Category Sponsor

BPI champions the UK’s recorded music industry; safeguarding the rights of its members and of the artists, performers and label members of PPL. BPI’s membership consists of over 420 independent labels and the UK’s three ‘majors’, which together account for 85 per cent of legitimate domestic music consumption and 1-in-8 albums consumed globally.
BPI promotes British music overseas through its trade missions and Music Exports Growth Scheme, providing insights, training and networking with its free masterclasses, Insight Sessions, WidsomWednesdays, and reports. BPI administers The BRIT Certified Awards, co-owns The Official Charts, organises The BRIT Awards, and is home to The Mercury Prize.

Independent Music Retailer Supporter

The Independent Retailer of the Year category is supported by ERA. The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) is the trade grouping representing UK digital services and digital and physical retailers in the music, video and games markets. Formed initially as group of record retailers over 25 years ago, ERA has since grown into a broad-based advocacy group embracing many of the most dynamic and fastest-growing companies in the entertainment industry. ERA members supply the sales data which powers the Official Charts Company (music and video charts) and GfK Chart-Track (video games). ERA also provides the organisational force behind the UK’s Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record stores which has become the most successful new music industry promotion of the past two decades. ERA is a strong proponent of open markets, open standards and consumer choice.

Social Media Sponsor

Using pioneering scientific research into how people hear, the MQA team has created a technology that captures and authenticates the sound of the original studio performance. The fully authenticated master MQA file is small enough to stream or download, while also being backward compatible, so you can play MQA music on any device. MQA’s award-winning technology is licensed by labels, music services and hardware manufacturers worldwide and is certified by the RIAA. MQA is a UK-based private company. For more information visit www.mqa.co.uk

Association Partner

Music Venue Trust is a UK registered charity which acts to protect, secure and improve Grassroots Music Venues. Founded in January 2014, we aim to secure the long-term future of UK Grassroots Music Venues by highlighting their crucial role in the development of British music, nurturing local talent and providing a platform for artists. We work to gain recognition of the essential role these venues fulfil, not only for artist development but also for the cultural and music industries, the economy and local communities. We aim to preserve and improve venues, making them more efficient and improving the experience for performers and audiences. We are the nominated representative of a 600-strong network of venues: the Music Venues Alliance and advocate on their behalf both within the live music industry and in the wider political and social landscape.

Category Supporter

Category Sponsor

PPL is the UK music industry’s collective management organisation (CMO). We license recorded music when it is played in public or broadcast, ensuring that revenue flows back to our members. These include independent and major record companies, together with performers ranging from emerging artists to festival headliners. In 2018 we collected £246.8 million and distributed money to 105,192 performers and recording rightsholders.
We also collect internationally when music is played in public or broadcast. This is achieved through over 95 agreements with CMOs around the world. International revenues are an increasingly important revenue stream for our members – since 2006 we have collected £429.1 million.

Category Sponsor

Proper Music Group is a full services company providing everything from global physical and digital distribution to artist and label services, publishing, online retail and its own record label. Clients are able to tap into as much or as little of Proper’s offering as fits their needs. Its distribution arm, Proper Music Distribution – the largest independent physical distributor in the UK – is renowned for having the knowledge, experience and personal service of a specialist coupled with the reach and power of a major. The company distributes for nearly 1000 independent labels, representing around 10% of the UK physical recorded music market, and handles over 1,000,000 titles at any time. Proper Music Group received The Company Award: Diversity In The Workplace at the Women In Music Awards 2017, and was also awarded best Sales Team at 2017’s Music Week Awards.

Category Sponsor

Radiomonitor is the industry standard music airplay monitoring service used by all major record labels and radio stations worldwide.

Charity Partner

The BRIT Trust was first established in 1989 and is entirely funded by the recorded music industry, principally through The BRIT Awards but also the Classic BRIT Awards and the Music Industry Trusts Dinner (MITS). The Trust also owes a huge debt to the many artists who performed at the legendary Knebworth concert in 1990. These included amongst many, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Sir Elton John, Sir Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, Pink Floyd, Robert Plant and Sir Cliff Richard. The Trust’s mission is to give young people of all backgrounds a chance to express their musical creativity regardless of race, class, gender or ability and exists to promote education and wellbeing through music and to date has donated over £26m to a range of progressive causes and charities, including principally The BRIT School and Nordoff Robbins. It also supports a range of other establishments including East London Arts and Music (ELAM) as well as the work of addictions and mental health charity Music Support and Key4Life, which seeks to direct young men who are in prison or at risk of going there away from a life of crime by drawing on their passion for music.