Imagine Dragons, Roberta Flack, Valerie Simpson, SBA Grants, Help UK Live Music, Christian Johnson Hipgnosis, Mandolin’s Funding

Your daily update on new releases, tours, and business news from MusicIndustryCity.com Imagine Dragons Announce Highly Anticipated New Album, ‘Mercury: Act I’ The band have revealed their new album, Mercury: Act I, will be released on September 3rd. For a time, the band has been teasing new music, first stating that a new song, "Wrecked," would be released on Friday, July 2. The band also made a variety of special retail products available for pre-order, including hats, t-shirts, box sets, and Mercury vinyl versions. While they have been working on their new album, they have also released a plethora of new music and announced a number of festival dates. Valerie Simpson, Roberta Flack Among First Women Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductees They were among the first class of inductees into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame. Deniece Williams, Tawatha Agee, and Naomi Judd were among those recognized. The event took place on June 25 in Washington, D.C.'s National Museum of Women in the Arts. Janice McLean DeLoatch, an entrepreneur and composer, founded the awards to address the gender disparity in the long-established Songwriters Hall of Fame. According to Vanity Fair, only 31 of the 439 entrants over the past five decades have been women. CROSS-PARTY GROUP OF 22 MPS CALL ON PM TO URGENTLY HELP LIVE MUSIC INDUSTRY 22 MPs from across the political spectrum have joined forces to urge the Prime Minister and Government to take steps, such as extending VAT relief on ticket revenue and giving live event insurance, to assist the UK's live music business in recovering from the pandemic. The MPs have signed a Commons Early Day Motion emphasizing the critical support required by the music sector, which contributed £5.8 billion to the economy before the pandemic. In addition to emphasizing that many freelancers and self-employed workers, who account for roughly three-quarters of the 200,000 in the music industry, have been out of work since March 2020, they stated that approximately 70% of musicians have lost more than three-quarters of their work due to Covid-19 restrictions. We’ll talk more about this in the Music News Power Hour live on Clubhouse and on MusicIndustryCity.com at 12 p.m. Eastern. SBA Has Delivered $1 Billion in Shuttered Venue Grants The Small Business Administration has delivered $1 billion in Shuttered Venue Operator Grant funds to the accounts of independent promoters, venues, movie theaters and more. The SBA has seen a faster rollout of award notifications in the past two weeks after failing to deliver all Priority 1 businesses in the first 14 days. In Musical Chairs… CHRISTIAN JOHNSON PROMOTED TO SENIOR DIRECTOR OF A&R AT HIPGNOSIS SONGS GROUP Based in Los Angeles, Johnson joined the Big Deal Music Group in 2018 as the assistant to Co-President Casey Robison which was acquired by Hipgnosis Songs Fund last year. In his new role as Senior Director of A&R, Johnson will work across the company’s growing domestic and international roster of songwriters & producers which includes John Ryan (Maroon 5, One Direction, Niall Horan), Julian Bunetta (Thomas Rhett, Clean Bandit, Niall Horan, One Direction), Steph Jones (Selena Gomez, Kelsea Ballerini, P!nk, John K) and more. And in music tech news… Live streamer Mandolin adds $12M in funding Music live streaming service Mandolin has closed a $12M Series A funding round, co-led by 645 Ventures and Foundry Group, with returning investments from High Alpha and TIME Ventures. Given the rapid return of live music, the investment is as a major VC endorsement of music livestreaming and of Mandolin as the player to watch. That concludes today's update. For article links, see the show notes, or go to MusicIndustryCity.com and listen to the Music News Power Hour live in Clubhouse or on the website at 12 p.m. Eastern. Have a great day!