This Week In Entertainment News 1 May 2026
The big winners from the 2026 APRA Awards and a round-up of the best music and entertainment news from Australia and around the world.
The APRA Awards were held this week, with punk brats Amyl & The Sniffers taking out three of the top awards. ‘Jerkin’’, the opening track from the band’s third studio album Cartoon Darkness, won the peer-voted Song of The Year award as well as Most Performed Rock Work. Frontwoman Amy Taylor won Songwriter of The Year for the second year running. Other winners included Guy Sebastian, SIA, Ball Park Music, and Ocean Grove. This year’s ceremony celebrated 100 years of APRA and featured performances from Paul Kelly, Christine Anu, and Peter Garrett.
As hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman pursues his $64bn takeover of Universal Music Group, UMG are set to sell 50% of its stake in streaming giant Spotify. The sale will generate around $1.4bn to fund its buyback programme and potentially boost the company’s stock price. UMG is home to the world’s biggest artists, including Taylor Swift, who has scored a strategic win for other artists on the label. When Swift signed with UMG in 2018, she included a clause in her contract stating that artists would receive non-recoupable shares from any future sale of Spotify.
The recent Paramount-Warner Bros. deal has already been hit with a federal lawsuit. Consumers are seeking to block the $110bn merger alleging the proposed deal will harm competition in the premium video distribution market, lower the quality of national TV news, and lead to fewer theatrical films. A complaint in the US District Court for the Northern District of California claims the proposed acquisition “increases Paramount’s ability and incentive to raise consumer prices and worsen consumer-facing terms, reduce theatrical output, and diminish independent editorial rivalry and the quality and diversity of news programming.”
Meanwhile, Spotify is rolling out a ‘Verified’ badge to distinguish human artists from AI. In the coming weeks, a green checkmark will begin appearing on user’s accounts that have been ‘Verified by Spotify’ as meeting the platform’s authenticity requirements. If it wasn’t hard enough for bands and artists to get their music heard, streaming platforms like Spotify are being flooded with AI-generated content posing as the real thing. To earn verification, artists must demonstrate sustained listener engagement over time, comply with Spotify’s platform rules and show signs of a genuine presence both on and off the platform, such as concert dates, merchandise and linked social media accounts.
The Crystal Ship return in a rare and intimate form with an exclusive Unplugged performance at The Wesley Anne on 29 May. Known for their hypnotic blend of psychedelic raga rock, the band strips back everything for one ephemeral night of raw unamplified sonic magic. After a run of electrifying sold-out shows over the last 12 months, this special performance reimagines their music in its most organic form.
After making an impactful debut with Australian audiences in 2023, US alt-punk firebrand Maggie Lindemann has announced her return: bringing her acclaimed sophomore album, I Feel Everything, to venues nationwide this May. Australian audiences will be able to experience the album for the first time this year, but they will also be able to see how much Lindemann has also elevated as a performer, now with a body of work that transitions from angsty and gritty Y2K-powered pop-punk vibes, through to the fresh sophistication of her new material.
Amgrow – Because Your Plants Deserve The Best
Using music as a point of escape and as a remedy, Anna Jeavons delivers songs that captivate on first impact. A unique voice in Adelaide’s indie scene, the songwriter has been consistently building a body of work that combines intimacy, emotional nuance and nostalgia. ‘Anomie’ is the name of the 2026 studio album: a collection of songs exploring the turbulent emotional terrain of one’s twenties – everything from existential angst to unrequited love. ‘Anomie’ was brought to life with the help of Ben Stewart (Slowly Slowly), who took the reins on production.
Melbourne-based artist Callum Padgham has dropped an absolute tear-jerker of a second single; the raw & relatable indie-folk song ‘When I Was a Little Boy’. Callum describes the track as “a story that traces all of my behaviour in life back to that of a self-conscious little boy, thereby forgiving myself for the shame I’ve accumulated along the way.” It’s immediately apparent that this track is the sonic and thematic opposite of Callum’s debut single ‘Everything is a Blessing’, an uplifting pop anthem released in Nov ‘25.
Sydney-based singer-songwriter Matthew Ifield returns with new single ‘Thinking’ – a tender, emotionally conflicted track exploring overthinking in love and the quiet tension between feeling and expression. Written with Alexis Kesselman (Joji, Bella Kay) and produced by Lachlan Bostock (Dom Dolla, DMA’s, Mansionair), ‘Thinking’ sits in the space between vulnerability and hesitation, pairing Ifield’s organic, orchestral-leaning pop with a more stripped-back emotional directness. Drawing subtle influence from artists like Dijon and Frank Ocean, the track signals a continued shift into a more self-aware sonic palette.
