PRS for Music crowns the Maypole and the Hickory Inn winners of Music Makeover competition
Music Makeover competition winners are announced
PRS for Music is delighted to announce Adam Dakin of the Maypole Inn, Derby and Edward Sproat of the Hickory Inn (formally known as The Barge) in Halberton, Devon as the winners of this year’s Music Makeover, a competition that offers landlords and pub owners across the UK the chance to improve their live music facilities.
Now entering its fifth year, the Music Makeover campaign was established by PRS for Music, the organisation that represents 111,000 songwriters and composers, to give landlords a chance to revamp their pubs and make live music a central part of their local communities.
175 entrants from around the UK, were judged by a panel comprising PRS Chairman, Guy Fletcher, PRS for Music Head of Marketing, Paul Sims, British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) representative Rebekah Kendrick and Kelly Wood of the Musicians Union.
PRS for Music’s team of live music experts will now work with the landlords to transform their pubs into live music havens, with top of the line equipment and a post-makeover launch party.
Winners and runners-up
Winners – Prize value £10,000
Adam Dakin, The Maypole, Derby
Edward Sproat, The Hickory Inn, Halberton
Highly commended – Prize value £2,500
Kelly Beard, The Wheatsheaf Didcot
Nick, The Music Café, Leicester
Our annual Music Makeover competition aims to raise awareness of how effective live music can be in driving additional revenue for pubs and bars, which could prove the difference in ensuring a pub survives in the current climate. Being able to help improve the live music capabilities of the small live venues that are the lifeblood of our members is immensely satisfying and we wish every success to our two winners this year.
I am proud that once again PRS for Music is able to offer a helping hand to two fantastic pubs through our Music Makeover competition. Pubs play such a vital role in many songwriters’ careers and provide an essential platform from which they can learn their trade. Both the Maypole and the Barge have the necessary components, as well as the ambition, to provide genuinely exciting hubs for live music in their local communities.
Music is also one of the most positive ways for pubs to keep customers coming through the doors. After seeing the incredible results for pubs in the past four years of the competition, we’re especially excited to see the impact music is having in this year’s winning pubs, and how PRS for Music is going to help them build on this.
I’m over the moon to have won. I can’t believe it. It’s given me the chance to realise my dream of making the Maypole into a really cool music pub. Thank you PRS for Music.
We are absolutely ecstatic. We never thought that we would win and can’t quite believe it. We’d like to thank PRS for Music for giving the chance to improve our music equipment and our staff and locals for supporting us.
About PRS for Music
Here for music since 1914, PRS for Music is a world-leading music collective management organisation representing the rights of more than 175,000 talented songwriters, composers and music publishers. Redefining the global standard for music royalties, PRS for Music ensures songwriters and composers are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public.
For 110 years it has grown and protected the rights of the music creator community, paying out royalties with more accuracy, transparency and speed. In 2023, PRS for Music paid out £943.6m in royalties and collected a record £1.08 billion in revenues. prsformusic.com
