PPL and PRS for Music support 2018 Gramophone Awards

PPL and PRS for Music sponsor the Contemporary Award

The UK’s two licensing bodies involved in ensuring that composers and performers are rewarded for their work in music are once again joining the list of organisations and individuals sponsoring this year’s Gramophone Awards. 

PPL and PRS for Music will jointly sponsor the Contemporary Award category, which celebrates outstanding recordings over the last year featuring work by contemporary composers. The top 3 shortlisted recordings for the Award, announced earlier this month, feature works by Brett Dean, Luca Francesconi, Pascal Dusapin and John Pickard. The winner of this category will be announced on August 31 ahead of the awards ceremony in London on September 13 and will also be in contention for the prestigious Recording of the Year award announced at the ceremony.  

The 2018 Gramophone Awards take place on September 13 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London with live music once again taking centre stage, provided by the internationally-renowned Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, as well as performances from award winners both past and present. For the third consecutive year, the Awards are broadcast free by medici.tv to audiences in more than 180 countries; last year, more than 65,000 people tuned in from all over the globe. 

PPL and PRS for Music work to support the most integral parts of the music industry: the creation and performance of music. Collectively, the two organisations represent the rights of songwriters, composers, publishers, record labels and performers the world over, ensuring they are fairly paid whenever their music is played or reproduced in public. This is the second time that PPL and PRS for Music have supported the Gramophone Awards, after jointly supporting last year’s Special Achievement Award, won by Colin Matthews.

New music is vital to ensure that classical music remains a living, breathing art form. We’re delighted that the PPL and PRS for Music, who work so hard on behalf of today’s composers, are supporting our Contemporary Award, one that never fails to astound for its richness and range.

It is an honour to support the Gramophone Awards again in 2018 – one of the most prestigious events in the classical music calendar.  We look forward to sponsoring the Contemporary category with our colleagues at PRS for Music and are excited to find out who the winner will be on 31 August.

All of us at PRS for Music are delighted to be supporting the Gramophone Awards this year. This event is one of the highlights in the classical music calendar and we are proud to be celebrating composers and their excellent works in the Contemporary category.

The nominated recordings in the Contemporary Award category are:

• Dean Dramatis personae
• Francesconi Hard Pace Håkan Hardenberger; Gothenburg SO / John Størgårds (BIS)
• Dusapin Quatuor VI & VII Arditti Quartet et al (aeon)  
• Pickard Symphony No 5 etc BBC NOW / Martyn Brabbins (BIS)

The full list of nominees for all ten categories – Chamber, Choral, Concerto, Contemporary, Early Music, Instrumental, Opera, Orchestral, Recital and Solo Vocal – can be found in Gramophone’s September issue. 

About Gramophone Awards

The annual Gramophone Classical Music Awards, the world’s most influential classical recorded-music prizes, were launched in 1977 by Gramophone magazine (founded in 1923 by Sir Compton Mackenzie). The Awards celebrated their 40th anniversary in 2017. Available internationally, Gramophone publishes a bespoke edition of the magazine for North America. Gramophone’s full, searchable archive of magazines from 1923 to the latest issue is available digitally for iPad and other tablet devices, smartphone or computer.

About PPL

Founded in 1934, PPL is the UK music industry’s collective management organisation (CMO) for tens of thousands of performers and record companies.  We license recorded music in the UK when it is played in public (shops, bars, nightclubs, offices etc.) or broadcast (BBC, commercial radio, commercial TV etc.) and ensure that revenue flows back to our members. These include both independent and major record companies, together with performers ranging from emerging grassroots artists through to established session musicians and influential festival headliners.  PPL’s public performance licensing is now carried out on PPL’s behalf by PPL PRS Ltd, the new joint venture between PPL and PRS for Music.  

PPL has a market-leading international collections business, with 90 agreements in place, helping members to maximise their revenue when their repertoire is played overseas.  We collected £218.8 million in the UK and internationally in 2017 and paid over 98,000 performers and record companies.