Songwriting — its worth and its future — sits at the centre of this edition of M. Across genres, platforms and creative processes, the artform is being redefined. From the evolving authorship of Yungblud to the collaborative construction of Charli xcx’s Brat and the emotionally charged scoring of Netflix’s Adolescence, this issue explores what it means to make music that connects. At a time when AI is testing the boundaries of creativity and copyright, music creators and policymakers are responding with clarity, imagination and intent.
As PRS surpasses £1bn in distributions for the first time, the numbers speak volumes for the continued vitality of our industry. But then so do the stories they evoke: of live performance as a launchpad for career success; of rekindling nostalgia for a bygone era; of representation being challenged and extended. Few places reflect this convergence more clearly than Glastonbury — a cultural epicentre where creativity, visibility and momentum collide. With a fallow year ahead, this summer’s festival carries added weight for the artists who will step on its numerous stages. For many, it’s a golden chance to reach new audiences and take a huge step forward in their careers.
The pages of this magazine reflect an industry in motion and a creative community intent on shaping what comes next.
HAD TO CREATE A LANGUAGE THAT SUPPORTED THE NARRATIVE BUT DIDN’T GET IN THE WAY OF WHAT YOU’RE SEEING.' - AARON MAY
SCORING A MODERN MASTERPIECE
Composers Aaron May and David Ridley on Adolescence
Words: Jim Ottewill
The duo explain how they shaped a raw, breathing score that elevated Netflix’s most talked-about drama of the year.
Composer duo Aaron May and David Ridley built a sonic world so powerful and intimate with their score for Adolescence that it further strengthened the Netflix crime drama’s astonishing impact. The mini-series inspired nationwide debate about toxic masculinity and was lauded by Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, who said the show served as ‘a torch that shines intensely brightly on a combination of issues that many people don't know how to respond to’.
‘It feels awesome to be part of the success,’ David tells M about Adolescence, which in March became the first streaming show ever to top the UK TV ratings chart. ‘There’s this validation that art and TV does have the capacity to influence public discourse. We saw it with Mr Bates vs The Post Office and how it helped get justice for those impacted. There was a real-world reaction [to that], and I hope the same will go for Adolescence.’
Aaron and David have formed a tight creative bond with director Philip Barantini over the past five years, with the trio having previously worked together on the films Villain and Boiling Point. But while successful in their own right, those projects have not had the same resonance as the acclaimed Adolescence.
‘This project hit hard emotionally,' says David, offering an insight into the creative process. 'I was crying every other day in the studio and had to take regular breaks. You have to get inside the subject matter to write music that responds to it — it’s almost like a hazard of the job. It’s a wonderful thing to be connected to the work, but you have to try and leave it at the office.’
Having first met at university in Bristol, Aaron and David began working together on numerous creative projects, ranging from theatre to installations, sound design and working with prisoners on music. In 2017, a short film titled Kin provided the duo with a chance to write music together.
‘We used Ableton and jammed out a score, recording lots of instrumentation that we were comfortable with as there wasn’t much budget. We loved where the music got to,’ David recalls. ‘Two years later, Philip’s first short film Seconds Out came our way, and it was a no-brainer to come together again. Since then, we haven’t really looked back.’
‘PRS IS INVALUABLE: I’VE NO IDEA HOW WE COULD COLLECT PERFORMANCE ROYALTIES WITHOUT THEM.’ - AARON MAY
The typical compositional process for visual media often means that Aaron and David become involved in a project at either the scripting stage or during the edit. Their consistent aim, though, is to develop a distinctive musical language as early as possible.
‘An example would be our first feature, Villain: we knew that two sounds that really resonated with the main character were bass clarinet and cello,’ Aaron explains. ‘From there we wrote thematic material using the harmonic language and melodic motifs.’
The process will often become more streamlined during the edit, with the duo writing cues to specific scenes or points within a film or episode. Their aim is to build a unique sound world to usher the viewer in.
‘Much of our work in the early stages is about trying to define a project’s specific sound,’ says David. ‘This is through choosing instrumentation and listening to references; then we go through this workflow of laddering. This is about collaborating, working with each other and taking the other person’s idea to another level. Once you are psychologically inside a sound world, it’s fun to explore and learn new things as a composer.’
'ADOLESCENCE HIT HARD EMOTIONALLY: I WAS CRYING EVERY OTHER DAY IN THE STUDIO.' - DAVID RIDLEY
Projects that have greater contact time with the director are the ones the duo have relished the most.
‘We love it when the director is involved in the process, as they tend to act like a filter on the feedback from the executive producers,’ David adds. ‘The more direct that relationship, the more streamlined the process is. We’ve been lucky to work with some brilliant people and production companies for shows on the BBC and Netflix.’
Aaron and David were first brought on board to work on Adolescence in September 2024, just as filming had concluded. ‘Initially, it was to work out if [any] music was even needed,’ Aaron reveals. ‘It then became this intense period of writing. Each project can be different: when you have a lot of time you can sit on ideas, edit and revisit them. When it’s more intense, though, you go into a tunnel and relish working on it — you’re immersed in it.’
Given its gritty realism, sensitive subject matter and stunning one-take filming style, the challenge for Aaron and David was building a sound world that would gel with Adolescence
‘We had to create a language that supported the narrative but didn’t get in the way of what you’re seeing,’ says Aaron. ‘Emilia Holliday, who plays Katie, the victim in the series, had worked with Phil before and mentioned to him that she enjoyed singing. She sent over some voice notes to us, and we thought it was amazing. There’s so much detail and beautiful imperfections in her voice, and that became the focal point for the score.’
Aaron and David also worked with soprano singer Kate Huggett to create the demo vocals, which helped them understand the role that voice would play within the score, before recording with Emilia. They describe the compositional process as involving a lot of stripping back, with a focus on keeping things simple to avoid distracting from the power of Adolescence’s one-shot.
‘We then had an hour with Emilia, and got her to record these different phrases,’ David explains. ‘When we listened back in the studio, there was a husk, a crackle, a vulnerability — it was even slightly out of tune. We chose to keep everything in so we could build textures around it, using breath as a theme and appropriate instrumentation. We ended up using recorders, organs and harmoniums that all have air going through them, so it’s like a breathing score.’
Aaron and David see the role of the composer as one who serves and ultimately enhances a project, with the third episode of Adolescence — an ‘incredible hour of flawless television,’ says Aaron — a key example.
‘When it ends, there’s this feeling of disbelief on the part of the viewer,’ he adds. ‘We were writing this cue which brings the episode out. After trying multiple approaches, some more musically forward than others, the one that worked was this piano motif. It was the simplest thing we could write, but it just fit perfectly.’
As well as their work in film and TV, Aaron and David have each released solo albums, and a joint album, titled This Time It’s Always Real, is also in the works. The duo acknowledge the role and support PRS has played in their musical journeys, helping to join the dots between their various projects and opening up previously untapped revenue streams.
‘PRS is invaluable: I’ve no idea how we could collect performance royalties without them,’ says Aaron. ‘It would also take up so much more time that should be spent working as creatives — they are hugely important.’
David agrees: ‘When we’ve had issues with cues being registered incorrectly, we’ve found PRS are very useful at campaigning on your behalf to resolve them. As a creative, it’s so important to have someone supporting you when there are so many obstacles up against us.’
With work on their next project already underway, the impact of Aaron and David’s involvement in Adolescence is still reverberating.
‘There are so many conversations around it due to the genius of the script,’ says David. ‘Ideas around masculinity, the impact of social media on young people, bullying, the British school system — this is why so many people are talking about it. I just hope we helped the emotional language land with the score.
‘It’s been a wild ride since its release, and it’s blown up in a way we never imagined.’
Behind the Brat
With its sharp sonic parameters, unfiltered lyrics and a manifestodriven creative process, Charli xcx’s Brat went on to become a global pop disruptor in 2024. Songwriterproducers Finn Keane and Jon Shave reveal how they worked with the multi-award winning artist to draw the blueprint for future-facing pop music.
Words: Laura Molloy
No crevice of culture was left untouched by the lurid green tsunami wave of Brat in 2024. From the copycat It Girls wandering around London and New York City in rectangular sunglasses and strappy black tank tops to the US presidential campaign and news media dissecting its allure, the year was defined by a universal longing to bathe in the acidic hue of Charli xcx’s eighth album.
A year earlier, Charli was in the studio with songwriter and producer Jon Shave writing the bonus track Spring Breakers . ‘It was just us having a massive laugh, with Charli saying, “Yeah, I'm never going to get invited to the Grammys, so this is my anarchic response to that”,’ Jon tells M
Fast-forward to 2025 and Charli is toasting two Grammy wins (for Best Dance/Electronic Album and Best Recording Package) and nine nominations, as well as an Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year. ‘It’s the most poetic turn of events, really,’ he adds.
Even in the weeks leading up to its release, what Brat has gone on to achieve as an entire body of work seemed unfathomable. In the age of streaming and social media, album campaigns seem to come to an abrupt halt on release day, while artists who have previously sculpted the cultural conversation find it difficult to make an impression for more than a couple of days. Yet from its release in June 2024, Brat — and its subsequent high-octane remix album — dominated the discourse.
‘Once you have a set of principles and an ethos in place, then you just work instinctively.’ — Finn Keane
Finn Keane, formerly known as EasyFun, was another key Brat contributor, co-writing and producing sections across the album. Its success in shaping the zeitgeist through moodier, underground dance sounds was, in his view, part of a larger redemptive arc for PC Music, the former collective helmed by Charli’s executive producer A. G. Cook.
‘Everyone's been trying to work towards writing music that is immediate and fun and hooky, but then also weird and experimental and bright,’ Finn tells M. ‘Seeing it take off in this way has been really, really gratifying on a personal level, because that's what I've always wanted to do since I got into pop music.’
Both Finn and Jon were first introduced to Brat through a mission statement-style document that outlined Charli’s vision for the record. Concisely laying out its themes, visual identity and ideal collaborators, it also defined the tone of the album: an abrasive honesty coexisting alongside brash confidence, now synonymous with that shade of green. It was a manifesto defined by an overarching determination not to play any ‘industry game’, as Finn puts it.
‘It was so laser-focused and crystal clear, even from the beginning,’ Jon adds. ‘Charli had thought about every single song and what she wanted to say, so by the time she got on the mic she was searching for moods to match her ideas, rather than trying to work out what she wanted to say to match a musical mood.’
This foresight, Finn says, provided an ideal starting point for Charli’s hyper-spontaneous songwriting method, where initial ideas would often be formed in 10-minute freestyles. This same approach was applied to the album campaign, which saw remixes being recorded and released in time to stay ahead of cultural conversation. ‘Once you have a set of principles and an ethos in place, then you just work instinctively,’ Finn notes.
The project was also overseen by A. G. Cook, who helped support this ethos through, as Jon puts it, a ‘sonic rule book’ which established a set of parameters for the project’s producers and songwriters to follow. One of these was a ban on drum samples, with Brat ’s sonic lynchpin instead being the Roland TR-909 — the drum machine that was fundamental to developments in dance music subgenres like techno, house and acid in the late eighties and early nineties.
Jon Shave
Adopting these strict aesthetic rules, Jon says, paved the way for the album’s cohesion and circularity, which saw it operate as an endless DJ mix. ‘We’re in a world now where, as a producer, you can access any sound of any type and any variety at any time,’ he explains. ‘It's amazing when someone gives you limitations, because it suddenly unlocks another layer of creativity. It's then about having fun within those parameters.’
'Pop culture is greatest when kids feel like it's their thing that could only happen now, and that's what Brat has really managed to achieve.’ — Finn Keane
It’s also why, Jon theorises, Brat exists as an antithesis to the mainstream electronic music that’s been pushed by the industry over the past few years.
‘Dance music is always in the blood of British people. But during lockdown, when no one could go out, there was this explosion of really commercial, dance-leaning pop records that took the place of club music,’ he says. ‘I remember having a conversation with Charli early on where she was frustrated about this. She was like, “I want to make dance music, but no one's making the kind of dance music that I want to make”. Charli’s take is grittier and darker, and there's something really organic about it as well.’
What emerged was a slew of angular, insolent electronic sounds, underscoring an internal monologue that constantly flitted from sexy, free, wild hedonism to doubt, insecurity and anxiety.
‘It
was so
laser-focused and crystal clear from the beginning.’
— Jon Shave
‘There's a lot of shame in there,’ Finn notes. ‘There's also a lot of confidence and arrogance, in the best way, but it's also really, truly, saying the thing that you're afraid to say; these complicated things that you don't often talk about in a pop song.'
These harrowing confessions sat alongside inescapably catchy and often cocky earworms which spoke to the record’s unpredictability. Take the poignant, Streets-esque monologue of I think about it all the time , which sees Charli wonder if motherhood is worth sacrificing her career and freedom, immediately dissolving into 365 — an audible retelling of going too hard at the club.
In harnessing pop as a platform to explore these human experiences, Brat resonated en masse. Indeed, the so-called ‘ Brat summer’ of 2024 delivered a true, had-to-be-there pop culture moment for a generation who thought they’d never see their own.
‘That was lots of kids who felt like it was their thing ,’ Finn says with a smile. ‘That's really what pop culture is. It's what Beatlemania was, it’s what punk was, it's what acid house was in the late eighties, what grunge was in the early nineties. Pop culture is greatest when kids feel like it's their thing that could only happen now, and that's what Brat has really managed to achieve.’
Finn Keane
THE GL ASTONBURY EFFECT
As Glastonbury gears up for another unforgettable edition ahead of its fallow year in 2026, M explores the transformative impact the festival can have on its performers.
Words: Rhys Buchanan
Performing at Glastonbury can shape an entire career. For Nilüfer Yanya, stepping on the West Holts stage this year will mark more than just a return to Worthy Farm — it’s a tangible sign of how far she’s come as an artist.
‘There’s something so special about Glastonbury,’ Nilüfer excitedly tells M . ‘It’s really gratifying to be heading back and performing on a bigger stage this time.'
The London singer-songwriter is among thousands of music creators who will be hoping to seize their moment at this year’s Glastonbury. Given that the festival continues to deliver magical moments and career highlights in abundance, it’s no surprise that the so-called ‘Glastonbury effect’ remains alive and well.
Steve Symons, who currently serves as the artist booker for the West Holts stage, defines the effect thusly: ‘Put simply, it’s when an artist has their career boosted by a performance at the
festival. The bounce initially comes from the live reaction from the crowd, but then it’s mainly [generated] from the global TV audience who are watching from home.’
Glastonbury’s wide-ranging appeal intensified in 1994 when Channel 4 became the first broadcaster to screen live sets from the festival, with their 4 Goes to Glastonbury coverage initially aiming to capture the explosion of the Britpop movement. With the BBC taking up the mantle in 1997, coverage of the festival has grown from strength to strength. Glastonbury 2023 was streamed a record-breaking 65m times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, while this year’s festival will see over 90 hours of performances being livestreamed across iPlayer.
It’s no wonder, then, that performing on one of Glastonbury’s main stages can be a boon for artists, with overnight surges in record sales and streaming figures being regularly reported following a televised Worthy Farm set. Last year’s festival saw
‘TO HAVE A PROCESS LIKE THE EMERGING TALENT COMPETITON IS INVALUABLE.’
— LOUISE MACPHAIL
Pyramid Stage headliners Dua Lipa and SZA enjoy a huge uplift in music sales, with all three of the former’s albums returning to the UK top 10 off the back of her headline performance.
It's not just the headline acts who benefit. PRS Foundation-funded soul singer Jalen Ngonda, whose West Holts set last year was televised, felt the impact first-hand. ‘It’s the most-viewed festival in the world, so it felt inevitable that being broadcast at Glastonbury would open doors for a lot of future opportunities,’ he reflects.
Ultimately though, Jalen tells M, the performer is still in charge of the performance whether the cameras are present or not. ‘It’s still down to you how the show goes — you have to take that moment and make the most of it,’ he says, adding that budding artists hoping to follow in his footsteps should be sure to concentrate primarily on their craft. ‘Let those outside things happen and seize them, but focus on yourself first,’ he adds. ‘Everything else is down to outside forces, so all you can do is focus on the gig.’
(Photo:
News)
As Steve points out, the ‘Glastonbury effect’ is all-encompassing. ‘Things can spin off in the most bizarre ways that are hard to quantify,’ he says, citing the incredible response that legendary R&B, soul and funk band Kool & The Gang received after he booked them for the West Holts in 2011. ‘That was the first time they’d ever played a festival in their career. Eddie Van Halen saw the televised set and ended up booking them to be a support act on Van Halen’s US arena tour.'
As well as broadcast opportunities, Glastonbury also offers artists a pathway to move up to its bigger stages as their careers progress. ‘West Holts is part of an ecosystem of over 100 stages, and it’s great to see artists moving through them,’ Steve explains.
‘All of the bookers who work at Glastonbury share similar values and tastes in music. It’s certainly a system that prides itself on giving artists those opportunities, and it’s really important to us that artists can move on to bigger stages.
‘We’re always delighted to see artists take that next step,’ he continues. ‘Ezra Collective, who have already played twice for us, will be on a bigger stage this year. Little Simz first played West Holts back in 2016, right at the start of her career. She then played on the Park Stage before headlining West Holts, and then ended up on the Pyramid Stage last year. It’s been the same with the likes of Michael Kiwanuka, Lizzo, Janelle Monáe and many more. We absolutely love watching careers blossom in that way.’
Nilüfer, who first performed at Glastonbury in 2019 on the William’s Green stage, views her own progression up the festival line-up as a rewarding way of charting her development: ‘It’s exciting, because you’re not just going back and doing the same thing, you’re progressing. It’s a nice way to be able to look back on your journey and see how far you’ve come. It feels nice to come back and know that what you’ve worked on has paid off.’
As well as drawing world-class talent, Glastonbury continues to pride itself on championing new music. The festival’s annual Emerging Talent Competition generates significant interest and support, with the winner taking home a £5,000 Talent Development prize from PRS Foundation and securing a slot on one of the festival’s main stages. This year’s winners are Westside Cowboy, a Manchester-based fourpiece who will now play on Woodsies’ Main Stage.
Jalen Ngonda
James Edmond/Alamy Live
‘GLASTONBURY FEELS LIKE A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE EVERY TIME.’
— TOM HADFIELD
Nilüfer Yanya
‘To be able to offer something really solid and give an opportunity to play at the festival is really exciting,’ Glastonbury boss Emily Eavis told NME in 2022. ‘The new music side to the festival is something I’m really passionate about and I love opening that up to the new talent.’
After finishing as runners-up in the 2023 Emerging Talent Competition, Prima Queen performed five times across different stages at that year’s Glastonbury. Having long wanted to enter the competition, vocalist Louise Macphail says their run to the final proved to be a game-changing opportunity for the band.
‘It was surreal just to play in front of Michael and Emily Eavis at the final,’ she tells M . ‘When you’re starting out it’s such a mystery as to how you’d even get in front of the people who book those iconic stages, so to have a process like this is invaluable for artists who are at the very start of their journey.’
Looking back on their Worthy Farm debut, Louise describes it as the best weekend of her life. ‘Our first set at the festival was at The Rabbit Hole and the tent was completely packed — we weren’t expecting it at all,’ she recalls. ‘It was so hot in there and everyone had been waiting for us. It felt like we’d kicked down a door. We ended up being interviewed by BBC 6 Music because we were one of the bands playing the most shows at the festival.’
Dua Lipa performing at Glastonbury Festival 2024
CONGRATULATIONS WESTSIDE COWBOY
WINNERS OF THE
EMERGING TALENT COMPETITION 2025
Photo: Joe Moss
‘WE’RE ALWAYS DELIGHTED TO SEE ARTISTS TAKE THAT NEXT STEP AT GLASTONBURY.’ — STEVE SYMONS
With such a vast and vibrant network of stages operating across the festival site, even those who perform away from Glastonbury’s main areas can make a name for themselves. Tom Hadfield, who has booked the likes of IDLES and Kneecap for the festival’s so-called ‘naughty corner’ Shangri-La, commends the festival’s continued ability to deliver those ‘I was there' moments that live long in the memory for artists and festivalgoers alike.
‘With those hidden corners of the festival and that dark underworld of the South East Corner [of the festival], you do get those iconic live moments,’ he says. ‘Obviously you get them everywhere else, but you can’t quite beat those live sets that happen in certain hours of the night in that corner of the festival. From an artist's point of view, it’s an opportunity to deliver one of those legendary moments that gets talked about around the site and then for years to come.’
Rising drum’n’bass songwriter and DJ A Little Sound, who will play on the Shangri-La main stage for the first time this year, is relishing the prospect of rising to this challenge: ‘It’s a different energy in ShangriLa — it feels like it could be a different part of Glastonbury altogether. The sun has gone down and you’ve watched the final sets on the main stages, so you head to the South East Corner and know it’s going to be a whole new experience.’
With the festival set to take a fallow year in 2026, this year feels like a real seize-the-moment opportunity for those artists who populate its stacked line-up. From career breakthrough moments to deservedly
rising up the ranks, those who descend on Worthy Farm this June will hope to be worthy beneficiaries of the ‘Glastonbury effect’.
‘I think when an artist looks back over their career, there will be a handful of those gigs that stick out in the memory,’ Tom adds. ‘That’s what this festival is great for. Glastonbury feels like a unique experience every time.'
A Little Sound
Little Simz at Glastonbury Festival 2024 (Photo: Matt Crossick/Empics/Alamy Live News)
James Frith MP
Why the future of British music depends on political action
Words: Julia Rowan
The Labour MP for Bury North on performing at Glastonbury, protecting copyright and the need for AI regulation.
At a time when questions around copyright, creators’ rights and artificial intelligence are rapidly rising up the political agenda, James Frith MP stands out for bringing real-world experience to the debate. As a former musician-turned-policymaker, James speaks with rare clarity about the many and varied pressures facing today’s songwriters and composers.
Speaking to M, James tells us why this is a critical moment in ensuring creators’ work is properly valued and protected.
Music clearly plays a hugely important role in your life. Where did that connection begin for you, and what sort of music do you listen to now?
'My much-earlier self loved pop music, but then I discovered rock music via Queen, Pearl Jam and Radiohead. I also got into dance music, and subsequently hip hop and rap — particularly quite aggressive rap music! There isn't a day that goes past that I don't listen to a great range of music, but now I'm a dad pop music has made a real comeback in my life. I think there's a period in your life, whether you’re a musician or a music fan, when you're meant to be somehow too cool for pop music, but I don't subscribe to that any more. If it makes you move, it's good for me.
‘In terms of the music I always go back to, Radiohead’s Subterranean Homesick Alien and Let Down from OK Computer are two of my standout tracks. I also particularly love the second half of The Beatles’ Abbey Road — you need to put the whole thing on, obviously, but the second half is something I always come back to.’
You played Glastonbury with your band FINKA back in 2003 — not something many MPs can say. What did that experience mean to you at the time, and how does it sit with you now?
'We were really serious as a band and went through various stages — the pinnacle was playing on the thenJohn Peel Stage at Glastonbury. I somehow got Emily Eavis' details and sent her a CD of our EP featuring our song Discovering A Fire, along with our Myspace link and my mobile number. To her huge credit, I then got a call from her. I was having a beer with our bassist when I got a phone call: "Oh hi, it's Emily. Thanks for sending us the CD, I think you've got a really good Glastonbury sound." I was just like, "Oh, thanks very much, that's amazing."
‘She offered us an early Saturday slot. We were on the same bill as Kings of Leon, and we ended up watching Jimmy Cliff and Radiohead on the Pyramid Stage. It was a perfect day. I was there with my nowwife and my bandmates, who are still my best mates. Mercifully there weren't any camera phones then, so my extraordinary choice of outfit will never be recalled. I think I was in judo pants and a t-shirt which said 'hip hop' on it in enormous red writing.’
How has that lived experience as a musician shaped the way you advocate for creators in parliament?
'I think most people assume that music will just happen, and to a degree that's true. Music creators are among the most resilient people in the world, and making music is, in essence, a sort of primal need. But quite a lot of the current debate in parliament is around the protection of copyright, because creators need to be able to take risks within a regulated environment. We need to recognise how difficult it is for creators to either get their music heard or perform live, and just keep going amid the great trials of life — including the sheer cost of doing it.
‘Back in the day in Manchester we'd do pay-to-play gigs, where we'd commit to selling a number of tickets and you'd have to fund it yourself if you didn't shift them. Fortunately, due to the likes of university students attending we'd usually break even, and that meant we got the opportunities to support bands such as Shed
Seven and The Fratellis. So with that insight, I feel a solidarity towards unsigned musicians and new music in general — particularly new music that challenges you. Music definitely needs celebrating and championing, but it also needs protecting and nourishing.'
Do you think the importance of copyright needs to be more widely emphasised in terms of the vital role it plays in the life of a music creator?
‘There's an association there between copyright and the love of creating. I think too often people come at this having just been consumers of music rather than creators. I don't judge consumers whatsoever — without them, there'd be very little pull or motivation for creators. But you can't assume to know how much has gone into a song — to have actually created, recorded and released a work — just because you've enjoyed it. Then there's the difference between what a performance is in a recorded sense and what it is in a live sense. As with everything, the more you look into something the more details are revealed to you, and then the beauty of it emerges as much as the complexity.
'As an MP, I'm in the driving seat of the country when it comes to considering copyright. It’s a real moment for me to be able to speak authentically and authoritatively in parliament on a subject like this — irrespective of not having sold many records myself. I want to be able to bear witness to that creative perspective, and people seem to be responding to it.'
AI is arguably reshaping parts of the creative landscape. What do you see as the most urgent risks to copyright in this new environment?
'First of all, it's absolutely right to say that music creators are among the most ready to adapt to and adopt new innovations. Whether it's a new guitar pedal or the great software developments that have democratised some of the music industry, it's well-known that to be a musician incorporates being innovative and adapting to change.
‘It's therefore about pushing back on any suggestion of there being a resistance. It's a point of principle about the protection of copyright in a rapidly-changing environment. We need to protect the rights of music creators — it is tantamount to theft if their work is used to train AI without remuneration. It's about transparency to a granular level and remuneration, which I think can come through licensing. PRS would of course be an ambassador for that approach to everybody getting paid, and I think that's where we need to get to.’
Do you think policymakers truly grasp what’s at stake for creators — particularly those working independently or at the start of their careers?
'Where the government has got to isn’t quite right yet, and I'm doing my utmost to ensure that we land in the right space that recognises the creators’ contribution. I think it's pretty obnoxious that tech bros just make demands: the louder they are, the more they get. We cannot have a situation where our music industry is being cannibalised. I'm enjoying helping lead the argument for creators.’
For those who love music but aren’t involved in making it, what would you say is the most meaningful way they can stand with creators right now?
'The public should write to their MPs, as this issue is absolutely fundamental. Music is about the enrichment of life itself and the best experiences of your life. It soundtracks the things you remember, like walking down the aisle, your childhood and teenage years, when it consoled you or it was an ally. Music is a best of British industry and adds huge value to our country: to our economy, social, cultural and economic capital. It's got a huge amount to offer, but it needs looking after, protecting, enhancing and developing.'
As conversations around copyright and AI continue, what needs to happen next in parliament to make sure creators’ rights aren’t left behind?
'MPs need to pay more attention to this and the government needs to strike the balance. This is not about being resistant to change, this is about ensuring that the AI sector is built on integrity and not the exploitation of the mineral wealth, as I call it, that is our creative industry and our creative talents. The upcoming consultation response will be, I think, the sharpest moment to date as to what the government intends to do. We may have made enough progress on getting them to drop the opt-out, and they certainly speak a good game in terms of understanding the need for licensing, remuneration and transparency.
‘But what we need is clarity on exactly what it is they're going to do and what they understand the implications for that action to be. Generally as a rule in business, you don't do business for people who don't want to pay you anything. We've got to hold on to that principle.'
James Frith on-stage with FINKA
Redefining
classical
Inside the 'bold and creative' BBC Proms of today
As the Proms return for another summer of orchestral spectacle and innovation, M meets Sam Jackson, the man behind the classical music festival’s bold evolution and finds an institution that’s more accessible, diverse and defiant than ever.
Every summer, the Royal Albert Hall becomes the centre of a great British ritual. Outside the grand old venue, a familiar scene plays out: a line of devoted classical music fans — typically seen fiddling with their Tupperware, applying sun cream or getting out their waterproof jackets — snakes around the building, each waiting their turn to gain access to the world’s biggest classical music festival: BBC Proms.
It’s worth the convivial wait. With ticket prices starting at just under a tenner, attendees (or ‘Prommers’) can witness performances by the very best ensembles — ranging from the international likes of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich to the UK’s Manchester Collective and Royal Northern Sinfonia — and internationally renowned soloists. It's little surprise to learn, then, that over two thirds of concerts during last year’s Proms sold out, while the average audience attendance at main evening concerts was 96%. Encouragingly, over a third (38%) of audiences at the Royal Albert Hall in 2024 were attending a Prom for the first time.
Words: Claire Jackson
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'Every single Proms concert has to be special.’
Such statistics will be music to the ears of Sam Jackson, Controller of BBC Radio 3 and BBC Proms.
Having previously been part of the Royal Albert Hall’s on-site production team, he’s now in charge of shaping the Proms experience — not just for those in the queue, but for the millions more watching and listening at home.
‘Importantly, that 96% attendance figure applies across the whole Proms season, covering lots of repertoire,’ Sam tells M. ‘There are some people who come to every single Prom, which is remarkable, but the vast majority of people come to just one. That’s a reminder that every single concert has to be special, because for many people that experience is the Proms. That’s also positive because it demonstrates its broad appeal.’
‘We try to bring the spectacle of the Royal Albert Hall to your home.’
As well as its traditional concerts, the Proms has also expanded its reach in recent years with some imaginative programming. Florence Welch and Sam Smith each memorably headlined a night during last year’s Proms, while the annual CBeebies Prom — now a regular fixture in the season after debuting in 2014 — has expanded the series' appeal to a pre-school audience. This year’s season, meanwhile, will include a special edition of jazz saxophonist and hip hop artist Soweto Kinch’s jazz-focused BBC Radio 3 show ‘Round Midnight.
While these themes may ruffle the feathers of some of the Proms purists, they still tally with the original raison d'être of the series. First staged in 1895 by impresario Robert Newman, the aim was to reach a wider audience by offering more popular programmes, adopting a less formal approach and, crucially, keeping ticket prices low. Today, that wide audience extends far beyond the concert venues the Proms are staged in.
‘Although we can get somewhat intoxicated by what is happening inside the Royal Albert Hall, we have to remember that, in the case of the Last Night [of the Proms], nearly 3.5m people watched the television broadcast last year,’ Sam explains. ‘Nine Proms will be shown across BBC One and BBC Two this year, which is potentially millions more eyeballs. Every Prom is broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds. I love BBC Radio 5 Live’s football commentary because it recreates the atmosphere on the pitch. That’s what we try to do at Radio 3 [with our Proms coverage]. It’s really important to remember that this is a broadcast festival.’
It’s also vital to highlight the Proms’ wider artistic achievements within the classical music space. Nineteen contemporary works — including 10 pieces commissioned by the BBC — will be premiered at the Proms 2025, such as Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen’s new piece The Elements and Rachel Portman’s latest commission The Gathering Tree. The latter will be performed on the Last Night of the Proms.
There have also been concerted efforts to make the Proms less London-centric, with this year’s season set to stage events in Bradford, Bristol, Gateshead and Sunderland. A special Prom in Belfast, meanwhile, will mark a centenary of BBC Radio 4’s Shipping Forecast.
While there’s much positivity when it comes to the Proms programme, Sam says there’s still a ‘big concern’ when it comes to nurturing the next generation of classical music lovers — especially due to funding cuts and a ‘narrowing of the talent pipeline’.
Sam Jackson (Photo: BBC - Tricia Yourkevich)
‘It's really important to remember the Proms is a broadcast festival — nearly 3.5m people watched Last Night of the Proms in 2024.'
‘Since 2010, the uptake in GCSE Music has fallen by 36%,’ he explains. ‘There’s amazing work that’s being done, especially by music teachers, but we can’t ignore the inevitable knock-on effect. You don’t need to have done GCSE Music to enjoy going to a concert, in the same way as you don't need a GCSE in English Literature to enjoy going to see Hamlet being performed at the Globe. However, it’s about encouraging an appreciation of the arts from an early age.’
That's why world-renowned institutions like the Proms are vital, particularly in terms of broadening access to classical music, engaging with new audiences and ensuring the artform’s continued national relevance.
‘We try to bring the spectacle of the hall to your home,’ Sam adds of the Proms’ widely-broadcast
reach. ‘But equally, if you want a great night out — for some that’s András Schiff playing Bach, and for others it's Trevor Nelson’s Soul Revolution Prom — you could come along to a Proms concert for just £8. We're feeling very buoyant — not arrogant — and we’re simply confident that, as ever, the Proms is bold, different and creative.’
Photo: BBC - Andy Paradise
Errollyn Wallen CBE
‘I’m not here to pen-push — that’s just not who I am. I love making a difference.’
Cathy Dennis WELCOME TO THE PRS MEMBERS' COUNCIL
‘I decided I was going to be a singer when I was five years old. I remember looking in the mirror in the school toilets and having this epiphany: “I like the sound of my voice: I’m going to be a singer.” When you’re five, you believe anything is possible — somehow, I managed to pull it together.
'Looking back on my career in music over the last 30-odd years, I have so many wonderful memories. I remember how it felt like a huge deal when I was in New York recording with the same producer as Madonna. Live music has always inspired me: as a teenager I saw Whitney Houston perform at Wembley, which pushed me even harder to make it as a songwriter. Seeing Anita Baker and Stevie Wonder play live were also unforgettable, defining moments for me.
‘I have such a diverse history of involvement with the music business, covering so many different areas. Being elected to the PRS Members’ Council just seems like the next step. I've always enjoyed trying to inspire other writers and impart my wealth of musical wisdom. I'm really excited about having the opportunity to express my opinions and use my experience to the best of my ability.
‘From personal experience, some licensing deals seem unfair to songwriters. So often the royalties that are paid don’t reflect the impact of the use of their work. That’s one thing I really care about.
‘AI is another huge challenge. People can just take your creation, lump it into a program and churn out something generic and unoriginal. I find that quite abhorrent. We're only in the early days of this, and it’s already a mess. We need software that can isolate parts of a recording and identify its DNA strands. If we can prove with high probability that a song was used as a template for AI, then we’ll really be making some progress.
‘I’m hoping that, as a creative, I’ll be able to get some of my ideas across the line. I’m not here to pen-push — that’s just not who I am. I love making a difference.’
Two new faces join the PRS Members’ Council this year, each bringing a distinct perspective shaped by their years of experience in music. Cathy Dennis, the award-winning songwriter, producer and publisher behind some of pop’s biggest hits, adds a strong creative voice to the table. From the business side, Megan Hall, SVP of Business and Legal Affairs at Concord Music Publishing, offers a deep understanding of rights management and industry policy.
Both are united by a shared goal: to advocate for songwriters and help build a more equitable future for music creators.
'After I completed my legal training, I was working in the commercial and intellectual property team at a law firm. I'd had a brilliant experience there, but I really wanted to work more closely with the creative sector, particularly as I love music. I had a few friends who worked in the industry, and by word of mouth I heard about a position at the label Ministry of Sound. I was very fortunate to get it because I didn't have any prior experience at a music company, but they took a chance on me and I never looked back.
‘I'm really grateful to be elected to the Members’ Council. It's a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the many and varied aspects of PRS's remit. It's such an important institution in the history of music publishing, and I'm just really excited to get started.
‘I'm aiming to bring my 14 years of music publishing experience, plus my knowledge of the industry — including from the unique perspective of a larger independent music publisher — to make a meaningful contribution. I'll strive to boost efficiencies, maximise opportunities and revenues for members, and further promote engagement with initiatives that support songwriters and composers to develop and sustain careers in music.
'As a publisher, our priority is to protect copyrights and songwriters. Some of the bigger issues facing the industry include the assurance of fair remuneration for the use of music in the digital landscape, and the responsible use of music in relation to AI. It's vital that we protect human creativity and the livelihoods of songwriters and composers, in addition to the publishers who invest in and protect those livelihoods.'
‘It's a privilege to have the opportunity to contribute to the many and varied aspects of PRS's remit.’
Megan
Hall
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IN FOUR DIFFERENT DECADES
WHY ROBBIE WILLIAMS IS ONE OF OUR GREATEST SONGWRITERS
Words: Jordan Bassett
After picking up the PRS for Music Icon Award at The Ivors 2025, Robbie and collaborators Rufus Wainwright and Stephen Duffy appraise his creative legacy.
Sometime in the early-to-mid-noughties, Robbie Williams took a very short shower. He was lathering up at his Hollywood Hills mansion where work was underway on Intensive Care, the multi-million selling monster of pop he created in a makeshift bedroom studio with Duran Duran cofounder and cult songwriter-producer Stephen Duffy.
‘We kind of jammed up riffs and he’d be singing all the time,’ Stephen tells M. ‘We were doing something — I can’t remember what it was; Ghosts or something — and we’d got the structure. He said, “I’m just gonna…” and he went off and had a shower. But halfway through the shower, he came back — still with shampoo in his hair — and started singing the lyrics. I have a picture of this great moment: this man with bubbles in his hair, grasping his Shure SM58 [microphone] and emoting.’
It’s a story that speaks to the seemingly instinctive way in which Robbie crafts the melodies and lyrics that have become soundtracks to our lives. During a solo career that’s spanned more than a quarter of a century, from Angels to Feel and – hell –even Rock DJ, Robbie is one of the most successful songwriters of his generation. The numbers speak for themselves: 15 UK number one albums, a record 18 BRIT Awards and over 85m album sales worldwide.
Robbie added yet another accolade to his collection at The Ivors 2025: the prestigious PRS for Music Icon Award. His fifth Ivor Novello Award, he follows the likes of The Cure’s Robert Smith and Simon Gallup and indie-pop titans James in receiving the
honour, which was awarded ‘in recognition of a songwriting career that has touched millions and defined a generation’. However, despite having co-written his solo material since leaving the creative constraints of Take That to record his 1997 debut Life Thru A Lens, Robbie doesn’t always get the credit he deserves as a songwriter.
Reflecting on his win backstage at Ivors, the superstar told M: ‘It might as well be [me winning this award], if I look around me and just do brass tacks on the landscape of what I’ve done and what I’ve achieved. It’s very interesting to be sat in a room and only you know that you do melodies and lyrics; you bare your soul and be sensitive to the masses. But only you know which bit you’re doing! I suppose, over the years, I haven’t asked to be taken seriously — and people have paid me in kind.’
Rufus Wainwright, who’s co-written a handful of tracks with Robbie over the years, agrees that his pal’s penmanship should be held in higher regard: ‘Robbie is one of the great audiophiles of all time. He knows so much about music from A to Z and really tries to imbue his work with a deep sense of musical history. I think he deserves more credit for being so passionate about what he does and for having so much knowledge.’
Stephen agrees. He reckons that Robbie’s super-celebrity status often eclipses his standing as a songwriter: ‘I suppose that’s the thing about such huge fame: it takes over from the music and the quality of the music.’
Robbie reached superstardom thanks to 1997's Angels, his multi-platinum fifth solo single. The song is credited to Robbie and Guy Chambers, the songwriting collaborator with whom the former enjoyed a serious purple patch from the late nineties until a fallout in the early noughties. In a bonus DVD packaged with the CD edition of 2005’s Intensive Care, Stephen recalled first meeting Robbie on Top Of The Pops in 1996 when the latter was performing his cover of George Michael’s Freedom (a pointed choice of debut solo single given his acrimonious split from Take That). Explaining why it had taken them so long to work together, Stephen noted that Robbie had gone on to be in ‘the most successful writing relationship since LennonMcCartney, so one felt a little reticent…’
‘ROBBIE DESERVES MORE CREDIT FOR BEING SO PASSIONATE ABOUT WHAT HE DOES.’ RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
‘I SUPPOSE, OVER THE YEARS, I HAVEN’T ASKED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AND PEOPLE HAVE PAID ME IN KIND.’
ROBBIE WILLIAMS
Here was another pointed statement, it seems. After all, one of those partnerships is held in the highest critical esteem, the other… less so. Since the ‘imperial phase’ of those Guy Chambers years and that smash album with Stephen, Robbie has gone on to collaborate with countless songwriters and producers (the old Chambers-Williams magic has even been revived in recent years). The heavy metal banger Rocket, the lead single from his upcoming 13th studio album Britpop, was co-written with a quartet of songwriters that includes Robbie and — believe it or not — Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, who also shreds on the track.
Stephen, who left Duran Duran to furrow his idiosyncratic path in the late seventies, reckons the singer could go it entirely alone if he wanted to:
‘My take on it is that the only reason that Robbie collaborates at all is that he likes the company.’
During the Intensive Care sessions, Stephen encouraged Robbie to follow his own muse: ‘He’s so good at hooks that I just thought, “He’ll come up with a hook on whatever instrument he’s placed in front of” — even though he didn’t know how to play any of them! That’s where the songs came from: him playing the keyboards and me jamming along, putting up a drum machine and him playing the bass.’ The songwriting on these sessions was split fairly equally, he adds: ‘Although I probably did more finessing of the music while he did more finessing of the lyrics.’
Perhaps, though, these collaborators have each had a hand in helping Robbie’s songwriting to evolve over the years. The Britpop-style tracks he created with Guy, for instance, gave way to sparkly electropop with eighties synth pioneer Trevor Horn on 2009's Reality Killed The Video Star. Throughout it all, even when his work has explored his challenges with addiction and mental health, there’s been an accessible lightness of touch. ‘What’s great,’ says Rufus, ‘is that on one hand Robbie has a very serious darkness to him, but he counters that with a joyous sense of humour. His unbalanced is very balanced.’
Even when success allowed Robbie to indulge his formative love of big band music, resulting in 2001’s Swing When You’re Winning and 2013’s Swings Both Ways, he wove original material in with the standards. Rufus trades jokey come-ons with Robbie throughout the latter album’s title track, which the pair wrote with Guy Chambers.
Robbie Williams on stage at T In The Park 1998 (Photo: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert / Alamy Stock Photo)
‘I think what I love most about that period,’ says Rufus, 'is that I felt totally safe, accepted and admired by a heterosexual man, and that is something that should really happen more often between the boys.’
Speaking to this writer for NME last year, Robbie revealed the concept behind the upcoming Britpop: ‘I wanted to make the album that [I’d make] if I’d left Take That now. Knowing what I know, what is it that I would have made?’ This, combined with the retro title, might suggest a nostalgic nineties-style retread — a notion that the bombastic Rocket blew to smithereens upon its release. Here was another reminder that you never know what to expect from Robbie Williams the songwriter.
Whatever his first studio album in six years might sound like, you can bet it’ll be crafted with a lot of love. ‘He called [our] album Intensive Care because of the amount of care we took over it,’ Stephen says warmly. ‘He thought we’d put intense care into it.’
Two decades since Robbie was so inspired to create he jumped out of the shower, it’s the mark of a legitimate icon whose legacy as a songwriter scrubs up very well indeed.
Photo: Jason Hetherington
Robbie Williams, winner of the PRS for Music Icon Award, at The Ivors 2025 (Photo: Hogan Media + Shutterstock)
Robbie Williams performing at Murrayfield Stadium in 2003 (Photo: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert / Alamy Stock Photo)
Cristale
Words: Hollie Geraghty
For an increasing number of music creators, social media is nearing parity with songwriting in terms of their priorities. Flintz, Thomas Hewitt Jones and Cristale — all of whom have experienced viral success online — tell M about the deepening interconnectivity between music and social media.
‘You can't be inconspicuous on social media, as people are gonna think they don't have a connection with you or the music.’
— Cristale
‘I try to make content that’s real and authentic to me,’ says Flintz. With 219,000 followers on TikTok and nearly 80,000 on Instagram, he tries to strike a balance between showing his personality and previewing new music with his posts. ‘I'll do maybe a week's worth of recording [music],’ he explains. ‘The week after, I focus on what content I can make around the tracks I have out at the moment and those I potentially want to tease.’
Flintz is aware of the temptation to feed algorithms that favour snappy content and hook-laden tracks, realising that can be a slippery slope. ‘I don't want to fall into the trap of constantly making “TikTok music,”’ he adds. ‘If you’ve built a good support base around you, [a song] will do what it needs to do — regardless [of] whether it becomes a TikTok hit or not.’
Dulwich-based composer Thomas Hewitt Jones, on the other hand, never expected to have a social media hit on his hands. His music has previously featured in various films, TV shows and theatre productions, and is more likely to be heard on Classic FM than on TikTok’s For You page. That was, of course, until he ‘knocked out’ the novelty track Funny Song , which has since become the default
‘The key takeaway I found with social media was that if you get it right, it goes mental.’
— Thomas Hewitt Jones
Photo: Geoff Watkins
Thomas Hewitt Jones
‘I try to make social media content that’s real and authentic to me.’ — Flintz
soundtrack to the countless silly moments that populate TikTok. While Thomas insists he’s a ‘private person’ who conducts most of his work behind closed doors, Funny Song ’s success has become a new ‘calling card’ of sorts.
‘The key takeaway I found with the viral stuff was that if you get it right, it goes mental,’ he explains. ‘It’s actually very hard to replicate Funny Song . I've tried to do other ones just for fun, but it's very hard to reach those heights again.’
Thomas only uses social media sparingly, but he has noticed how more songs have become ‘bitesized’ for online consumption. ‘If you’re a songwriter using social media, you've got to interact with your audience,’ he adds. ‘But you've also got to keep the sluice gates closed sometimes and say, “Look, I need to write now”. I don’t think anyone can ever really know where you sit in the market. You just have to put things out and see what comes back.’
Brixton rapper Cristale, who boasts 1.1m TikTok followers and has racked up tens of millions of views across her videos, has experienced her fair share of viral moments. ‘Being a content creator as well as a musician, that's two different things that people demand from me,’ the 24-year-old tells M . ‘One thing is content, and the other is music — and they don’t always cross paths.'
But while it’s easy, as Cristale notes, to get ‘caught up in the numbers’ on social media, it's important for creators to remember that sustaining a realworld music career requires significant personal investment outside of their phone screens.
‘Someone might have millions of streams on Spotify and thousands of followers on their socials, but then only tens or hundreds of people will turn up [to their shows],’ she explains. ‘As much as the [social] numbers look nice and make you feel good, detach yourself from them as much as possible.'
Like many creators, Cristale tries to find the middle ground by making time to promote her music amid taking part in the latest trends or sharing more personal posts. ‘You cannot be inconspicuous in the slightest, as people are gonna think they don't have a connection with you or the music,’ she adds. ‘Cardi B, Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj all use their social media [in this way] — even Adele does.’
According to a 2024 survey by Deloitte, 82% of Gen Z and 70% of millennial music fans discover new artists and music through social media or video platforms which favour user-generated content. With such a wide array of music and genres to explore across the vast social media landscape, Cristale says that this can only be a good thing for the wider cultural ecosystem: ‘I think that's very healthy for music and for young people.'
YUNGBLUD
‘I want to show the world what I can do as a songwriter’
Words: Thomas Smith
The Doncaster-born musician discusses his new double LP, trusting his gut and his role as a festival booker.
Yungblud has never been afraid of taking a big swing. The 27-year-old musician, born and raised in Doncaster, is one of Britian’s most charismatic young performers with songs that tackle weighty topics: gun ownership in the US; stories of sexual assault; the battle for trans rights; finding yourself in an everdarkening world. Two UK number one albums — Weird! (2020) and Yungblud (2022) — and a festival in his own name would suggest that his candour has resonated far and wide.
Even so, the era that Yungblud, real name Dominic Harrison, is about to enter with his new double album — the first part of which, titled Idols, is out now — reaches for new levels of ambition. Hello Heaven, Hello, the record’s opening track, is a rock epic featuring key changes and time signature shifts, flying past the nine-minute mark. ‘I really want to show the world what I can do now as a songwriter,’ he tells M from his hotel in New York. ‘I want to be ambitious with my ideas and my vision.’
Since his emergence in 2018, Yungblud has become an in-demand songwriter and performer. His credits include collaborations with Halsey, Machine Gun Kelly, Bring Me The Horizon, Lil Yachty, Willow and Demi Lovato. His own material, meanwhile, has received international exposure via syncs in Netflix TV drama 13 Reasons Why, Hollywood blockbuster The Fall Guy and cult Japanese manga Kaiju No. 8
‘It’s been such a beautiful process to make a record back in the UK with my best friends and my family.’
‘When you get a royalty cheque, that's when it's real.’
Even so, Dominic was in danger of falling into a creative rut. When Weird! hit the top spot in December 2020 he began writing material that would feature on Idols, but he was talked out of the project and instead shepherded down a path of safer songs. That resulted in 2023’s self-titled LP. ‘While there’s some really good songs on it, it wasn't the project that I wanted to make,’ he admits. The album again took the number one spot in the UK, and landed within the top 50 of the Billboard 200, but Dominic remained dissatisfied.
Dominic’s outsized Yungblud persona — gobby, chaotic and earnest — was also being weaponised against him by critics and trolls on social media. ‘I didn't realise how much being polarising affected me as a songwriter,’ he says. ‘When I put myself out there and people turned their nose up or questioned me… it led me to self-deprecate a lot. That forced me to hide and push down emotions and to not go on an adventure musically.’
A label move (to Capitol in the US and Island in the UK), a newfound love for physical exercise (he boxes daily) and a renewed confidence in his abilities saw Dominic tap into new places as a songwriter. He returned to Yorkshire to record in Leeds, a short journey away from his family in Doncaster, and did away with the rotating cast of songwriters that had crept into his process. He established a core team of collaborators for the sessions including longtime producer Matti Schwartz, touring guitarist Adam Warrington and composer and arranger Bob Bradley.
Idols’ songs came to life on the guitar, piano or drums, with Dominic and the team searching for a timeless feel. ‘Sometimes in the past I would pull from samples, [recording software] Splice or a beat to get things going, but with Idols it started with this defiantly analogue set-up,’ he explains. Bob guided him on how to interact with an orchestra, helping Dominic tune his songwriting into its capabilities.
The commitment to its craft is felt keenly, and Dominic now has an opportunity to go beyond what people expect of him. He looked to work by Pink Floyd such as Dark Side of The Moon (1973) and Wish You Were Here (1975) for inspiration, alongside The Verve and David Bowie. On the track Zombie there’s a kinship with Coldplay’s 2000 megahit Yellow, while the ambition of Fire matches that of U2’s 1988 UK chart-topper Desire The album’s stark black and white cover, meanwhile, was inspired by Joy Division’s Closer Idols feels like an album unashamedly gunning to be considered a 21st century rock classic.
The decision to make a double LP — the release date for part two has yet to be announced — intended to both disrupt the shortening shelf life of albums in the streaming age and take his fans on a journey. Dominic describes the first half’s lyrical content as focusing on self-reclamation, while the second half has a darker, knottier feel. Idols also has an overarching narrative, but he’s not revealing when, or if, he’ll share that with fans. Being too obvious with the plot, he says, is ‘what the old Yungblud would have done'. He relishes the idea of releasing such an ostentatious record that might confuse his core listeners.
‘I'm not sure if the world is going to get this instantly,’ he adds of the new record. ‘I don't know if my fanbase will, but I know that in 20 or 30 years, [Idols] will still make sense.’
Dominic’s passionate followers — dubbed the Black Hearts Club — have set the standard for modern fandom, and over the years they’ve been well-served with a smattering of music, music videos and a graphic novel. It's Bludfest, however, that is proving to be one of his towering achievements. First held in June 2024 at Milton Keynes Bowl, the one-day event was created and booked by Dominic to fill a gap in the festival scene and to offer affordable prices in an ever-growing ticket market. Lola Young, Lil Yachty and The Damned were all booked for the show, and the day concluded with a headline set by Yungblud. The second edition took place the day after Idols’ release, and featured another headline set by Dominic as well as Chase Atlantic, Denzel Curry and a slate of emerging new acts.
‘I want to be ambitious with my ideas and my vision.’
Dominic wants to provide an alternative in festival culture, but to also use ‘my massive platform and give people some opportunities’. Lola’s set in 2024 arrived before her global success with hit song Messy, and Dominic is now tipping Rachel Chinouriri — who featured on the 2025 line-up — for similar success in the future. He says he’s ‘patriotic as fuck’ when it comes to British music and feels it’s in everyone’s vested interests to support the grassroots.
There’s a new attention to detail in his performances, too. He’s taken up lessons with a vocal coach to protect his voice while on tour and to make it a focal point of the show. ‘I want to really strip things back, as I think there's a lot of fucking gimmicks in live music at the moment,’ he says. ‘I want to do a gig like Queen or Nick Cave would do [and have the audience] be moved by my voice and my band, instead of relying on pyrotechnics.’
The creation of Idols has brought Dominic back in touch with his early days as a musician, when he particularly prioritised and protected his creative spark. He remembers receiving his first PRS royalties cheque and how it gave him a greater perspective about the responsibilities and opportunities that come with being a songwriter.
‘I think my lawyer or accountant sent me an email like, “Guess what just came in?” and I couldn’t believe it. When you get a royalty cheque, that's when it's real.’ How did he treat himself? ‘I got about £1,500 and went and bought a Gibson B-25 acoustic guitar. I've still got it, it's amazing.’
Dominic’s journey has taken him to some of the world’s biggest stages and seen him collaborate with international superstars. But making Idols truly gave him faith in his own ability as a songwriter, producer and performer. He was finally able to shut out the noise and make something true that, he hopes, will stand the test of time.
‘It’s been such a beautiful process to make a record back in the UK with my best friends and my family,’ he says. ‘You have to force yourself to make something original or take a left-turn. That's why this album is such an adventure.’
We are connected by one breath
Photo: Hybrid Eyes
Words: Charlie Craggs
NOAHFINNCE, Jasmine.4.t and more honour the defiant trans artists, agitators and survivors who are inspiring today's creatives.
To be trans today is to be under siege. Across the world, governments are rolling back our rights — including here in the UK. In April, the Supreme Court declared that the legal definition of ‘woman’ rests on biological sex alone, a move condemned as a dangerous regression by trans communities and allies alike.
But history refuses to forget us. Trans people have always existed — not as a trend or a phenomenon, but as artists, agitators, survivors and creators. In this hostile moment, music becomes so much more than just self-expression. To honour this, M spoke to some of the most exciting trans music creators working today about their influences and the legacy of the trans musicians who came before them.
‘It’s cathartic to direct the anger and helplessness that a lot of trans people feel right now into my music,’ pop-punk artist NOAHFINNCE tells M. ‘A lot of what I write about is about feeling like an outcast. If that makes people feel understood, then I’m happy. The people who feel most unwelcome in their dayto-day life can feel at home [with my music] and ready to take on the forces that make them feel not worthy of acceptance.'
It’s a defiant sentiment that is echoed by Telgate's Casper James: 'The music I’ve been writing lately has been far less focused on my transness — although with recent disruptions to our rights, that’s likely to change. But even with the music that isn’t directly about transness, simply existing, creating and being alive as a trans person will always be important in a world that tries to lock us in the shadows.’
When asked to name an inspirational trans artist from the past, both Casper and Noah cite punk rock legends. For the former, US artist Jayne County is a vital figure: ‘Sometimes credited as “one of the first outwardly trans women of punk”, Jayne caused ruptures in Andy Warhol’s Factory studio in New York, influenced the likes of David Bowie and Debbie Harry and was on the frontline of the Stonewall riots. She was, and still is, fierce, unapologetic and the very definition of the “bad queer”. Having a trans artist to look up to who was unstoppable in unimaginable political conditions, stayed true to not appeasing the cis gaze and caused rifts without breaking the mainstream has been so important to me.'
For Noah, who ‘grew up listening almost exclusively to punk music’, Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace made a huge impact. ‘Hearing True Trans Soul Rebel for the first time gave me goosebumps,’ he says. ‘The lyrics “Who’s gonna take you home tonight? Does God bless your transsexual heart?” capture such an unexplainable pain that only trans people will really understand. To this day, I still haven’t found an artist that makes me feel that way.'
Artists like Princess Xixi and Mya Mehmi also embody this punk attitude through their refusal to dilute the way they express their transness in their music. Mya hopes to embolden trans people with the way she 'embraces all the things that make me trans in my art: my rich, deep voice, my complex emotions, my trauma and my pride. I hope that when a trans person listens to my music, they feel a little less alone walking down the street’.
Xixi has a similarly unapologetic approach, describing her music as 'exuding delicate femininity mixed with extreme big dick energy’. ‘I used to make music because I wanted desperately to be understood,’ she adds. ‘Now I make music so people can feel like I understand them.'
In a society that is seemingly working to erase us, having artists stand boldly in their transness without fear of being palatable is so powerful and important. For Mya, this is what Afro-Latina rapper Ms. Boogie represents: 'She never minces her words. In a world where trans people are only granted safety and acceptance by “blending in” and going “stealth”, she is so loud and proud about all the beautiful and challenging parts of being a doll. I personally feel so held by that as a listener — not to mention she could go toe to toe with any rapper I know.'
Xixi cites the influence of another New York rap heavyweight, Quay Dash: 'She's been superinfluential on the way I rap. Her flow, cadence and delivery are so c**t, and her versatility on the mic is seriously underrated.’
‘I hope that when a trans person listens to my music, they feel a little less alone walking down the street.’ — Mya Mehmi
While Manchester-based singer-songwriter Jasmine.4.t shares her ‘anger at the state of things right now — we are all crying out for help’, she remains ‘hopeful for a brighter future for trans people’. Alternative folk artist Zara Smile, who namechecks the 'amazing' Jasmine as one of their favourite trans artists, is similarly keen to keep pushing forward.
‘My main aim with my music is to create a community of people, specifically queer and trans people, who can come together and relate to the lyrics of my songs and talk about their experiences. It's been so lovely that it's all starting to happen!’ they tell M. ‘We have a little group chat and it's so wonderful chatting to everyone on there and getting to hear directly from my community. When the Supreme Court ruling announcement was made, we all supported each other through that.’
Photo: Amy Lauffer
Photo: Whitney Conti
Princess Xixi
Mya Mehmi
Self-proclaimed ‘goth musician and activist’ Aeris Houlihan (AKA Witch of the East) hopes that their work will speak to a range of different audiences at this crucial time. 'For cis audiences, I hope my music shakes them awake — consider it a lovingly aggressive wake-up call,’ Aeris explains. ‘For my fellow trans people, I want my music to be armour; a rallying cry; a glitter-drenched battle anthem. I want them to feel unstoppable, even when the world tells them to sit down and behave. Every bit of outrage only makes us more determined, more creative, and more visible.’
Visibility is certainly key. Multi-instrumentalist and composer Branwen Munn points to the impact that Grammy-winning trans musician Wendy Carlos (who composed the scores for The Shining, A Clockwork Orange and Tron) had on her growing up. 'Being a teenager in the eighties and a lover of synths, to discover that one of the pioneers of electronic music was also a trans woman — who had successfully transitioned by hook or by crook at a time when it must have been such a challenge — just blows my mind,’ she explains. Branwen now hopes that her own music might help ‘someone feel just a little bit closer to their own authentic self, whoever they may be'.
One of the most celebrated trans artists of all time is the late producer, songwriter and DJ SOPHIE, who worked with the likes of Charli xcx, Madonna and Vince Staples. 'I bow down to SOPHIE,’ Aeris tells M. ‘She was the absolute queen of reshaping pop music into something otherworldly and powerful, and proof that trans artists won’t just go along with the mainstream. We belong front and centre, shaking the foundations of your neatly packaged world.’
Photo: Corinne Cumming
NOAH FINNCE
Branwen Munn
‘Every bit of outrage only makes us more determined, more creative, and more visible.’
— Aeris Houlihan
Casper James (Telgate)
Aeris (Witch of the East)
Zara Smile
Zhenia Purpurovsky (tAngerinecAt)
‘I’m done feeling scared. I'm the most sure of myself I've ever been.'
— Jocelyn Si
Clair Le Couteur of Lunatraktors, meanwhile, points to 2005 Mercury Prize winner Anohni’s transition in the public eye as a pivotal moment for the trans community: 'I really can’t express how moved I am by her work, her voice, her bravery and her very public transition.’ Lunatraktors, Clair adds, are intent on exploring in their work 'how colonialism and dualism go hand in hand, and how systems of oppression are so rooted in binary distinctions, enforcing hard borders on soft territories’.
‘People who exist in borderlands are often seen as a threat to those systems,’ they continue. ‘Simply by being there you call into question the reality of that black-or-white approach. Perhaps that means as a trans artist you can’t help but be political.’
Walt Disco singer Jocelyn Si perfectly illustrates the politicisation of existing outside of these borders. 'In the past I would say I've been outwardly vague about my transness in my work at times,’ they tell M. ‘I guess I was trying to protect myself, but I think it just led to confusion and getting misgendered all the time. To an extent, I get it: I have this big baritone voice where I sound like some famous “male” singers from the past, so sometimes people put me in that box of the androgynous stars they grew up with.
‘But I need to wear it on my sleeve, and I want to say out loud: I'm a they/them trans dyke and I don't give a fuck if that's confusing to your Da or a Victorian child. I’m done feeling scared, and I'm the most sure of myself, in life and my career, I've ever been.'
Zhenia Purpurovsky of tAngerinecAt preaches a similar message of defiance and acceptance: ‘I want trans people to know that they can and should love themselves, even if society doesn’t accept them. I want them to be the light for their own life journey. I want people to support each other, because we are connected by one breath.'
Zhenia’s words speak to what’s so often missing from the cultural conversation around trans rights: humanity. Our identities and our bodies have been turned into battlegrounds — politicised, policed and picked apart. In the face of such erasure, trans artists are making music that insists on our existence. Every note and every lyric is proof that we’re still here. As every artist featured here reminds us: we have always been here, and we will always be here.
Photo: Matt Grubb
Jocelyn (Walt Disco)
Jasmine 4.t.
CRISPIN HUNT
‘TOGETHER, WE CAN SHAPE A STRONGER, MORE UNIFIED VOICE FOR THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES’
The PRS Members’ Council President makes the case for collective power, protecting creators’ rights in the age of AI and why a show of unity is key to the industry's future.
I've always been a huge advocate and believer in collectives, and regulated collective management organisations [CMOs] like PRS are the pinnacle. Individually we are 180,000 businesses, but as a unity of voices PRS offers a vital way for us music creators to protect our rights.
As someone who's always been a great believer in the mechanisms of change, I think CMOs are one of the bastions of protection, change and collectivisation that keeps our art, and the right to be remunerated for our art, alive. With AI companies expanding their reach and critical infrastructures moving online, our lives have become ever more ‘datafied’. To balance today’s technological developments — many of which are genuinely progressive and innovative — we need to trust organisations that are open, transparent, democratic and, in a sense, decentralised. PRS embodies those values. It’s our collective check and balance: a way for us, as an army of small businesses, to raise our voices and challenge interests that threaten our livelihoods, our values and our value.
There is a growing need for creators to come together and protect what matters most. That’s not just our ability to make a living from music, but to defend what music fundamentally is: a vital form of human communication.
‘I want to help members understand that PRS is doing its utmost to serve them.’
Photo: PRS for Music / Olly Wiggins
Of course we want technology to thrive: I’ve used Grammarly for years to help with my dyslexia and it’s brilliant. But while AI as an assistive creative tool is an exciting prospect, AI as replacement poses serious risks not just to our livelihoods, but to the very nature of creative work.
For some in the tech world, copyright has long been viewed as a frustrating speed bump. There's this pervasive belief that once something is online, it belongs to everyone — much like the confusion that music can be reduced to data. But music isn’t just maths — if it were, every mathematician would be Mozart. I do believe AI will ultimately benefit musicians with tools that will increase productivity and make aspects of our work faster and easier. But we should never have to sacrifice creativity to improve productivity.
‘Ultimately, our strength lies in how well we serve each other and how powerfully we speak as one.’
For PRS, AI offers huge potential to improve matching, identify uses, and even help differentiate crowd noise from music in live settings. These opportunities are significant. But as we integrate these tools, we must also uphold the rights that fuel them.
The reason copyright is seen as a threat to AI is because it’s valuable, and many AI companies want that value for free. Let’s not forget that AI seems creative because it consumes our creative work. That makes this a crossindustry issue, and it demands collaboration. That’s why proposals like the UK government’s text and data mining copyright exception are so worrying, as it risks sacrificing one of our most successful industries to lure an emerging one that’s still speculative.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can absolutely create a world in which AI respects, and rewards, the creators whose work it relies on. We can build systems where AI outputs clearly identify the sources they’re trained on.
If AI companies are concerned about having to negotiate with every music creator on earth, they don’t have to. That’s what CMOs like PRS are here for: we’ve already built the infrastructure, so they can come to us and we can license and distribute that value fairly.
PRS is doing a fantastic job in this space. We’re actively engaged with the government, lobbying alongside others in the creative and copyright sectors through the Make It Fair campaign. The community response has been powerful, and I believe the government is starting to listen. If they don’t, the UK risks losing a vital source of its soft power which is far more important than many realise.
When I decided to stand for president, I was inspired by the work of Michelle Escoffery, our first writer president. She left the role in excellent shape, and I feel honoured to inherit that legacy. It’s an extraordinary opportunity. Admittedly, ‘president’ can be an uncomfortable word these days, but, in our context, it means something specific. The Chair of the PRS Members’ Council, Julian Nott, leads the business and steers member decisionmaking. The president’s role, then, is to engage with members and ensure that the ‘society’ side of our collecting society is well-nourished.
I’ve worked across this industry as a songwriter, artist, producer and session musician. I’ve had hits, including a number one, which is an amazing feeling. But I’ve also worked in politics, always advocating for copyright and creators. When this opportunity came up, I knew I had to stand. I’m deeply grateful to the Members’ Council for trusting me with this role and for giving me the chance to care for all PRS members. That care has to reach across our entire membership — from those at the top of the charts to those just starting out. Both ends of that spectrum matter deeply to me.
I know the people at PRS for Music. I know how hard they work — with real belief and integrity — to deliver royalties and build sustainable livelihoods for our members. There’s so much potential for collaboration, and one of my goals is to build trust and confidence. I want to help members understand that PRS is doing its utmost to serve them and that, together, we can shape a stronger, more unified voice for the creative sector.
Another priority is education, particularly in making sure members know how to strengthen their own careers. That includes engaging with resources like the Get Paid Guide to understand what data is required to register works properly and interfacing with PRS to becoming more digitally confident. Writers need to take collective and individual responsibility: if your name and identifier aren’t there, you won’t get paid. We’re within reach of 100% accuracy in the digital world, but it still requires everyone to play their part.
My approach as president so far has been to listen. This isn’t about prescribing solutions from the top, it’s about asking what members need. PRS is, at its heart, a service organisation. I’ve begun a soft review, speaking to different groups within the membership and asking what we can do better. Ultimately, our strength lies in how well we serve each other and how powerfully we speak as one.
I’ve always been immensely proud to be part of PRS, and I’m equally proud and honoured to take on this new role.
JAZZ WOMEN IN
PLAYING FOR VISIBILITY
From jam sessions to headline shows, female jazz musicians are demanding more space to create and thrive. M meets the artists and organisers striving for equality and reshaping the future of the genre.
Words: Gail Tasker
Renowned for its improvisation, innovation and creative rebellion, jazz is now actively confronting its own rigid hierarchy. For too long women have been significantly underrepresented in the genre, with many musicians persistently encountering barriers when it comes to access, opportunities and recognition.
This is particularly glaring when you consider that jazz’s core essence was shaped by legends like Billie Holiday, Mary Lou Williams and Alice Coltrane. Each fighting against racial and gender oppression, these three artists were all trailblazers — most notably, Billie was among the very first Black women to work with a white band.
Inspired by these legendary figures, contemporary women jazz musicians continue to forge forward, not least here in the UK. Our current generation of jazz players, including Mercury Prize-nominated saxophonist and composer Nubya Garcia and genrehopping collective Kokoroko, demonstrate the vitality and invention of the genre on these shores.
Women are, however, still being marginalised within jazz. In a 2025 survey commissioned by the organisation Women in Jazz [WIJ], 56% of respondents agreed that women were ‘very poorly’ or ‘poorly’ represented in the jazz scene — with only 16% saying that women were well represented.
‘There have always been women in jazz, but I think the discussion around it has been very different [over the years],’ Kokoroko trumpeter and bandleader Sheila Maurice-Grey tells M . ‘When I've spoken to older musicians about it, they say that it was much harder before than it is for our generation.’
Jazz pianist Nikki Yeoh, whom Sheila cites as one of her influences, has been vocal about the prejudice women jazz musicians have faced over the years. Speaking at a WIJ panel event earlier this year, Nikki recalled a jam session she curated and hosted at Ronnie Scott’s in London where a well-known male musician chose to ‘vibe out’ two younger women musicians instead of simply playing with them.
It’s a story that is depressingly familiar. While jam sessions are an essential space for jazz musicians to hone their sound and meet like-minded players, many are still unfriendly male-dominated spaces. Recalling her experience of attending such sessions in her early 20s, Sheila says she was able to form a bond with her fellow female players to help navigate any antagonism.
Yazz Ahmed
Photo: Alex Bex
‘PEOPLE ARE DEFINING JAZZ COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY TO WHAT THEY WERE 15 OR EVEN 10 YEARS AGO.’ — LOU PALEY
‘There was this idea that if we go to a jam session, we're going to be treated badly,’ she says. ‘But as there were a few of us going to these sessions together, that created a kind of unity among us women.'
Sheila's experience underlines the importance of a supportive network when it comes to developing one’s craft as a musician. While this hasn’t always been readily available to women jazz musicians in the UK, the 10,500-strong community of music creators that has built up around WIJ in recent years has proved to be a huge step in the right direction.
‘As a musician, those starting points you first encounter can be incredibly isolating,’ WIJ co-founder Lou Paley tells M. ‘No matter what industry you’re in, you want a support system around you. Everyone wants to be uplifted and part of something.’
Initially founded in 2018 as a radio show, WIJ now offers its community a range of workshops, mentoring schemes and live performance opportunities. The latter includes a regular jam series, with the inaugural session having taken place earlier this year at Notting Hill Arts Club with vocalist Megan Cleasby. It echoes similar intentionally inclusive jam sessions being hosted by women and non-binary musicians across the UK, such as London’s Peng Femme Jam and vocalist Ni Maxine’s The Wombat Jam in Liverpool.
Access to these spaces is crucial for female musicians, allowing them to experiment creatively with aspects of the jazz tradition and its more contemporary offshoots. ‘We have so much [music] available to us, so why not explore it without feeling like we’re limited to one sound?’ Sheila reasons, referencing Kokoroko’s eclectic sonic palette. ‘Some of my favourite musicians, like Miles Davis and Patrice Rushen, haven’t just done one thing, they’ve done a plethora.’
The streak of experimentalism that continues to run through jazz, paired with these structural efforts to improve inclusion, is helping reshape both the perception and the reality of who gets to define jazz. As Lou points out: ‘People are defining jazz completely differently to what they were 15 or even 10 years ago,’ before citing the work of BritishBahraini trumpeter Yazz Ahmed, who is known for blending jazz and electronics while exploring her Bahraini roots, as one such example.
For WIJ, as Lou notes, ‘celebrating and championing is at the heart of what we do’. Their work in helping address the gender imbalance in jazz hasn’t gone unnoticed, with the organisation winning the Collaboration Award at this year’s Jazz FM Awards. The ceremony also saw statement wins for Ni Maxine (Breakthrough Act of the Year), Alice Zawadzki (Vocalist of the Year) and Lakecia Benjamin (International Jazz Act of the Year).
These accolades mark progress but also signal the need for lasting change. Addressing gender inequality in jazz requires more than visibility alone. From how talent is nurtured in schools and conservatoires to who gets booked for festivals, as well as who curates jam sessions and sits on selection panels, inclusion must be embedded throughout the scene.
While there’s still work to do, there’s also plenty to celebrate. As work continues to bring more women into the space, contemporary jazz is being infused with the collaboration, experimentation and camaraderie between female jazz musicians. For Sheila, whose band Kokoroko will release their next album Tuff Times Never Last ahead of a huge headline date at London’s Brixton Academy in September, it’s simply a matter of being present.
‘I’m just gonna exist,’ she says emphatically. ‘I’m just gonna be who I am — I’m a woman playing this music.’
Kokoroko
Photo: Kemka Ajoko
A YEAR IN NUMBERS
'PRS members have the right to demand their society think differently and challenge the norms in an industry where tradition is too often an excuse for inaction; to constantly evolve to meet their changing needs and expectations. Indeed, it is because we recognise the need to constantly challenge ourselves that we have been able to double the royalties paid to songwriters, composers and publishers in less than a decade.'
Andrea Czapary Martin CEO, PRS for Music
Created by members, for members
More than a century ago, a small group of rightsholders came together to form PRS, united by a mission to protect the music that shapes our world.
In the past decade alone, we’ve doubled both the revenue collected and the royalties paid out — strengthening the future for creators, just as our founders envisioned.
Today, with a membership large enough to fill Wembley Stadium twice, we continue to prove the power of community and collaboration.
230,000
180,000
Words: Matt Charlton
The Ivor Novello Award-winning artist traces their journey from a small village in northern Italy to joining the top table of songwriters at The Ivors.
It’s probably fair to say that it isn’t standard practice to open a conversation with an artist by describing their acclaimed album as ‘frustrating’. But Circumnavigating Georgia, the debut from Sans Soucis (real name Giulia Grispino), defies easy categorisation. Blending disparate genres and influences with deliberate fluidity, it resists tidy description — and that’s exactly what makes it so compelling.
Fortunately, Giulia is eloquent and philosophical about this challenge — or perhaps they’ve just been asked this question before. ‘OK, so I can tell you what I had in mind when I was trying to put everything together,' they tell M . ‘There’s an album by Beyoncé called Beyoncé , where she puts all sorts of genres in and it's just really out there — but it still sounds like Beyoncé.
‘With Circumnavigating Georgia , there are a lot of influences drawn from my upbringing: from the phase where I was just listening to a lot of R&B; bits of my Italian and Congolese heritage; my love for electronics. Producing the record was a very intuitive process for me. The only way I could describe Circumnavigating Georgia is alternative pop.’ That’s settled, then.
Raised predominantly by their paternal grandparents in a small village near Modena in northern Italy, Giulia’s first foray into music was suitably Italian.
Photo: Mahaneela
THE INVENTION OF SANS SOUCIS CIRCUMNAVIGATING
Giulia
Photo: Mahaneela
‘AT THIS SPECIFIC STAGE OF LIFE, I FEEL MOTIVATED TO WRITE ABOUT SOMETHING BIGGER THAN MYSELF.’
‘As opera and classical music are such a huge part of Italian culture — not to mention having been born in the same city as Pavarotti — it felt like it was the only way to do music,’ they reflect. ‘I just really loved singing. I was really excited to go back to my grandpa and be like, "Nonno, I've got a new song for you, do you want to listen to it?" I never thought [it might be creatively inhibiting] until later on when I wanted to develop some more professional skills.’
Giulia’s grandparents have had a significant influence on their life, with their grandmother effectively ‘baptising’ them with the nickname that would become their on-stage moniker. Meaning ‘without worries’, Sans Soucis reflected Giulia’s bright, musical and inquisitive nature as a child. Years later, it was the obvious choice for their artist name.
‘It was like, “This is me now, this is what I want to present,” they continue. ‘The name Sans Soucis reminds me that I need to break barriers, I need to be real, I need to be as vulnerable as a child, because music is the space where I can do it.’
The decision to pursue music as a career came after Giulia moved to London aged 19. ‘Italy is a very academically driven country,’ they explain. ‘I thought if a doctor needs to go to university to be a doctor, then as a musician I should go to university too. Long story short, that's how I ended up in London.’
Bolstered by their natural talent as well as grant support from PRS Foundation’s Women Make Music Fund and the PPL Momentum Music Fund, Giulia was able to put their all into Circumnavigating Georgia , which arrived in October 2024. Seven months later, Giulia was standing on stage at The Ivors 2025 in London accepting an Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song for the album’s title track.
Sans Soucis celebrates their Ivor Novello Award at the PRS Afterparty 2025
(Photo: Olly Wiggins / PRS for Music)
Speaking to them a couple of weeks after the ceremony, Giulia still hasn’t come down from cloud nine. ‘I was really shocked,’ they say about the accolade. ‘For me, the song represents what I always say is the synopsis of the whole record. The storyline is that I spent most of my life building a glorious theatre, which was a defence mechanism against a society that is really harsh and tries to marginalise.’
Do they think that’s why this track was highlighted by the Ivors judges? ‘The sentiment probably just caught some ears. Maybe some related to that experience of wanting to liberate themselves from a safety that isn’t really safety and try to be vulnerable.’
Marginalisation is a thread which runs through their life and music, from being of mixed heritage in a very conservative country (‘In Italy, a lot of us are trying to be visible enough to make sure that children know their lives matter. But I don't feel safe enough to do this [there]’) through to discovering their sexuality and identity — being ‘Black and queer’, as they put it.
‘That experience is something that I wanted to talk about,' they continue. ‘This song was one of the last I wrote for the album, so [by that point] I felt like I had all the messaging of the album in me. That's why every single verse sounds like, “Oh, yeah, this is about that section of the album, that's that section of the album...”. If you don't want to listen to the album [in its entirety], you can just listen to Circumnavigating Georgia .’
‘THE NAME SANS SOUCIS REMINDS ME THAT I NEED TO BREAK BARRIERS, BE REAL AND VULNERABLE — MUSIC IS THE SPACE WHERE I CAN DO IT.’
But you should listen to the album. It stands as a complete work with Giulia’s voice as the constant, taking your hand as you wander through the narrow alleyways of Italy before being transported to the grittier multicultural panoramas of London.
‘After moving to the UK, I learned a lot about myself by doing music,’ Giulia explains. ‘I guess I had to be put in a space where I was an immigrant and felt really insecure about the way I expressed myself.’
Giulia really believes in challenging themselves, namely by stripping everything away and getting into an uncomfortable place for the sake of their art. Are they now at a stage where they hope their music and creative approach will help and inspire others?
‘No one is ever finished, and these things go hand in hand,’ they reply. ‘I do think there are moments where the percentage of your own soul-searching should be bigger than empowering other people, although music does that on its own. At this specific stage of life, I feel motivated to write about something bigger than myself. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't come from my experience.’
Giulia is wasting no time when it comes to building on the momentum generated by the success of Circumnavigating Georgia : ‘I’m finishing my second record for release next year, and I’m excited about that. But off the back of what we just said, I’m really just [focused on] rebuilding a community. I've been going to a film club and a book club; a dream circle; to protests and group gatherings. I'm going to do an MA in Gender Studies. I'm excited about how much we can do as people, together.’
Photo: Mahaneela
RAFFERTIE electronic musician to Hollywood composer
Words: Dan Cave
Having written the score for the Demi Moore-starring body horror The Substance, the classically trained producer tells M about his foray into the world of film composition.
Is that the sound of a ship from the future using a body-shaking horn to announce its arrival as it cuts through the night? A haunting caterwaul — of pleasure? Of pain? — relayed through a synthesiser from afar? Or is it the echo of someone dragging a metal zip up the leg of a body-hugging catsuit?
There is, after all, a latent sexiness to what we’ve just heard; accentuated by a slightly unnerving pause that lingers as the sound of swirling smoke rises. Before it’s possible to parse what exactly our ears have caught, a thudding Berlin-style techno beat rips the listener forward, throwing us forward into the type of foot-stomping track that keeps partygoers moving their sweat-daubed bodies next to each other all night long.
Such an unnervingly sensorial beginning to the titular track from composer Raffertie’s score for The Substance is hardly surprising. After all, director Coralie Fargeat’s acclaimed 2024 body horror film — which was nominated for five Academy Awards (winning Best Makeup and Hairstyling) and saw its star Demi Moore take home a Golden Globe for her performance — roots us in the strictures that are so often placed on the female body.
Given its densely thematic, allegoric and emotioncentred narrative, Raffertie’s score has important work to do. It must signify and accentuate these themes, helping the audience wayfind when onscreen images are pointedly creating unease. Elsewhere, it must also act as an introduction of character — an especially important role given the
‘My career has taught me a lot about melding the worlds of electronic music and film together.'
‘A score is in service to the director’s creative vision, but within that confine you can be very creative.’
film’s central conceits grapples with the duality and falsity of character. A complex task for Raffertie (real name Benjamin Stefanski), then, but one, he tells M, that he thoroughly enjoyed getting stuck into.
‘It started with picking out ideas and sounds to form a sonic palette for the world of The Substance ,’ he explains about the creative process.
‘We needed a sound the marked the “substance”, which I got from turning the feedback right up.
Coralie said we need to feel the seduction and youth of that character, and that helped form the techno-leaning main theme.’
Given his origins in electronic music (including releases on Ninja Tune and Planet Mu), it may be surprising that a self-described ‘esoteric’ creator
like Raffertie would end up scoring a mainstreamcourting film fronted by Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid. That’s not to suggest that the London-based creator doesn’t have the composing chops — after all, he has a degree in Classical & Contemporary Music Composition from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. But while film music is so often worlds away from his usual environment of club lights, DJ decks and thudding beats, Raffertie has in fact been operating in media composition for over a decade, working on the music for the likes of I May Destroy You and the John Wick prequel The Continental
‘[My career] has taught me a lot about melding those worlds together,’ he says. ‘Bringing traditional elements of film scoring and combining it with what I’m good at: electronic sound design.’
Asked about how creators can still express themselves within the parameters of composing music for film, Raffertie reasons: ‘A score is in service to the director’s creative vision, but within that confine you can be very creative. When there’s a great director on board, you know they've hired you because they like your sound. It’s freeing and allows you to experiment as well as push boundaries.'
Raffertie, winner of Best Original Film Score, at The Ivors 2025 (Photo: Hogan Media - Shutterstock)
Indeed, there are clear sonic bridges between Raffertie the electronic musician and Raffertie the composer. Take his 2024 solo single Can’t Stop, released on his own Stop Recording Co imprint, which has the same juddering electronic hallmarks as many elements of The Substance soundtrack.
‘I used to think of my film work and personal production as discrete disciplines, but it all comes from the same place: one informs the other,’ he tells M. ‘I’m now much more comfortable doing the film work and then releasing my own music in my way — not least as my sound often lends itself to film!’
Citing his love for Jerry Goldsmith’s Alien score as well as the compositional work of Atticus Ross and Bernard Herrmann, Raffertie does acknowledge that he didn’t entirely plan to end up in this field (‘I didn’t even really know what type of film composer I would be’). He is, however, effusive about the benefits that can come from stepping into film composition, especially when the creative environment is right.
‘With the right director that knows music, you’re just giving the film a bit of energy,’ he adds about the role of the composer. ‘But you’ve got to trust the director’s vision, too.’
When it comes to his advice for music creators looking to break into the film world, Raffertie says that establishing a clear understanding of one’s own sonic identity as a producer is key. ‘Know what you’re good at, what your strengths are and why the director wants to work with you as an artist,’ he tells M. ‘That way you don’t have to worry about what your role is and who you need to satisfy, and you can double down on you.’
This approach is evident with his work on The Substance, which won Raffertie an Ivor Novello Award for Best Original Film Score and marked him out as one of Hollywood’s brightest new composers. Being forever associated with an Oscar-winning film is something that he’s proud of: ‘Seeing people dressing up as [the Substance characters] for Halloween, or seeing themed parties with the soundtrack blaring in the background, it’s really been amazing to be a part of it.’
'Composers should know what they’re good at, what their strengths are and why the director wants to work with them.’
BACK FOR GOOD
Words: Gary Ryan
THE TRIUMPHANT REVIVAL OF NINETIES AND NOUGHTIES GIRLBANDS AND BOYBANDS
The hitmakers behind the era-defining pop of that period reflect on why these groups and their music still resonate today.
Miranda Cooper couldn’t sleep after watching the reunited Girls Aloud perform live last year. As chief songwriter at Xenomania, the rebellious pop production collective overseen by Brian Higgins, Miranda was behind all 21 of the girlband’s UK top 10 singles. These innovative tracks shredded the pop rulebook, turning Girls Aloud into the biggest-selling girl group of the 21st century.
Seeing the scope of her work being performed back-to-back — from the riotous rockabilly of Love Machine to the shimmeringly pensive Call The Shots (written amid the breakdown of Miranda’s first marriage) — packed a punch. As did the added poignancy behind the comeback tour, which honoured Girls Aloud’s beloved fifth member Sarah Harding, who died from breast cancer in 2021. Indeed, when they opened with the soaring Untouchable , Miranda found its lyrics (‘ Through wind and rain we got here / Now we’re flying, babe, with no fear ’) almost prophetic.
'There’s so much more meaning now,' Miranda tells M . 'The songs were always packed with feelings, but now there’s another layer on top.'
Girls Aloud’s arena tour was the biggest-selling of its kind in 2024, typifying the recent resurgence in interest in the girlbands and boybands of the nineties and early noughties. Acts such as Sugababes (who played packed-out sets at Glastonbury in 2022 and 2024, and are now forging ahead with new music) and the now fully reunited Five are firmly back on the scene, while the recent BBC docuseries Boybands Forever rekindled a nostalgia for when the likes of Take That, 911 and Blue ruled the charts.
'When you’re younger, everything has more importance — which is why boybands and girlbands have such longevity,' explains storied songwriter Wayne Hector (who, alongside Steve Mac, co-wrote seven of Westlife’s number one singles as well as chart-toppers for The Wanted and One Direction). 'It’s like how everybody remembers their teachers from school by name.'
SUGABABES
BLUE
Photo:Yui Mok
Similar themes emerge when you ask the songwriting power behind the throne (or stools, in Westlife’s case) about the enduring appeal of these pop acts. One such explanation is the rose-tinted yearning for the optimistic hits of a pre-social media era, when pop felt like more of a collective experience, untethered from the discourse or streaming algorithms.
For Wayne, the key to the success of nineties boybands was finding universal themes which appealed to the masses. 'Everybody was doing approximately the same love songs, so it was about creating a sound that separated one band from everyone else. For Damage, that was R&B,’ he explains. ‘We were also writing songs that connected with joint experiences: for instance, Westlife’s Flying Without Wings was about our wives.'
As arguably the last boyband to sneak in through the door in 2000 before TV talent shows demystified the process, Blue and their accessible melodies offer a link back to a less cynical time. ‘When we came out, music wasn’t just about yourself — it was about providing escapism for your fans,’ Blue’s Lee Ryan tells M . ‘The hooks and melodies were bigger. Nowadays, everything is smaller and contained.’
'AS SONGWRITERS, WE WERE OUTSIDERS WITH A DESIRE FOR ARTISTRY.’ — MIRANDA COOPER
Yet boybands can adapt to prevailing trends. By the time Wayne, Steve Mac and Ed Drewett devised The Wanted’s 2011 banger Glad You Came , the aim was for it to be played unironically in clubs. 'Most people are trying to write something credible,’ notes Wayne. ‘You want to be on the edge of what’s happening production-wise.'
Similarly, Blue’s high-street R&B — largely co-written with Norwegian hitmakers Stargate — didn’t frighten the CD:UK producers, yet was recherché enough to gain props from unexpected quarters. Lee recalls secretly working in his Acton-based studio with So Solid Crew: 'I was accepted into that rap culture because of my voice and Blue’s style of music. It was OK to like us. We weren’t Westlife. When we did Fly By II , sampling Biggie’s Hypnotize , it put us in a different place.'
The gold discs that adorn the walls of Sheffield songwriter Eliot Kennedy’s home are evidence of his status as a ‘hired gun’ for pop artists in the nineties and noughties. Although some of his evergreen hits, such as Five’s sole US top 10 hit When The Lights Go Out and Boyzone’s Picture Of You (which won him an Ivor Novello Award), were devised quickly and to a brief ('You have to be OK with removing the emotional aspect — you’re not necessarily making an artistic statement,' he says), the biggest songwriting lesson he learned was from co-writing the Spice Girls’ 1996 global smash Say You’ll Be There
'WHEN YOU’RE YOUNGER, EVERYTHING HAS MORE IMPORTANCE — WHICH IS WHY BOYBANDS AND GIRLBANDS HAVE SUCH LONGEVITY.’ — WAYNE HECTOR
'We sat in a circle, and they’d throw out ideas that were personal to them and their vocabulary,’ he recalls about working with the group on the track. ‘It was like wrangling kittens, but it became about capturing that energy and honing it into something that felt like a song.'
Six years later, Girls Aloud’s debut single Sound Of The Underground , an NME -approved cocktail of surf guitar and drum’n’bass, defied expectations of what a reality show-formed girlband could achieve. It set the template for a succession of wildly inventive tracks like 2005’s Biology , which samples the riff from the Animals’ 1965 single Club-A-Go-Go and dispenses of the standard verse-chorus structure.
'Those songs sound fresh because they’re not of their time,' Miranda tells M. 'We were outsiders with a desire for artistry. These songs were made with love, care and freedom, which was born out of [Xenomania] being a family. We weren’t going in and doing oneday sessions — we were trying to be original. There’s a boldness and complexity there. This wasn’t a time of TikTok where you think, “We need to get to the chorus quickly in case anybody skips.”’
A1’s Ben Adams, who co-wrote the majority of the boyband’s eight top 10 singles, used to spend three weeks at a time working on music at a writing retreat with producer Mike Hedges. End products like the group's wistful, indie-hued 2002 hit Caught In The Middle justified that time and expense, but, as Ben notes, many of today’s pop artists simply don’t have that luxury.
WESTLIFE
DAMAGE
Photo: Pictorial Press Ltd
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'A lot of people I work with now could be number one in the charts, but they have to have another job as well,’ he explains. ‘A lot of songwriters and producers therefore take the approach of throwing as much shit at the wall and seeing what sticks. The world is so fast-paced and everybody’s writing on laptops, so it’s often done and dusted in one day. Is it a hit? No? Then it’s on to the next thing.'
While that creative period of incubation isn’t a hallmark of today’s pop songwriting, there are some outliers. 'I’m delighted that there are now more artists like Lola Young and Charli xcx making albums with one producer or writing team,’ Miranda notes. ‘With that set-up you’re able to experiment, and there’s an intimacy and safety in that.'
Lyrically, Miranda's Girls Aloud songs strongly align with the kaleidoscopic world-building favoured by songwriters like Charli and Chappell Roan. 'I felt like I was writing a mission statement for the type of women we wanted to be, emphasising body positivity and sex positivity,’ she explains. ‘So there’s a freedom in seeing these women now on stage embodying those songs in a way that’s even more relevant than perhaps they were originally.’
That authenticity tallies with this current era of pop, which celebrates vulnerability, vivid personalities and the kind of boldness that was pioneered by the girlbands and boybands of the nineties and noughties.
'On paper, Girls Aloud singing Something Kinda Ooooh in their forties shouldn’t work — but it does,' Miranda says. ‘It's empowering. They’re being respected more now than they were back in the noughties, when it felt like they were having to prove themselves. Going into each album, we never knew if it would be the last as it felt like it could be taken away at any moment. But it can’t be taken away now — it’s legacy.
'There’s a connection between the on-stage authenticity of Girls Aloud and Sugababes with this exciting, colourful and personality-led time we’re in with pop. It’s women leaning into their vulnerabilities and messiness without smoke and mirrors, and that offers something to younger generations.'
'WITH THE SPICE GIRLS, IT WAS ABOUT CAPTURING THEIR ENERGY AND HONING IT INTO A SONG.'
— ELIOT KENNEDY
SPICE GIRLS
Photo: Channel 4 Television / Album
Szmierek ON THE ROAD Antony
The Manchester spoken-word artist on SXSW, breaking into the US and the power of behind-the-scenes support.
Words: Sophie Williams
'AS A RESULT OF PLAYING AT SXSW, WE'RE PROBABLY A MILLION MILES BETTER AND STRONGER AS A LIVE ACT.'
Back in February, Antony Szmierek released his debut LP Service Station At The End Of The Universe — a gleaming, ambitious concept record about spiralling through the tribulations of love, loss and grief, and ultimately accepting the impermanence of life. Having already become a revered figure on the touring circuit, Antony’s album has resonated with listeners seeking solace in these increasingly troubling times; his conclusion seems to be that hope is worth fighting for.
The main source of Antony’s star power is his live shows, which aim at the feet and the heart equally.
As his much talked-about sets at Glastonbury and new music showcases such as The Great Escape and Sŵn in 2024 showed, the Mancunian has a songbook full of exuberant choruses, with moments of on-thespot poetry that feel akin to a fireworks display of creativity and joy. Simply put, you’re guaranteed to leave the pit with a grin on your face.
With influences that range from noughties hip hop to pop and British indie greats, Antony’s wide-ranging approach bleeds into his stage presence, which is filled with generosity and spirit. Back in March he flew out to SXSW in Austin, Texas to make his US live debut — funded by a grant from BBC Introducing and PRS Foundation — before returning to the UK to embark on a run of headline shows, including a sold-out night at his hometown’s Albert Hall.
With his tour now extending into Europe and a summer filled with festival appearances, M caught up with Antony to hear, in his own words, what it's like to grow and thrive as a live act in 2025.
‘Travelling to Austin and performing at SXSW was life-changing. I think there was a weird sense of anticipation on the plane there [from London], as many of us artists who had received funding wound up sitting together. I would find myself peeking over seats and thinking, “What’s corto.alto watching on the TV there?”, or I’d turn around and spot Jasmine.4.t, and we’d wave at each other.
‘I’d never been to the US before heading to SXSW, nor had my band. None of us! It was pretty mad knowing that the music I made at home — so much of which is specific to a time or location — was going to be performed live all the way out in Texas. There was definitely a sense of all of us artists feeling the excitement and thinking to ourselves, “How did we get here?”
‘We played to nearly entirely American crowds. They were all amazing. I think before performing in the States, you can get stuck in your head and your own perceptions; I was trying not to mention line dancing whenever it came to crowd participation. We played at this dive bar one night, which was great — it felt like being in a film. I think I was worried about some of the niche references in my music: for instance, I thought that singing about the Stockport Pyramid would be lost on some people.
‘I think people have different ideas about what SXSW is going to be. Some artists, for example, will aim to get a US agent or radio plugger while they are out there. But I think, as an artist, the most important thing is to remain in charge of what your shows look like, and make sure that everyone [in the crowd] has a good time each night you play. If you do that, then all of those other things will come naturally.
‘I met so many fellow British artists while I was out there, which was incredibly special. We were hopping between bars and sharing instruments, or borrowing each other’s equipment when things went wrong. I left the festival with this real sense of community, which energised me ahead of the UK tour that I set out on the following week. It made me realise that this is why I make music. In Austin, I watched a lot of shows — including [bands like] Maruja and Big Special — and came away having had some of the best experiences of live music that I have ever had. I felt incredibly inspired. It was a transformative trip in so many ways.
‘Crucially, we wouldn’t have been able to go to SXSW without the grant that we received from PRS Foundation. I wanted to make sure I had my album out before playing the festival, so I knew that I wasn’t ready for SXSW in 2024. At the start of this year, however, we got the funds we needed to head over to Austin, and as a result of playing out there, we are probably a million miles better and stronger as a live act. Obviously there's now a million things in my [iPhone] Notes about what we saw along the way: there was a blood moon eclipse, and we also experienced a thunderstorm while travelling back!
‘When the funding from PRS Foundation came in, we thought to ourselves [as a band], “Let's go and book in loads of shows for SXSW”. That mindset gave us the confidence to start reaching out to people online and telling them that we would be at the festival. Previously, playing in America didn’t feel like a possibility for us — it felt like something I wouldn’t ever be able to reach for. But while we were in Austin, we met really good people and have had some more US radio play, which feels massive.
‘THERE'S STILL A CERTAIN RELIEF IN KNOWING THAT THERE ARE ORGANISATIONS LIKE PRS WHO SUPPORT MUSICIANS LIKE MYSELF AT TIMES WHEN WE NEED IT THE MOST.’
‘All of this really opened my eyes to what can be achieved with the right support. At the start of this journey, I didn’t apply for any kind of funding. It was weird — I thought, “Maybe that [help] isn’t for us”; perhaps there was a level of imposter syndrome surrounding it. But as I moved further along in my career and discussed my feelings with other artists, I came to understand that it is a tool that is there to help you.
‘I remember when my first PRS royalties cheque came in. I was really skint — I hadn’t yet signed to a label. I spent some of it on a takeaway, which sounds ridiculous, but I was a teacher at the time and working very long hours, so it felt like a small victory. Royalty payments helped me to continue to be able to travel down to London for meetings and gigs, so I used them to fund the early stages of my career.
‘I often hated asking for help when I was figuring out music on my own, but I learned to work past that stubbornness. There was, and still is, a certain relief in knowing that there are organisations out there like PRS to support musicians like myself at times when we need it the most.’
LIVE AND LOCAL
WHY THE PUB IS A PIVOTAL PILLAR OF BRITISH MUSIC CULTURE
Words: Jim Ottewill
Many of the UK’s best-loved songwriters and live performers have a great affinity with the boozer — and not just as punters. M explores the crucial role pubs continue to play within the music industry.
For generations of musicians, pubs have served as rehearsal rooms with bar stools, music venues with even stickier floors and, crucially, cultural lifelines where songs can come to life and live performers first find their feet.
'Pubs are where almost every band cuts their teeth,' Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody tells M . 'We wouldn’t be here without pub venues. They need to be protected and supported to keep grassroots music alive and thriving.'
The mutual dependency between the pub and the performer has long been a key cornerstone of the UK's musical identity. Hastings trio HotWax can attest to that: their exuberant debut album Hot Shock , released earlier this year, was largely born out of their time spent gigging on the pub circuit.
‘Pub shows are where we started,’ the band tell M ‘For years we would play locally with other young bands at multiple different pubs, like The Carlisle and The Brass Monkey in Hastings, as well as The Hope & Ruin in Brighton. It had a huge influence on us: we even got signed following a gig we played at The George Tavern in London.
‘When the place is bouncing and you can hear the bass and the kick drum, it makes the pub feel alive.’
— Jonathon Barnes
‘We wouldn’t be here without pub venues.’
— Gary Lightbody, Snow Patrol
‘We still play in pubs to this day; they are so very important. It’s critical that they keep their licences and continue booking bands as it’s where so many people hone their craft as musicians.’
Despite the challenges facing publicans in today’s economic climate, many remain passionate champions of live music. After all, their venues are far more than just expendable career launchpads — they’re an intrinsic part of the UK music ecosystem. To celebrate this, PRS for Music partnered with the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) earlier this year to launch Pubs Go Live, unveiling research championing the UK’s top towns and cities for live music in pubs. Belfast topped the list, with the Duke of York, a recipient of the PRS for Music Heritage Award back in 2010, among the city’s vaunted venues.
'Our first Belfast show was at the Duke of York in 1998,’ Gary recalls. ‘Our first show in London was at The Water Rats, which was also a pub venue. In fact, for the first 10 years of our career, we played pretty much exclusively in pub venues all over the UK and Ireland.'
Situated in Kings Heath in south Birmingham, the Hare & Hounds received a Heritage Award in 2011 to mark the scene of UB40’s first show in 1979. Having since played host to gigs by the likes of Jungle, Fontaines D.C. and Mac DeMarco, venue boss Adam Regan has worked tirelessly to support new artists by putting on a range of engaging live music nights.
'There's Weird On Purpose, a monthly night at the Hare for up-and-coming bands from Birmingham and the surrounding areas,' Adam explains. 'We work closely with local talent — it’s almost like mentoring. We know what it takes to get [gigs] off the ground, so we want to help new acts.
‘It’s the same with [all-day showcase event] Future Days. It’s a stepping stone for artists; whatever point they’re at in their journey. New bands need to be able to play in front of an audience and this is the best way to test material, work out how they gel together and become better performers and artists.'
The Hare & Hounds also does much to serve the local community, playing key roles in the annual Kings Heath Street Festival and Queens Heath Pride. The latter is a community-led event cocreated by local comedian Joe Lycett, a regular drinker at the pub.
'This is his brainchild as he’s a friend of the venue and very much part of the community,' says Adam. 'The event grew from word of mouth to 3,000
The Stranglers, PRS Heritage Award 2019
Snow Patrol
Supergrass, PRS Heritage Award 2012
‘We know what it takes to get gigs off the ground, so we want to help new bands do that.’ — Adam Regan
people on the street, and it's become a massive part of our calendar. As a result, we’ve had more people from the LGBTQIA+ community move here as it feels like a safe area. Our club nights that are aimed at this community, like Horse Meat Disco and Homoelectric, always sell out. We’re very proud of this, as it shows how safe and inclusive our venue is and the impact it's had.'
Gullivers in Manchester’s Northern Quarter has been closely affiliated with live music for much of its 160-year history. Much like nearby sister venue the Castle Hotel, this lively bar’s musical heritage marks it out amid the city’s saturated nightlife.
'It’s very competitive when it comes to hospitality in the Northern Quarter, but we have a unique family feel,' Jonathon Barnes, Gullivers’ General Manager, tells M . 'We have a lot of regulars, but they can combine nicely with gig goers to create an interesting mix of people in the pub. There are some more characterless bars in the city, but our venue can offer something different.'
Gullivers has two performance spaces, with the 110-capacity Ballroom the primary venue for live music. Jonathon names rising genre-blurring band Pyncher as a recent highlight: ‘When the place is bouncing and you can hear the bass and the kick drum, it makes the pub feel alive. The music certainly adds something extra special to what we offer. It gives us something unique.'
The pull of the pub is certainly unique in British culture. In a live music context, they serve as a welcoming space for artists at every stage of their careers. Going forward, protecting these spaces will help preserve the vital opportunities for live experimentation and growth they offer — a foundation upon which the UK music industry continues to build.
Photo: Sam Frankwood
PRS PRESENTS
10 YEARS OF CELEBRATION, COMMUNITY AND CREATIVITY
Lady Leshurr
Greentea Peng
HERs Peace
Photos: Jennifer McCord, Patrick Gunning, Keith Ainsworth
Words: Elle Ayres
From IDLES launching into the crowd to Jordan Rakei’s pin-drop performance, the live music showcase has now championed the PRS community for over a decade.
While much has changed in the music industry over the last 10 years, one thing has remained: the enduring power and importance of live performance. The beating heart of the creative sector, the stage is where a vision is brought to life and shared with an audience in real time. Beyond that connection, live performance is also a vital form of income for music creators, with royalties from reported performances offering a consistent revenue stream.
PRS Presents was born out of this deep appreciation for live music. Over the past decade, the series has regularly showcased the wealth of talent across the PRS community, giving members a platform to establish themselves as live
Rag'n'Bone Man
Nova Twins
Tawiah
Moses Boyd
Jordan Rakei
performers and get noticed by the wider industry. To date, 37 editions of Presents have taken place, with London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Belfast all playing host.
27 October 2015 marked the inaugural edition of Presents, with headliners Peace setting an early benchmark with their sparkling indie-rock. The following year saw Ghostpoet entrance the crowd with his eclectic sound, while Rag'n'Bone Man took to the Presents stage on the same day he released his hugely successful single Human .
Jordan Rakei’s captivating soulful jazz provided another highlight in 2017, as did Nova Twins’ searing rock in 2022. IDLES’ raucous 2017 gig in PRS’s former office in Streatham, meanwhile, blew the crowd away as members of the band jumped on office furniture and into the audience to deliver one of the most memorable performances in Presents history.
When COVID shut down live music in 2020, Presents pivoted. Three major online editions took place, ensuring that the connection to live performance stayed strong. A special 24-hour LCKDWN livestream featured over 50 artists — including Katie Melua,
KT Tunstall and Joy Crookes — to raise money for the PRS Emergency Covid Relief Fund which, by the end of lockdown, raised more than £2m. Special virtual showcases followed, including a Black History Month edition of Presents featuring performances from Dizzee Rascal and Nubya Garcia, while Self Esteem was a standout during a virtual LGBTQ+ Presents the following year.
Genre representation has always been a priority for Presents. In 2023, the series marked 50 years of hip hop with a commanding performance from headliner ENNY at Brixton Jamm, while last year saw the first dedicated Presents for classical music as Manchester Collective brought their experimental sound to the grand LSO St Luke's. Earlier this year, Nubiyan Twist headlined a night of live music celebrating 25 years of PRS Foundation.
The first 10 years of PRS Presents have proven just how vital and vibrant the live space is for creators. With its unwavering commitment to spotlighting talent, building community and championing new voices, the stage is set for another decade of unforgettable moments.
Black Midi
Dream Wife
Flamingods
Flohio
D Double E
CREATED BY MEMBERS. DRIVEN BY MUSIC.
We exist to champion the creators behind the songs that shape our world — because when your music succeeds, so should you.
