Participating artists will receive 12 months of free studio time, early access to select Spotify features, prioritized access to tour or music video partnerships, and more

Spotify has launched Fresh Finds Forward for emerging independent artists.

Spotify has launched a new program that will give about 10,000 emerging independent artists each year extra support to make the most of early momentum on their streaming service and beyond.

Named Fresh Finds Forward, the program builds on more than a decade of Fresh Finds, which a press release touts has helped more than 80,000 artists across 127 countries find new listeners. In 2021, the streaming service launched Fresh Finds to spotlight indie musicians in marketing campaigns and equip them with a variety of educational tools. The program was a spin-off of the Fresh Finds playlist.

Alumni include Laufey, Clairo, Doechii, Ice Spice, Megan Moroney, and Omar Apollo, per the release, which adds that for five consecutive years, alumni of the program have earned Best New Artist nominations.

The project will kick off with eligible artists added to Fresh Finds from Jan. 1, 2026 and onward. Spotify announced that participating artists will receive 12 months of free studio time, early access to select Spotify tools and features, exclusive programming and community, prioritized access to tour or music video partnerships with the company, premium access to digital tools like LANDR and Splice, and mental health and wellness resources.

Joe Hadley, Spotify’s Global Head of Music Content and Partnerships, said in a statement: “Fresh Finds Forward takes everything we’ve learned from a decade of discovery and builds a support system around it, so participating artists aren’t just getting a playlist placement, they’re getting the benefits, resources, and the community to make the most of that moment.”

Those interested in learning more about Fresh Finds Forward can hear directly from alumni including Role Model, Megan Moroney, sombr, Laufey, and Remi Wolf here.Spotify has launched a new program that will give about 10,000 emerging independent artists each year extra support to make the most of early momentum on their streaming service and beyond.

Named Fresh Finds Forward, the program builds on more than a decade of Fresh Finds, which a press release touts has helped more than 80,000 artists across 127 countries find new listeners. In 2021, the streaming service launched Fresh Finds to spotlight indie musicians in marketing campaigns and equip them with a variety of educational tools. The program was a spin-off of the Fresh Finds playlist.

Alumni include Laufey, Clairo, Doechii, Ice Spice, Megan Moroney, and Omar Apollo, per the release, which adds that for five consecutive years, alumni of the program have earned Best New Artist nominations.

The project will kick off with eligible artists added to Fresh Finds from Jan. 1, 2026 and onward. Spotify announced that participating artists will receive 12 months of free studio time, early access to select Spotify tools and features, exclusive programming and community, prioritized access to tour or music video partnerships with the company, premium access to digital tools like LANDR and Splice, and mental health and wellness resources.

Joe Hadley, Spotify’s Global Head of Music Content and Partnerships, said in a statement: “Fresh Finds Forward takes everything we’ve learned from a decade of discovery and builds a support system around it, so participating artists aren’t just getting a playlist placement, they’re getting the benefits, resources, and the community to make the most of that moment.”

Those interested in learning more about Fresh Finds Forward can hear directly from alumni including Role Model, Megan Moroney, sombr, Laufey, and Remi Wolf here.

After weeks of cryptic teasers and rampant fan speculation, Drake finally unveiled Fear of Missing Out on Tuesday night, though with a few hours of delay.

The Toronto rapper's self-described "not so short film" runs for just over an hour, blending new music, cinematic sequences, celebrity cameos and a series of increasingly bizarre side quests. Arriving roughly four months after Drake's May run of ICEMAN, HABIBTI and MAID OF HONOUR, FOMO seems to lean into the Boy's new era.

There is plenty of new material along the way. Drake debuts previously unreleased collaborations with Don Toliver, Yeat and PartyNextDoor, while also unveiling his long-teased interpolation of Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas." In total, nine new tracks or previously unheard musical moments appear throughout the film.

The Don Toliver collaboration was particularly awaited, after Drake's surprise appearance at Toliver's Toronto concert in August. The pair's latest collaboration, "Cold Shoulder," gets a substantial showcase in FOMO.

The film is also packed with familiar faces and Drake mythology. Sexyy Red, Kevin Durant, Winnie Harlow, Lena the Plug, Stunna Sandy and Drake's mother, Sandra Graham, all appear. Drake heads to the Canadian National Exhibition in an Iron Man suit, wears a BRAT shirt and revisits locations and imagery associated with some of his biggest videos, including "God's Plan," "Hotline Bling," "Started From the Bottom," "Headlines" and "Toosie Slide."

There are also more personal and unexpected moments, including Drake appearing to show off the $1 million Tupac Shakur crown ring he purchased at auction in 2023, while another unreleased track includes a line that appears to reference Kendrick Lamar.

At the Toronto premiere, Drake confirmed that he will return to the road in 2027 for a world tour. It will mark his first North American tour since 2023, although dates and venues have yet to be announced. "Obviously, tour is coming and there's other things on the horizon, some big shows," Drake said. "We'll be out 2027 to see everybody again across the world."

And then, almost as quickly as it arrived, FOMO disappeared. Drake's YouTube upload was made private following the premiere, in typical Drake fashion.

Ozzy Osbourne in 2024.

Ozzy Osbourne‘s emotional goodbye to his fans will be the subject of the upcoming concert film Back to the Beginning, which will hit movie theaters beginning on Oct. 28. Osbourne headlined the star-studded Back to the Beginning concert, performing a solo set and one with the original lineup of Black Sabbath, in his hometown of Birmingham, England last July less than three weeks before his death.

Tickets for screenings go on sale at 10 a.m. ET on Sept. 24. Full details are on the Back to the Beginning website.

“Back to the Beginning came about because I asked Ozzy what would really make him happy,” Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne’s wife and manager, said in a statement. “And he said the only thing that would make him happy was if he could perform again and say goodbye to his fans. That’s all he wanted to do. He wanted to say goodbye and thank you.”

The day-long concert at Birmingham’s Villa Park stadium featured performances by Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Pantera, Anthrax, Halestorm, Yungblud, and many others. The music director for the concert was Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, who commented in a statement that “there’s never been a precedent for a show like this.” It all led up to Osbourne’s solo set and four songs by Black Sabbath.

“It was a closure for the band, and it was a good way to go out, I think,” Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi said in a statement.

“To me it was like pure love,” the band’s bassist, Geezer Butler, said. “It was just a wave of love. It’s the only way I can describe it really. I mean I could feel it as if it is like tangible.”

“[I] felt completely at home in a place where I belong,” drummer Bill Ward said. “It almost felt like I was in a dream.”

Filmmaker Ben Wainwright-Pearce, whose credits include Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and George Michael: The Faith Tour, directed the concert film. The live concert footage, which was livestreamed during the concert, was directed by Tim van Someren. The movie presentation will feature Dolby Atmos and 5.1 surround sound to bring the stadium feel of the performance to the big screen.

Rolling Stone praised the original concert in a review. “For all the false farewells and goodbyes in his career, there was something so final about this one that added a crushing poignancy to the night,” the magazine said. “The great tragedy is that so often such legends die before celebrations on this level can take place, yet by some great miracle or divine intervention Ozzy Osbourne was here to take his final bow with his own tribe.”

Sean "Diddy" Combs in 2023

Sean Combs’ civil attorneys have dropped him as a client, citing six months of unpaid legal fees and an increasingly strained relationship with the Bad Boy founder, which court papers describe as a “total breakdown in cooperation and communication.”

Lawyers from the New York firm Sher Tremonte filed paperwork on Monday requesting to withdraw as legal representation for Combs in adefamation case against the parent company of NewsNation and two individuals. Combs sued Nexstar Media, lawyer Ariel Mitchell and her client Courtney Burgess over 2024 allegations made on the NewsNation show “Banfield” that claimed Combs mixed drugs with baby oil. (Combs vehemently denied the claim.)

The attorneys claimed that Combs — who is currently serving a 50-month sentence after being convicted on prostitution offenses last summer — was in “substantial arrears” in paying his legal fees to the law firm and that “his last payment related to fees and expenses that were incurred in late 2025,” according to the four-page submission obtained by Rolling Stone.

Additionally, the law firm claims that their representation of Combs had been “rendered unreasonably difficult by Mr. Combs’s lack of cooperation” and that Combs had declined to make himself “available for timely, substantive, and direct communications about his cases for over four months.”

In a statement provided to Rolling Stone through his spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, Combs suggested it was a mutual decision to part ways, citing charges he disagreed with. “I made the decision to switch lawyers because I won’t let anyone take advantage of me by overcharging me and running up bills that were never approved,” Combs said. “This is strictly a business matter, and any talk about unpaid fees is just part of our dispute over those unapproved charges.”

Michael Tremonte, a partner at Sher Tremonte, said in a statement to Rolling Stone that the firm had “represented Mr. Combs zealously and very efficiently under challenging circumstances. As stated in our court filings, we are withdrawing from representing him because he has not paid his long-overdue invoices and has become uncooperative. Any suggestion that we overcharged him is simply false.”

Sher Tremonte attorneys also represent Combs in several civil sexual assault lawsuits filed against the music mogul. It is unclear whether the firm will withdraw from those cases as well.

Combs’ spokesperson said attorney Jonathan Davis is already representing Combs and his companies in several other civil cases and “has encountered no resistance from the client in defending him.”

“The complications of representing an incarcerated client are always difficult, but never insurmountable. Mr. Davis said that he ‘continues to defend Mr. Combs undaunted because he is confident the truth will be exposed’ and that his client will be vindicated,” Engelmayer added.

Combs is currently serving his sentence at Fort Dix, a minimum-security federal facility in New Jersey. The 56-year-old is currently scheduled for release in February 2028, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Last July, Combs was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution as part of a sprawling sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy case. He was acquitted of those charges.

It just never stops for Angine de Poitrine, as it was announced they are bringing their extraterrestrial brand of Québec math-rock to the Polaris Music Prize stage.

The Saguenay duo have been added to the lineup for the 2026 Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony, taking place September 22 at Toronto’s Massey Hall. The announcement comes thef day after the band made their U.S. late-night television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where they performed their previously unreleased track “Zugzegk.”

The group has had one of the most fascinating and cataclismic breakout years in recent Canadian music history. Their album Vol. II is among the 10 records shortlisted for the 2026 Polaris Album Prize, while “Fabienk” is also in contention for the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize.

They join an evening featuring performances from fellow Polaris nominees including Aquakulture, Begonia, Bibi Club, Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Elizabeth Copeland, Charlotte Cornfield, Les Louanges and Tanya Tagaq. Long List nominees Slash Need will also perform an interpretation of Peaches’ No Lube So Rude.

Back home (or at least their terrestrial residence) in Québec, Angine de Poitrine are also getting high praise at the ADISQ Awards, where they're nominated in 11 categories, just one shy of fellow Rolling Stone Canada Future of Music 2026 alum Lou-Adriane Cassidy, who leads with 12.

Just two days after launching her first concert residency in six years, Canadian superstar Céline is seeing a major surge in Spotify activity, with listeners across Europe and North America revisiting her catalogue at striking levels.

In Canada, 15 Céline songs landed among Spotify’s top 15 trending tracks, led by «On ne change pas», whose streams were up 322 percent compared with its average. ''S’il suffisait d’aimer'', ''Pour que tu m’aimes encore'' and ''J’irai où tu iras'' also posted significant increases.

France has seen an even bigger spike, with nearly 30 of her tracks trending, as Céline-mania takes over Paris. ''All by Myself (Live)'' jumped 655 percent, while ''Beauty and the Beast'' rose 516 percent. ''On ne change pas'' was up 493 percent, while ''The Power of Love'' and ''Imperfections'' climbed by more than 475 percent. The renewed interest is also crossing language barriers. ''Pour que tu m’aimes encore'' has entered the Top 10 trending songs in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and the U.S., where it was the only Céline track among the day’s Top 50 trending songs.

We also finally know what caused the delay on the opening night. Québec music veteran Robert Charlebois, who attended the opening with Céline’s family, revealed on France 5 that the singer arrived 48 minutes late because the group was waiting for Michelle Obama, according to Oprah Winfrey, who was also in attendance. Charlebois said Céline’s family was concerned because such a delay was highly unusual for her. He joked that it was more reminiscent of Madonna.

Céline Dion is scheduled to continue her residency through October 17, with a second run of performances planned for May 2027.