Sony U.K.’s Jackie Hyde has been awarded an MBE for her services to music and charity in the King’s New Year Honors List. The recognition comes as Hyde marks an incredible 46 years at Sony Music.

“Receiving this recognition feels overwhelming and I never thought an honor such as this would be given to me,” Hyde said of her new title. “When I joined CBS Records/Sony Music back in 1979 I couldn’t have imagined that I would be in the industry 45 years later or that I would receive an MBE. It’s been an incredible and very happy career in the business, which I am very proud to be a part of, and a privilege to have worked with such brilliant artists, whom I so very much admire.”

Hyde, VP of Artist Relations, has worked with such artists as George Michael, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Celine Dion, Sade, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Barbara Streisand, Bob Dylan and The Clash.

In other U.K. News, we have been strongly cautioned to stay on our side of the pond.

British singer-songwriter Sam Ryder has signed with management company mtheory and will release his second album in 2025.

Ryder, who was placed second in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2022 while representing the U.K., released his debut album on Parlophone that year and hit #1 in the U.K. He’s had two #2 singles at home: Eurovision entry “Space Man” and “You’re Christmas To Me.”

Lewis Allen, who has been a key part of Ryder’s previous setup over the last few years, and Derek Gridley, will assist in the advancement of Ryder's career.

Next year, Ryder has multiple festivals booked and a tour in the pipeline.

Cameo Carlson, CEO of mtheory, added, “mtheory could not be more thrilled to partner up with Lewis Allen and Derek Gridley to help take Sam Ryder’s incredible talent to the next level. Sam embodies everything we believe in as a company: unmatched global talent, drive, and he’s a damn good person."

The number of festival cancellations in the U.K. continues to rise, with 72 events either postponing, being cancelled or announcing a complete closure in 2024—double the amount in 2023.

According to the Association of Independent Festivals, 204 U.K. festivals have disappeared since 2019, including 96 events lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After taking place in October, the 31-year-old Tenterden Folk Festival was among recent closures, with rising costs given for the decision to not continue in 2025.

Since the start of February, AIF has campaigned for a temporary lowering of VAT on festival tickets from 20% to 5%. It says a reduction of this kind would have saved most of the events that closed this year. However, intervention from the U.K. government has not yet materialized.

“This has been a devastating period for the U.K.’s festival organisers," AIF CEO John Rostron said. "We have campaigned tirelessly for targeted, temporary government intervention which, evidence shows, would have saved most of the independent events that have fallen in 2024. It is sad to see that this erosion has been allowed to continue under this government. We have great events, with great demand, and we’re doing all we can. They need to step up, and step up now.”

One under-recognized aspect of a music agency’s services is hooking up their clients with all manner of brand partnerships.

UTA’s Music Brand Partnerships group, headed by Toni Wallace, has been an industry leader in that category. The division, which Wallace says is by far the largest among its competitors, saw a 40% growth in revenue last year, thanks in part to high-profile deals starring Bad Bunny (Adidas, Pepsi, Jacquemus) and Cardi B (NYX Cosmetics, McDonald’s).

Meanwhile, in the company’s Nashville office, Emily Wright counts Rauw Alejandro, Brittney Spencer, Carin León, Megan Moroney, Midland and Tyler Hubbard among her clients, and as country music has expanded both its audience and its sound in the past year, Wright has been on the forefront of creating new opportunities for her artists.

We somehow managed to figure out how to use Zoom and spoke to Wallace and Wright about the explosive growth of their business, and why top-tier brands continue to ignore us.

Tell me about UTA’s Music Brand Partnership division. What does it do, and how many people work in it?

Toni Wallace: We started the group about eight years ago. It was just me and an assistant. Today, we’ve grown to a team of 23 people globally, in L.A., New York, Nashville and London. We’re actually three times larger than any of the other agencies in terms of our brand partnership groups.

The team is focused on building brand partnerships and strategies for our UTA roster of over a thousand musicians globally. Those could be endorsements, sponsorships, equity-based deals, licensing deals, the gamut.

We want to really understand what our clients are looking for in terms of brand partnerships. What are they really passionate about? Do they love fashion? If so, who are their favorite designers? So on and so forth. And the only way you can really know that is if you’re really close with them.

We want to build partnerships that last. If an artist has a 30-year career, we want them to work with that brand partner over and over again. And you really find that when there’s true love and passion for one another.

What’s a good example of that kind of true, simpatico connection between artist and brand?

Wallace: Bad Bunny and Adidas are a great example. When he signed with us, he really wanted to work with a footwear partner. He viewed the shoes that he wore as an important part of his lifestyle. And so we put together a partnership between him and Adidas. It’s not just a traditional endorsement, it’s actually a joint business. They’ve released a number of collaborations together. We just released an indoor Gazelle sneaker that is doing incredibly well.

Emily, tell me about what’s going on in Nashville these days. Must be exciting times, as country grows and broadens its audience.

Emily Wright: It’s great to see artists blending genres. It’s opening up new audiences. It’s great to see Kane Brown collaborating with a Regional Mexican musician like Carin León, or Beyoncé working with emerging artists like our client, Brittney Spencer. It’s growing the audience and reshaping the way people are thinking about country. I mean, even just last night, our client Machine Gun Kelly won two People’s Choice Country Awards for his projects in the country space. So it’s great to see new voices being welcomed.

And that expands into brand business as well. Recently we put Carin in a deal with Boot Barn alongside Miranda Lambert, Riley Green, Ian Munsick and Elle King. We think it puts him in the right positioning of where he wants to take this new genre that he’s spearheading.

Brittney Spencer wanted to be in mass fashion. We worked really intentionally with her publicist and her management team to help build her credibility in that category. Eventually, we put her in a Victoria’s Secret campaign. To this day, it’s the only time they’ve ever featured a country musician, let alone Black woman who represents extended sizing. It was a huge win and really created a lot of momentum for her.

Brands have always been a part of the country community, and country fans have always been fiercely loyal and such strong audiences. But what’s been fun to see is country grow beyond the standards of trucks, beer and boots. They’re always going to be an instrumental part of the genre. But now there are lot more brand categories —beauty, say, or athleisure—taking a more serious look at country.

Do you find that there are some genres of music in which artists are more amenable to striking brand deals?

Wallace: To be honest, no. Regardless of genre, everybody’s looking to partner with brands that make sense and are authentic to them. Those dollars are important to unlock and can help support a lot of different tours and endeavors, creative projects, music releases that need financing in new and interesting ways. And on the flip side, brands need new ways to reach audiences because younger consumers are just not watching television the the way they used to. The way we look at it, an artist’s Instagram or TikTok channel functions the same way that Cartoon Network or the Disney Channel do. That’s where audiences are going.

How did the Megan Moroney/Charlotte Tillbury deal come about?

Wright: Megan is very intentional with everything that she’s doing and she knows what’s going to make sense. And we’re very protective of how that needs to happen for her, particularly in the brand space, because she brings a lot of value into a relationship. Charlotte Tillbury is one of Megan’s favorite beauty brands, something she wears rather consistently. Anna Gregorek in our London office knew them pretty well, and when Megan was in London, she made the initial intro. Then we had their team come out and see Megan on the first headline show she did for the Lucky tour at Bowery Ballroom. Ultimately the timing was right and we were able to put together a partnership.

Wallace: We don’t view successful partnerships as transactions. We’re not just getting an offer, reviewing it and sending it to a client. It’s much deeper than that. We’re very thoughtful in having a point of view, what’s happening in the category, how does that dovetail into what the artist is doing, where they’re looking to go, how they’re looking to build. Does it make sense to do this right now? It really is a very deep and thoughtful strategic approach to every partnership and conversation.

Categories like soft drinks and fashion have long been traditional partners with artists. What’s a brand category that hasn’t traditionally worked with musicians where you think there’s room for growth?

Wallace: That’s a great question. If you’d asked me a couple of years ago, I would have said we hadn’t seen much innovation in the QSR (Quick-Service Restaurant) space. But we’ve recently seen some really innovative partnerships. I think one of the best is Post Malone and Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers. It’s one of his favorite foods. He’s had it on every set I’ve been on with him since 2016. Now they’ve built two restaurants together and Post co-designed those. We also put together the Cardi B-Offset partnership with McDonald’s, which was the first time McDonald’s had ever done a couple’s meal.

I also think there’s room for growth with financial services. They’ve always been part of tours and pre-sales, but there’s a lot of opportunities to think about: co-branded cards, special VIP access for fans in new and interesting ways. You’ve sort of seen that with the likes of Cash App. We did partnerships with them and Karol G and Lil Nas X.

Finally, I’d love to see hotels and airlines do more in music. A lot of those programs went away post-COVID. Artists fly everywhere, they stay in hotels when they’re on the road, they stay in Airbnbs. There’s a lot of opportunity there. A lot of those programs went away post-COVID.

Is there a non-UTA artist-brand partnership that you particularly admire?

Wallace: I loved the Chappell Roan-MAC partnership. I thought that was really organic, authentic, no-brainer, made complete sense. I thought it was very, very well done. I also think the Feid-Salomon partnership was incredible. He’s helped completely rejuvenate the popularity of that brand.

Wright: I like the Kacey Musgraves x Reformation collaboration. I thought it was an authentic pairing that showcased their shared values of sustainability, creativity and just being cool.

It would be hard to find a buzzier British act than RAYE, who swept this year’s BRIT Awards with a record-breaking six wins and has ticked off further major successes globally. After splitting from her major-label deal, she hit #2 on the U.K. Official Albums Chart with her independently released (and long-awaited) 2023 debut, My 21st Century Blues. That followed a #1 and Ivor Novello Award-winning single, “Escapism.” (feat/070 Shake), the biggest-selling track by a British female artist in 2023.

Later in the year, RAYE featured on “Prada” by cässo and D-Block Europe, which peaked at #2 and reached Top 10 in multiple European markets. This year’s busy live schedule has seen her headline BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend, play a sold-out O2 Arena show (17k seats), and perform at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Global Citizen and Reading & Leeds, not to mention opening for Taylor Swift at London’s Wembley Stadium in August.

Jonelle Ahiligwo, Head of Product at RAYE’s distributor, Human Re Sources, credits her success to date to talent, storytelling and a strong team. “It starts with her talent and dedication to her music and artistry. But beyond that, her story is what’s really powerful. She draws from her own raw experiences and makes a connection with her fans in that way. She’s super-eloquent not only with lyrics but in interviews and in live performances. It’s very special. Also, we have an incredible team built around her that works together with RAYE at the helm.”

That team includes her managers, parents Paul and Sarah Keen. They look after their wildly talented brood, which also includes Abby, who performs under the artist moniker of Absolutely, and songwriter Lauren, under S1bling mgmt. “What Paul and Sarah are building, from a management perspective, is groundbreaking,” says Human Re Sources founder J. Erving. “They’re building a real legacy.”

In September, RAYE made an appearance on The Daily Show and she released “Moi” with Central Cee early that same month.

She’ll be in the studio writing her next album at the end of the year. The strategy for her career going forward is to “continue making another amazing body of work, continue to plant the seeds of who she is as an artist and continue to build an audience,” says Erving. “The most important thing for her is integrity in her art, and I think she’s okay with wherever that lands in terms of what people would consider tentpoles for success. Her success starts with being true to herself, being true to the art and really standing for something that she believes in.”

Erving has solid faith in RAYE’s longevity. “‘Escapism.’ was a big hit two years ago,” he adds, “and we’re still talking about RAYE in a very real and current way. That’s a testament to her artist proposition and the fact that she’s bigger than any one song or album.”

Alt-rock four-piece The K’s burst onto the U.K. music scene with a bang this year thanks to their debut album, I Wonder If The World Knows?, which hit #3 on the Official Albums Chart. To date, it’s the best-selling debut album of the year, having shifted 25.5k in sales. The band have followed up this chart success in the live arena, selling more than 20k tickets for their U.K. shows in April and May and drawing a crowd of 12k at Glastonbury, according to Mark Orr, director of their label, LAB Records.

The K’s, who hail from the Northwest of England, trade in melodic, impassioned guitar anthems. It’s their “work ethic, electric live show and one of the most loyal and committed fan bases we’ve seen in 15 years of our label” that makes them special, according to Orr.

Alongside Glastonbury, this summer they played the main stages at Reading & Leeds and the Isle of Wight Festival. They also started to make in-roads in mainland Europe, playing shows and festivals across France, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands. In October, a limited edition 12” live album, recorded at Manchester venue Victoria Warehouse, sold out in one day. That precedes a special edition re-pressing of their debut later in the year. Album two is slated for summer 2025.

The next step, says Orr, is getting The K’s to the U.S. (he says they did have an offer for SXSW last year but it clashed with promo around the debut album). There, the band will be supported by a “fully committed” team at the label’s distributor, ADA, as well as Scott Brothman, LAB’s New York-based MD,. “When the time is right, we absolutely have ambition to grow the band internationally,” says Orr. “Our social and streaming data show extremely positive signs in the market, so it’s top of mind. For any U.K. act, the acid test of their global appeal is whether they can make inroads into the U.S.”

The ultimate ambition is for The K’s to be a festival headliner in “A-markets across the U.K., mainland Europe and beyond,” concludes Orr. “Ultimately, we are in the business of releasing records that are still meaningful three, five or 10 years into their life.”

British hip-hop duo D-Block Europe have been on an incredibly impressive trajectory. They’ve achieved eight U.K. Top 10 albums in less than five years, including January’s #1, Rolling Stone, 30 Top 40 hits and sold out London’s O2 Arena a record-breaking seven times (more than any other U.K. rap act). As Ali Neale, GM of EGA,the group’s distributor, says, “D-Block Europe is a phenomenon. They are like nothing that’s come before them, and I can’t imagine anything like them coming again any time soon. They’ve pioneered the wave genre in the U.K, always stayed true to themselves and done everything in their own time and way.”

“It’s also their fans who set them apart,” he continues. “They have a diehard, loyal and dedicated fan base which is unrivaled. Not only can they accumulate hundreds of millions of streams, but they can also sell hundreds of thousands of tickets. Not many can do both.” After playing four O2 Arena dates earlier this year, DBE completed a Europe tour in spring and have visited a number of festivals, including Splash! in Germany and Glastonbury. They also brought their DBE Fest to Ibiza Rocks and and Neale promises new music later in the year, following “Gold Mine” f/Aitch, which landed in August.

After taking the U.K. by storm, DBE have their sights set on the U.S. They’ve already got a footprint over there, having been originally co-signed by Jadakiss and releasing collaborations with acts including Offset, Lil Baby, Kodak Black and Rich the Kid. Playing a tour and festivals stateside is the next step, says Neale.

“Having their boots on the ground will further cement the foundations already built and provide more opportunities to collaborate with artists and for people to see and feel their star power. This, accompanied by their look and lifestyle, is something that sets them apart from other U.K. artists and is what we feel can resonate with the U.S. audience.” The ultimate ambition, adds Neale, is for DBE to be “the biggest rap group in the world.”

We last heard from the Maisie Peters team in 2020, when the British artist was early in her development but had already hit a plethora of major milestones. Those included selling out London’s 2k cap. Shepherd’s Bush Empire and picking up a legion of fans across press and radio.

Her career has only gone from strength to strength since. Peters hit #1 on the U.K.’s Official Albums Chart in June 2023 with her second set, The Good Witch, and has racked up over 1.5b streams. Her debut, You Signed Up for This, reached #2 in the U.K. in 2021.

In the live arena, she supported her mentor Ed Sheeran on his stadium dates, toured with Coldplay, Noah Kahan, Taylor Swift and Conan Gray and played the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. For her own headline shows, she is now an arena artist, having played London’s Wembley last year and Australia’s Melbourne Margaret Court Arena earlier this year, as well as selling out New York’s Radio City Music Hall and the Hollywood Palladium in L.A.

“She is a first-class British enter­tainer who has really done her 10,000 hours of live performance,” says Atlantic Records U.K. Co-President, Briony Turner. “She is an exceptional storyteller, and her wit and wry narrative give her a really unique place in the landscape of amazing female artists who are dominating the global stage right now.”

After completing her busy 2024 live schedule, Peters will be working on her third album. Liz Goodwin, GM at Atlantic U.K., says continuing to build audiences in Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia, as well as the U.K., is also a priority, alongside “focusing in on her rich catalog of songs and her highly engaged and growing social platforms.

“The U.S. is a huge focus for us every day, and we’re hoping she and the band will spend a lot of time there, particularly around the third album.” Peters has already made appearances on Today, Jimmy Fallon and James Corden.

The ultimate ambition, according to Turner, is “super-serving her existing fan base as well as making sure that her music reaches as many people across the world as possible.”

Jordan Adetunji, who describes himself as equal parts rock and rap star, has been climbing up the charts on both sides of the Atlantic this year with “Kehlani.” The track peaked at #8 on the U.K.’s Official Singles Chart, #25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has tallied over 300m worldwide streams.

He caught the attention of the Warner Records U.K. team after they noticed the then-independently released “Kehlani” bubbling on TikTok. It’s his second major-label deal, after previously being signed to Sony. “We’d been long-term fans of Jordan and had admired him from afar for a while,” says Tobi Omoloja, A&R consultant at the Warner label. “He was someone we really wanted to work with, and we felt he represented everything we stand for as a label.” The team brought in 300/YSL to have a global partner, and Adetunji was signed within a week.

Jordan’s DIY approach to making music makes him truly special, according to Jerome Porritt, head of A&R at Warner Records U.K. “His creation process is incredibly quick, he has a completely unique voice, and his writing style is a fascinating duality between underground and pop references, which is a real breath of fresh air.”

“Kehlani” has been boosted by a feature from Kehlani herself. That precedes some “amazing features” from artists in New York, London and Belfast that Omoloja promises will appear on a project that Adetunji will release later this year or early next. In the meantime, the plan is to keep building his profile to lay the groundwork for what Omoloja says will be an important milestone in his career.

“We see him as an artist who can sit between the Internet and pop culture—who takes an underground sound and style to the mainstream—and we want to help facilitate that as best we can,” he adds.

The U.S. is a big focus, as is the rest of the world. “There really is no ceiling for Jordan,” concludes Porritt. “There is no reason he can’t sit alongside the Drakes and Weeknds of the world. We want him to continue making authentic, groundbreaking music, and we want to help him reach as many people as possible.”

British singer and songwriter Myles Smith has been steadily climbing the U.K. Official Singles Chart this year with his hit, “Stargazing,” which peaked at #4 in August. The track has tallied 603m global streams and over 2m TTE, peaking at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching #7 on the European airplay chart. He’s sold out tours across the U.K., Europe, North America, Australia and South Africa and has a bright future in the U.S., with the support of RCA worldwide.

Smith arrived on the radar of the RCA U.K. team with his self-released cover of The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather.” Follow-up “Solo” sent the A&R team into “overdrive with excitement,” according to RCA U.K. Co-President Glyn Aikins. “After speaking with his manager, Eric [Parker], and then meeting Myles, where he played us a bunch of fantastic songs, we were all convinced he was an artist we wanted to be in business with.”

Aikins is bullish about Smith’s potential. “Myles has the voice, the songs, the story and viewpoint, the soft emotive skills, the ‘not what I was expecting’ element, the ambition and the smarts to make a very successful long-term career.” He’s had a host of playlist support across BBC, Global and Bauer radio stations, alongside major TV and press features.

He’s recently released two more singles, “Wait For You” and “Whisper.”

More new music will arrive in January and March. Touring-wise, Smith supported Imagine Dragons’ stadium tour in the U.S. in July and August, which preceded his own U.S. headline tour in autumn. Australia, U.K. and European headline tours will follow.

“We believe Myles Smith is an important U.K. artist who will break globally,” concludes Aikins. “The U.K. has a history of exporting commercially successful and critically lauded singer-songwriters. We believe Myles is a talent who will be commercially successful and deliver critical acclaim.”

Pop singer and songwriter Henry Moodie has attracted a worldwide fanbase with his melancholic songs and candid lyrics, written mostly in his bedroom. He honed his craft across break time at school before completing a songwriting diploma and later signing to Sony U.K. imprint Robots + Humans. It’s his “genuine musicianship,” which has been inspired by Taylor Swift and Coldplay, that makes him special, says label President Robert Ronaldson.

“He’s a genuine lover of pop music but with a real appreciation for the granular details of what makes a record connect. That analytical approach extends to everything he does, from his content to how he engages and builds excitement for his fans.”

Moodie signed to the label after releasing his debut single, “you were there for me,” and impressing the team with some “incredible demos.” Ronaldson continues: “We got a sense of his passion and desire to succeed within about five minutes of meeting him. He’s super-ambitious, so it was a no-brainer for us.”

So far, Moodie has racked up 600m+ streams across his catalog, which includes two EPs and a string of singles. “drunk text,” released earlier this year, reached #1 on the Spotify chart in Malaysia and Indonesia, peaking at #86 globally. He’s spent this year busily touring, with a number of U.K., European and Asian festivals throughout the summer, an Australian headline tour in August, and a U.K./Europe tour in October. His second EP, good old days, was released in September and precedes his debut album.

After playing his first U.S. shows earlier this year (with sold-out dates in New York and L.A.), returning to write and tour more is a “big priority,” says Ronaldson. Outside the U.S., building on his fanbase in Asia is also on the cards. “As clichéd as it is to say, the sky really is the limit for Henry,” concludes Ronaldson. “With his talent, ambition and vision, our goal—and expectation—is to make him a global pop star and household name.”