached the official UK Singles chart, and their mixtape Disrespectful hit number two on the UK Album chart in 2022, under the licensing deal with Sony’s Relentless Label.

The group has dropped new music independently, an EP in June and a few singles more recently, but these have since been removed from streaming platforms and Youtube as a breach of contract with their label. The crew shared a headline on their Instagram publicising their dispute, saying “Hopefully this clears up a few things for a lot of people. We need our fans support now more than ever!”

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The 72-year-old percussionist has named his new label ‘Nice Records’, the label is set to issue unreleased recordings and tracks that span throughout his long and respected career. Jones’ indie label will launch with the release of live recordings from his time in Small Faces taken from the drummer’s personal archive collection, entitled ‘Small Faces- Live 1966’, the launch and release will be on 3rd September 2021. The label’s first release features the band’s earliest recorded live performance from 9th January 1966 and includes two sets played at the Twenty Club located in Mouscron, Belgium. Jones is best known as the drummer for three of the 1960s most influential mod and rock bands, Small Faces, The Faces and the ‘My Generation’ rockers The Who.

The mod icon issued the following statement concerning his new business venture and describes the label’s mission to celebrate his musical legacy. “It’s great to launch Nice Records and to be able to take back control of the Small Faces products and recordings. I have assembled a first class team who understand the importance of the Small Faces legacy. I am so pleased there is a record of us performing at this time. We were a great live act then and even though we started to have hits, our live act was never the same again. This gig is really what the Small Faces were all about.”

Rob Caiger, Small Faces archivist and producer of reissues has also spoken on Kennedy’s new label and discusses how Nice Records will be a positive factor within the music industry. “Kenney has set up Nice Records to ensure the artists – and their dependents – get paid for their recordings as opposed to the many companies that have sprung up recently to exploit the ‘use it or lose it’ EU ruling for previously unreleased material over 50 years that is now deemed to be in the public domain. He is following Frank Zappa’s brilliant initiative, taken on by bands such as the Stones, to beat the bootleggers and give control back to the musicians. In this case, we think Kenney is the first artist to exploit the current EU ruling for the benefit of the artists.”

Caiger continues to describe the laws concerning the release of archived music and further confirms not just the importance of the archived and historic recordings but also the significant role in which Kennedy has played to ensure the safety of such recordings. “We want to do this properly. There is still previously unreleased material locked away in archives because record companies can’t – or won’t – release it, as well as material that labels lost or never got from the artist in the first place. In Kenney’s case, he has been diligently looking after session and live tapes he has played on from the Small Faces onwards. As some will know, as well as his work with the Small Faces, Faces and The Who, Kenney played on countless sessions by other artists (particularly during his time recording at Olympic Studios in London). Kenney usually got a copy of the tape and in many cases, he was the source for the only surviving copy of the masters, as he was whenwe put together the Small Faces remaster series.”

Click here to pre-order ‘Small Faces – Live 1966’.

Black Butter’s most recent venture involves none other than DJ and producer p-rallel. The West London based artist has been shaping his expansive sound alongside his counterparts in the Elevation/Meditation collective consisting of other notable names Lord Apex, Louis Culture and Finn Foxell. It is with this involvement in production for key figures in the London hip-hop/R&B scene that has gained p-rallel notoriety, landing him positions on tour with Lava La Rue, Jeshi and one of England’s latest exports Slowthai.

After announcing on Instagram the signing to Black Butter Records a week and a half ago, it has since been revealed a further subsidiary label is being launched, with p-rallel as the debut signee. The label named 4ZA has launched with a new website currently displaying the logo and a contact email for any further enquiries. It is unknown who else will be signing to 4ZA if anyone, but with p-rallel’s chameleon style encompassing genres from hip-hop, to garage, to soul, to jungle there is lot to play around with here in terms of rosters. It is here that fans expect to see the release of his next extended play, following the highly regarded ‘Soundboy’ EP from 2020.

Hope everyone is doing ok! Just wanted to let you know that Syco Music and I have agreed to part ways. I’m really excited for the future and to be back in the studio writing the next album. Can’t wait to finally see you all on tour!!
Stay safe and see you soon, Louis x

— Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) July 11, 2020

Now we know where the Doncaster native has chosen to go, and we also know that he is in the middle of working on his second album with them. BMG VP A&R Jamie Nelson stated: “We are delighted to welcome Louis to BMG. He is already busy working on new music, and we are excited to join him on the next phase of his extraordinary career.” At this stage, both Louis and BMG are still very cryptic, but we can see that something new is in the works, and we can be on the lookout.  

Louis Tomlinson announces new global partnership with BMG. @Louis_Tomlinson @lthqofficial #LouisTomlinson @BMG #BMG #TheNewMusicCompany https://t.co/3veNo4u4Tc pic.twitter.com/Cu28pMyLZg

— BMG News (@BMG_News) May 10, 2021

This news is accompanied by other recent news that the 29-year-old songwriter has had to push back the dates of his world tour due to the pandemic, like many other artists. All of the confirmed dates are now in 2022, and while many of the previously purchased tickets are still valid for the postponed dates, some shows, such as The Wiltern in Los Angeles, will have to be refunded. You can find more information and updates on local shows on his official website here.

Pray comes as a kickstart to Joe Armon-Jones’ own label Aquarii Records, which will serve as an outlet for all his own releases. The website states “Aquarii is the new label from London-based keyboardist, composer and producer Joe Armon-Jones, officially launched on May 4th, 2021 with his new solo single ‘Pray’. Aquarii will be a home for all of Joe’s forthcoming solo releases and collaborative work.” With an active music year from Joe, releases on Aquarii are set to roll in at a steady pace, with the inclusion of physicals. The new single currently has a 10” vinyl that is available on 2^nd August for purchase including an exclusive bonus track only on the vinyl release of the single titled ‘Nothing Move’.

The single artwork for Pray was done by frequent collaborator Divya Scialo, it depicts three men in a studio praying with the backdrop of the night sky. Along with the single artwork is a new logo for the label animated by Hamil Industries, a “Multidisciplinary studio providing sensory tidbits for your futuristic cravings”. The studio have animated the logo in a way that it responds to the new single by transforming the logo into a sound wave. The logo in action can be found on the labels Instagram here. Whilst we await further music from Joe Armon-Jones, make sure to stream the new single Pray available on all major platforms below.

Since then, the term “young turks” has occasionally been used as a generic term for young provocateurs or upstarts. Pawson says that the label was named after the 1981 Rod Stewart song “Young Turks” and did not initially know that it referred to the group.

The label, formed in 2005, has represented artists like the xx, FKA twigs, and Sampha. In a statement on social media, the label wrote addressing the named change.

“From today, Young Turks will become Young. The name change follows a long period of reflection and I wanted to explain the origins of the Young Turks name and the reasons for the change.

We originally named Young Turks after the Rod Stewart song of the same name. When I first heard the song, it took a week of 2005-era internet searches to find out what it was and even longer to understand its meaning. The name intrigued me, evoking the solidarity of youth. In 2005, it seemed to perfectly sum up what we were: teenagers, wanting and waiting to do something, anything.

However, we were unaware of the deeper history of the term and, specifically, that the Young Turks were a group who carried out the Armenian Genocide from 1915 onwards. Through ongoing conversations and messages that have developed our own knowledge around the subject, it’s become apparent that the name is a source of hurt and confusion for people. We loved the name for what it meant to us, but in retrospect should have listened more carefully to other voices and acted more quickly. We have always tried to affect positive change and knowing what we do now, it’s only right that we change our name.”

In addition, the label’s logo which was formerly an image of a skull wearing a fez has been changed to a simple Y design. The label has also made a donation to the UK Armenian Institute, “in memory of those who were killed and those who survived” the genocide.

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The DJs from Liverpool are expected to launch the label in the summer of 2021, and all that artists have to do is send a SoundCloud link to the email address promoted on Camelphat’s social media. The peculiarity of this label stands in the two artists listening to every demo themselves, without hiring A&Rs or other personnel. It is surely challenging, as they are already experiencing a high volume of entries ‘[…] about 600 so far’ Dave explains to Radio 1 Newsbeat.

The question is: Does it actually work? Has someone been contacted by Camelphat to actually record something together? The answer seems to be yes: ‘We’re working with a few now, one of the singers we ended up using on the album, he’s called Max, his vocals are unbelievable’ Dave continues, ‘And that all came from the email address. So it does work, but you’ve got to have patience.’ All the duo is looking for is a hit, a track that can go big, potentially even bigger than their first hit.

Formed in Liverpool around 2004, the House duo is now based in London. In 2017, they released their iconic track ‘Cola’, placing them in the higher levels of electronic music and giving them the opportunity to hold a hugely popular residency in Ibiza alongside names of the calibre of Fisher and Solardo.  It is still unsure on whether this label will be solely focused on house and techno music, but what is certain is that producers and emerging artists are encouraged to send their tracks because they will surely be heard by the two Liverpool producers.

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