Poaching (stealing music acts from other parties) has always been common practice in the music biz. UMG just poached an artist from Columbia, and this isn’t a just any fish, it’s a whale.

BTS is ending its distribution deal with Sony Music’s Columbia and is headed to Universal Music Group.

UMG Sir Lucian Grainge and IGA boss John Janick have inked a deal with K-pop boyband  BTS. The arrangement was struck via Bang Si-Hyuk-led Korean firm HYBE (fka Big Hit).

Scooter Braun, who sold his company Ithaca Holdings to HYBE in April, reportedly helped seal the deal using his relationship with Grainge and HYBE Global CEO Lenzo Yoon.

Ironically, Columbia’s Kid LAROI just split with Scooter’s management company just after 3 months. Did The Kid getta call from the boss?

Watch out for EstherLivia and the track Hollow. It’s reminiscent of the 90’s Shirley Manson fronted act Garbage blended with Billie Eilish. The song would fit nicely on Spotify’s Indie Pop Playlist.

She says this about the track, “Bad relationships are not a fun thing, but somehow they always seem to turn out to a great song. So thank you for that at least.”

Estherlivia is 24 years old and started out as a producer in her childhood home in Mariestad, Sweden. Old school hip-hop beats laid the groundwork but later her music evolved into more pop oriented songs over the beats.  After 4 years in Stockholm, Estherlivia released the songs like If I Ever Feel Again, I Would Never and Give Me Love.

Watch out for Belaro and the new track Sober. You’ll like if you love R&B, rhythmic, a little throwback, and pop. The track is a collaboration with producer/songwriter, Colby O’Donis, who is also featured on Lady Gaga’s hit “Just Dance”. Belaro, based in LA has landed on Spotify’s “Just Hits,” “Fresh Finds“, and “Fresh Finds: Pop”.

You can check her out at The Peppermint Club on 10/25.  Stream the track on KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist.

The Berlin based bedroom indie pop artist Clide, our favorite sad boy pop artist, just dropped Come Over. The new track comes off the Feelings EP.

“It’s a really pure song where I tried to express the thoughts and feelings that were running around my head at the time,” says Clide. “I like the song so much, because it’s so honest and real, and I hope others can feel that too.”

The songwriter Berlin based songwriter landed on Spotify’s New Music Friday in the U.S. with his last track Can’t Give Back Your Love. Stream it on KOAR’s Indie Invaders Playlist.

Warner Music has snatched up The Walters after a bidding war among labels. The Chicago indie rock band released their first EP, Songs for Dads, and landed on Spotify’s U.S. Viral Top 50. Ironically, the band broke up a few year ago, but a resurgence on TikTok may have brought the band back together. The power of the Tok.

The band released two songs “Hunk Beach” and “I Want to Be Good”, and their song “I Love You So” went viral on TikTok and has garnered over 15,000,000 views on YouTube.

The band has performed at Chicago venues such as the Metro, House of Blues, Riot Fest Chicago, and the Lollapalooza Festival.