And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan - And The Update Is...The Charts Are Country. The Industry Is AI. Now What?

Episode Date: April 24, 2026

Every week, And the Writer Is brings you the most important news moving through the music industry — straight, sharp, and no fluff. This week Ross Golan opens the weekly And The Writer Is… news update (week of April 20, 2026) by highlighting major chart wins:Swimf by BTS is #1 on the Global 200 for a fourth weekChoose In Texas by Ella Langley holds #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a seventh weekHer album Dandelion debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200He teases an upcoming Stagecoach interview and notes a strong country music moment.New music + industry highlights:Olivia Rodrigo dropped a new single Drop Dead, debuting at #1 on Spotify charts, co-written/produced by Dan NigroThe podcast re-released Dan Nigro’s episode to celebrateBusiness + industry news:Paul Epworth sold his catalog for a massive (undisclosed) amountStreaming platform Deezer is now receiving 75,000 AI-generated tracks per day (44% of uploads), raising concerns about “AI slop”Splice introduced a new AI tool that pays sample creators, which Ross praisesOther updates:Massive Attack signed a new deal banning certain rules (brief mention)Miranda Lambert signed with MCA Nashville, signaling a major upcoming era Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to and the update is I am your host, Ross Golan. This is the news in the music industry for the week of 420, 2026. As you guys have probably seen, Swim by BTS is still number one on the global 200 chart for the fourth week. Choose in Texas by Ella Langley is number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the seventh week. her album Dandelion debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart pretty impressive work we are on our way to sage coach so we are in a in a country state of mind over here excited to show you guys and tell you more about that interview shortly it is a banger surely you know Olivia rodrigo released a new single which debuted at number one on Spotify US and global song charts that song is drop Dead and it was co-written and produced by our friend Dan Nigro. So we released his, we re-released his second episode this week and because it's a classic and we are excited to celebrate that for him. Paul Epworth, in some news, Paul Epworth sold his catalog for probably a gazillion dollars.

Of course, we don't know exactly how much it was, but he's written some hits for Adele and Rihanna and Florence against the machine. Florence and the machine. Florence against the machine would be a cool cover band of Florence and the machine and rage against a machine that probably doesn't actually exist. But I'm just going with the flow here. So Dieser now receives 75,000 AI generated tracks per day. bots on bots on bots.

That makes up 44% of new uploads increasing from 60,000 a day in January. But DISA and the other DSPs are definitely aware of the AI slop, and I'm sure it's costing them a fortune to store all that crap. Splice, though, introduce a new AI tool that compensates sample creators for usage. Wow, what a novel idea. But Splice, you know, they're leading the way. So thank you guys for doing that. Also, they are friends of the podcast.

So excited to highlight that. In other news, massive attack signed a new deal that banned rules. Miranda Lambert, the goat, she signed to MCA Nashville for records. That is a big deal that will just become a bigger deal when she. releases her next album that we will all surely listen to. Anyway, that is the news for the week. Thank you, Georgia Webbush, for wonderful notes as always, and we will be back on Tuesday with a new episode. Stay safe out there and we'll talk to you soon.