The Ivors Academy was launched this week, following the renaming and rebranding of BASCA, the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. The launch event took place at The Ministry of Sound in London SE1 this evening and attracted many well-known faces from across the industry. I attended on behalf of the MU and caught up with Peter Leathem (PPL CEO), Paul Scaife (Record of the Day), plus songwriters Anna Neale and Jona Lewie amongst many others.
The Ivors Academy aims to support, protect and celebrate music creators in the UK. It is the independent professional association representing songwriters and composers in all genres, whether they create song, symphony or syncs. The Academy can trace its history back over 70 years and as champions of music creators, has three main activities – campaigning, cultivating and celebrating.
Songwriter and Chair of The Ivors Academy, Crispin Hunt said, ‘The future needs a powerful collective voice for music writers. The Ivors Academy of Music Creators is the future-facing, fit-for-purpose evolution of BASCA’s great legacy. Our mission is to innovate, inspire, inform, empower and celebrate musical creativity: connecting a global membership towards a flourishing musical future for every genre and every future genre.’
As the event drew to a close, I left with Sybil Bell and Chloe ‘Colin’ Ward of Independent Venue Week, and we set off towards London Bridge. We immediately run into sax ace Dave O’Higgins and bassist Jonny Gee outside and its was great to hear about their latest projects. Sybil, Chloe and I moved onto Chutney Jane in Borough High Street where we enjoyed a welcome curry and shared a series of highly-entertaining music-related stories from down the years.