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Rapper Yung Miami has signed with WME for worldwide representation in all areas. The South Florida rapper and former member of the City Girls will release her solo debut on the relaunched Uptown Records later this year. The album’s lead single, “Spend Dat,” topped the Billboard Rap Airplay charts and is currently at No. 17 on the Hot 100, and she performed it during the New York Knicks’ Championship Parade last month.
+ New York’s City Parks Foundation will honor SummerStage festival founder and executive producer Joe Killian and Alex Blavatnik, Vice Chairman of Access Industries and Director of the Blavatnik Archive, at its 2026 Dinner & Concert benefit fundraiser, taking place September 10 at the SummerStage venue at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park. Killian, who founded SummerStage and served as its executive producer from 1986 to 1993, will receive the SummerStage Icon Award, as the storied festival celebrates its milestone 40th anniversary this season, and Blavatnik will be honored with the 2026 City Parks Foundation Icon Award. The evening will also feature a performance by New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Band and others to be announced.
City Parks Foundation, through its Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage Festival, is one of the largest presenters of free arts and cultural programs in New York City parks, and serves nearly 300,000 New Yorkers each year through arts, education, sports and community building initiatives.
“As we celebrate SummerStage’s 40th anniversary this year, we are truly honored to be presenting our trailblazing festival founder Joe Killian with this year’s SummerStage Icon Award. Joe had a groundbreaking vision to bring free, world-class performing arts programming to New Yorkers, and we are so proud to be continuing his mission across the city to this day” said Heather Lubov, Executive Director of City Parks Foundation. “We are also equally excited to present Alex Blavatnik with the City Parks Foundation Icon Award and shine a spotlight on the longtime commitment and philanthropic support that he and his Foundation have provided to preserving cultural history and making it freely accessible to all – something we strongly believe in.”
+ Sony Music Publishing Nashville has signed Adam James to a global publishing deal. James has penned songs for Luke Combs, Dierks Bentley, Nate Smith and more. He recently contributed four songs on Cody Johnson’s CMA Album of the Year winner “Leather,” including “Whiskey Bent” featuring Jelly Roll. He also penned the “Knowing You” by Kenny Chesney, which was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2022 Academy of Country Music Awards.
James said, “I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be at Sony Music Publishing. The energy I feel from the team when I walk through the door every day is truly inspiring. I’m sincerely fired up to work with all y’all. It also makes me super happy to know my songs will be hanging out with Roger Miller’s and Dennis Linde’s on a massive cloud storage database somewhere. Dreams do come true!”
+ Traditional country artist Colton Dawson has signed with WME for global representation. The 19-year-old Arizona native recently signed with Warner Records Nashville and is managed by TKO Artist Management.
“Signing with WME is a huge milestone for me,” said Dawson. “I grew up loving country music and dreaming about playing these kinds of stages, so to now have a team that believes in what I’m building means the world. I’m ready to get out there and keep earning it every night.”
+ Detroit-based producer and executive Justin “Jay” Norman, who most recently served as Global Director of Creative Strategy and Global Head of Music Marketing at Spotify, has left the streamer to lead Verse + Hook (V+H); the creative strategy, branding, and marketing consultancy he co-founded.
Co-founder Miso Brown steps in as Head of Brand Amplification, Partner Tierra Filhiol assumes the role of Head of Cultural Intelligence & Strategy, and Kyle Bernhardt will take on the position of Executive Director, Head of Creative. Rounding out the team, Chelsea V Huguley will manage Client Partnerships & Business Development as Director, Apryl Gordy joins as Director of People & Operations, and Joe Zimmer will serve as Director of Project Management. According to the announcement, Verse + Hook operates across five practice areas: Strategy, Brand + Creative, Production + Content, Experiential, and Music + Sync via its sync licensing arm, Soundry.
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