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.

21 year old Taylor Waters singer-songwriter releases Delirious. The Vancouver based pop artist first gained traction with her debut single ‘Little Sister’ racking up streams, landing on Spotify playlists like “Indie Pop Chill Out”, “Poptronix” and “Happy Hits”. Taylor notes, “I wrote the song in my bed at like 2 am when I should have been sleeping or at least working on one of my thousand papers due. But Instead, I wrote a song about a messed up relationship I was in.” “I just wanted to write something that was relatable and honest. My goal is to always create music that people can connect with.” Give it a listen.

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.