Is Maryland the new hotbed for music? The viral Spotify artist Arizona Zervas who just inked a deal with Columbia is from the Chesapeake Bay State, as well as REI AMI, the next artist breaking on Spotify. The majors are pursuing the South Korea native after her tracks landed on Spotify’s Fresh Finds and Anti Pop Playlist. Now, she is #5 on New Music Friday. If REI AMI strikes a deal with a major she will mark the third Spotify viral artist this month following Arizona Zervas and Ant Saunders to have conquered the playlists as an indie artist.

Big Machine Records’ Nashville headquarters was forced to shut down after employees received death threats amid Taylor Swift controversy. According to sources some of her fans have been trying to ‘to leak personal contact information and addresses of company employees including Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta. Swift claimed that the label owners have banned her from performing her old songs at the American Music Awards this month while her former label says her allegations are a fabrication.

Arista wins the battle over viral artist Ant Saunders. The New Jersey native released the track Yellow Hearts in June and quickly found a place on TikTok, streaming over 600,000 total videos. The track landed on Spotify’s Pop Rising . Finally, Apple Music came on board and backed the song, placing the track on Feeling Happy and Pure Pop 50 and Today’s Top Hits.

After a major label bidding war, the Spotify viral artist Arizona Zervas signed with Columbia Records. The war heated up after the success of his track ‘ROXANNE’ which grabbed the #1 spot on Spotify’s US Top 50. Apple followed suit and added the track to Today’s Hits playlist. The 24-year-old Arizona Zervas hails from Maryland and gained serious numbers on TikTok and YouTube before taking over Spotify.

Taylor Swift claimed Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta from Big Machine are blocking her from performing her own songs at the AMAs. Label boss Scott Borchetta says this a fabrication.

Big Machine also claims Taylor’s admitted to owing the company millions of dollars….

Big Machine says “Taylor made a unilateral decision last night to enlist her fanbase in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families.

The label says … “Taylor, the narrative you have created does not exist.”

“The truth is, Taylor has admitted to contractually owing millions of dollars and multiple assets to our company, which is responsible for 120 hardworking employees who helped build her career. We have worked diligently to have a conversation about these matters with Taylor and her team to productively move forward. We started to see progress over the past two weeks and were optimistic as recently as yesterday that this may get resolved. However, despite our persistent efforts to find a private and mutually satisfactory solution, Taylor made a unilateral decision last night to enlist her fanbase in a calculated manner that greatly affects the safety of our employees and their families.