Ninajirachi could fill her boots at the 2026 AIR Awards, for which the EDM star and her support cast are shortlisted in 10 categories included the coveted independent album and single of the year.

With the release last year of her debut full-length album, I Love My Computer, the electronic music producer and DJ has been flying high both on the international festivals and awards circuits. Along the way, Ninajirachi (real name: Nina Wilson) nabbed three wins at the 2025 ARIA Awards, won the Australian Music Prize for album of the year, J Awards, the NSW Music Prize for breakthrough artist, and took out second place in the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition for “iPod Touch.” On the live front, she realized a dream by performing at Coachella 2026, with another North American tour to come.

Expect another gold rush at the AIR Awards, to be presented Thursday, July 30 at Adelaide Town Hall, for an invite-only industry event.

Also on the night, Ninajirachi’s label home, Nina Las Vegas’ NLV Records, is shortlisted for independent label of the year, one of the top categories. NLV Records will square off with ABC Music, Astral People Recordings, College Of Knowledge and Mushroom Music.

Other nominees, announced today, May 14, include Teen Jesus And The Jean Teasers, Spacey Jane, Jem Cassar-Daley, Confidence Man, FISHER, John Butler, Keli Holiday, and Stella Donnelly.

Produced by The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (AIR), the awards were first established in 2006 as an effort to “recognize, promote, and celebrate the success of Australia’s Independent Music sector.”

The trophies will once again be handed out on the penultimate evening of AIR’s Indie-Con Australia Conference and A2IM’s Indie Week Australian Edition, presented this year at Mercury Cinema and Nexus Arts from July 29 – 31.

“The South Australian Government is proud to support Indie‑Con Australia and the AIR Awards,” comments minister for arts Kyam Maher MLC, “and to welcome nominees, industry leaders and delegates from across Australia and around the world to South Australia.”

As previously reported, AIR has, for the first time, split its dance and electronic recognition into more clearly defined lanes. A new best independent dance/club single category will spotlight club-driven tracks — including house, techno, trance, drum & bass and garage — with eligibility requiring a DJ service component.

Meanwhile, best independent electronic single fetes electronic releases not designed primarily for club settings, separating festival-floor material from broader electronic artistry.

The category formerly known as best independent dance or electronica album or EP category has been renamed best independent electronic album or EP to align with the updated single framework.

See the full list of AIR Awards nominations below.

Young Thug knows what it’s like to be sitting behind bars awaiting your day in court. Thugger took to X on Wednesday (May 13) with a message in support of Lil Durk, calling for the Chicago rapper’s freedom.

“Free smurk please god,” he wrote.

Fittingly, Brian Steel, the powerhouse attorney who represented Young Thug in his YSL RICO case, filed to join Lil Durk’s legal team in March and represent him in his federal murder-for-hire case.

Steel facilitated a plea deal for 15 years of probation and time served to get Thugger out of jail in October 2024 after the YSL rapper spent over two years behind bars.

“I get very close to my clients. I meet their families,” Steel told Billboard in an interview in March. “Because if I’m going to defend somebody, I gotta be invested. I gotta believe in the person. I gotta make it where if I lose this case, it’s going to ruin my life.”

He continued: “I just want to help people, ethically and zealously. And I don’t want to hurt anybody, and God willing, something good will come out.”

Steel was also part of Diddy’s defense team in April, which saw the embattled Bad Boy mogul sentenced to 50 months in prison for violating federal prostitution laws.

Lil Durk was arrested in October 2024 on murder-for-hire charges, as federal agents apprehended the OTF rapper before they believed he was headed to catch a private flight to Italy.

Durk’s trial was set for April, but has once again been delayed to Aug. 20. Prosecutors allege that Durk plotted to have rival rapper Quando Rondo killed during a Los Angeles shooting in 2022. However, Rondo’s cousin, Lul Pap (Saviay’a Robinson), was killed during the crossfire.

Prosecutors believe that Durk ordered the hit to have Rondo taken out in retaliation for the 2020 killing of rapper King Von (Dayvon Bennett), who was the rapper’s frequent collaborator.

As for Young Thug, the Atlanta native spent last weekend at Rolling Loud Orlando, where Thugger popped out at multiple sets, including Ken Carson’s headlining set to close out the festival.

The late, disgraced Australian entertainer Rolf Harris is the subject of a new two-part documentary, commissioned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The film, Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator, will debut Tuesday, June 9, and will feature interviews with survivors who’ve never before spoken publicly of his crimes. The series is said to capture the full story of Harris’ double life, charting his rise from suburban Perth, Australia to the heights of fame and influence in the United Kingdom, while revealing the pattern of abuse that unfolded behind the scenes for decades.

Prior to his downfall, Harris was a popular figure on TV, the airwaves, and charts across the U.K., the U.S. (“Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1963) and his homeland, Australia. In the mid-2000s, he was once commissioned to paint Queen Elizabeth II, a sitting that was turned into a documentary.

His U.K. chart hits included “Two Little Boys” (Columbia), which has the distinction of being the very last No. 1 in that market in the 1960s. “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport” reached No. 9 in the U.K. back in 1960, and he had a No. 3 hit with “Sun Arise” in 1962. Decades later, in 1993, he enjoyed another U.K. top 10 appearance, when his cover of “Stairway to Heaven,” a spin-off from the Australian TV show Money or the Gun, reached No. 7.

Harris’ spectacular fall from grace began in 2013, when he was questioned and arrested police under Operation Yewtree, the investigation into sexual abuse among members of the English media elite, including the late Jimmy Savile. Following a trial in 2014, Harris was found guilty of various indecent assaults on women and young girls between 1968 and 1986, and was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. He was released in 2017, but denied any wrongdoing and never issued an apology to his victims.

He died in 2023 at the age of 93. “In the years since, the silence that once protected him has begun to lift,” reads a statement from the ABC, announcing the new series, which “gives voice to those who were previously unable to, as they share their experience on their own terms.” Harris’ death “has finally lifted a veil of fear once cast by this powerful figure, and survivors who long feared retribution are at last able to speak.”

Prior to the Yewtree investigation, Harris moved within the highest circles in Britain, his adopted home. Along the way, he was named as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

It was a similar scenario in his country of his birth, where Harris was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. ARIA has since scratched his name from the record books.

Rolf Harris: Primetime Predator will air 8.30pm AEST on ABC TV, with both episodes available to stream on ABC iView.

U2 is back on the streets, this time in Mexico City where the legendary Irish rock band is shooting a new music video.

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. were snapped in the Mexican capital where they’re shooting a music video for the new track, “Street of Dreams,” lifted from their yet-to-be announced next studio album, due for release later in 2026.

The Rock Hall-inducted band was spotted Tuesday, May 12, rocking out on top of a school bus, graffitied by local artist Chavis Mármol, with hundreds of fans gathered for the special event.

It’s not the first time U2 has brought the streets to a standstill. In the late ’80s, the group famously recaptured the spirit of the Beatles’ “Get Back” with a performance on a rooftop in downtown Los Angeles, footage of which appears in Meiert Avis’ music video for “Where the Streets Have No Name.” The clip went on to win the Grammy Award for best performance music video at the 31st Annual Grammy Awards, and its parent album, 1987’s The Joshua Tree, was a monster, confirming U2 as a hitmaker, a stadium act and, without argument, the biggest band of its time.

This week also sees Mexico City host the 2026 Street Child World Cup, with 30 teams from across the globe in town for this year’s tournament that kicked off May 6, and wraps up this Thursday, May 14. “It’s a little NGO with a big kick for kids with all of the talent and none of the access,” chimes in U2 drummer Mullen. “Our band are proud supporters.”

U2’s next album is the followup to 2023’s Songs of Surrender, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.

The group has been notably active of late, and with the release in April of the Easter Lily EP, Bono shared an update on that next record. “We are in the studio, still working towards a noisy, messy, ‘unreasonably colourful’ album to play LIVE… which is where U2 lives. We still look to vivid rock n roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens. These are for sure ‘wilderness years’ for so many of us looking at the mayhem out there in the world,” the singer explained in a written statement.

The Dublin fourpiece “will attempt hoopla and fanfare at a later date to remind the rest of the world we exist but in the meantime,” Bono continued, “this is between you and us.”

U2 has landed 34 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including two leaders, along with eight No. 1s on the Billboard 200 chart. Induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame came in 2005. U2 had the honors of being the first band to play the Sphere in Las Vegas, which they inaugurated in September 2023 with the residency, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere.

Björn Bauer has been named CFO of the newly combined BMG and Concord, it was announced on Tuesday (May 12). Based in Nashville, Bauer will report to Bob Valentine, who has been designated CEO of the combined entity.

Bauer joins from entertainment company RTL Group, which is majority-owned by BMG parent company Bertelsmann. At RTL, where he’s been CFO since 2019, he serves as an executive director and member of the executive committee. In his role there, Bauer “has played a key part in advancing RTL Group’s transformation, including focusing the Group’s portfolio on its largest business units, diversifying its global content business Fremantle and building a profitable streaming business,” according to a press release. He has been involved in RTL deals including its acquisition of Sky Deutschland (GSA) and the sale of RTL Netherlands.

Before joining RTL Group, Bauer had held senior leadership roles at Bertelsmann since 2007, including as executive vp of corporate controlling and strategy and CFO of Relias, Bertelsmann’s U.S.-based online learning provider.

Until the BMG-Concord transaction closes, current BMG CFO Mathis Wolter will continue in his role at the Berlin-based company and support the integration with Concord before moving to a new role within Bertelsmann. Current Concord CFO Kent Hoskins will also continue serving in his role there until the close of the deal, at which point he’s expected to take on another senior leadership position at the combined company.

“Björn brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of delivering strong results through operational excellence and disciplined financial management,” said Thomas Coesfeld, designated chairman of the combined BMG and Concord, in a statement. “We are delighted that he is expected to join the combined company following completion of the transaction and look forward to the impact he will have as we continue to strengthen and grow the business. At the same time, I would like to thank Mathis for playing an instrumental role in shaping BMG’s strategic transformation, and for being a trusted partner to me and the executive team over the past three years.”

“We are pleased that Björn is expected to join the combined company as CFO. His deep financial expertise will be invaluable as the company continues to focus on sustainable growth and long-term value creation after the transaction closes,” added Valentine.

For his part, Bauer said: “As the global music industry evolves, the combination of BMG and Concord will be uniquely positioned to capture new opportunities through its talent focus, entrepreneurial spirit and global scale, supported by continued investments in catalogs and talent. I am excited to join the combined company upon closing of the transaction, a pivotal moment in its growth journey. I look forward to partnering with the teams to drive the combined company’s next phase of growth and support its long-term strategic ambitions.”