Tom Gray: Last News

May is now appearing on the horizon, which means this year’s Great Escape will be with us very soon. Yesterday 120 more artists were added to the bill, including Alfie Templeman, Blackhaine, Chrissi, MUNA, Spill Tab, STONE, Bru-C, Casisdead, Kid Kapichi, Lido Pimienta and many more.

Kate Nash has spoken to NME about her ‘Butts For Tour Buses’ campaign, the online row with The Lottery Winners – and why things need to change for artists now to avoid “collapse”.Nash recently made headlines when she launched her ‘Butts for Tour Buses’ campaign, which saw her join OnlyFans to protest the music industry and help raise money for her UK and European tour.The singer-songwriter and GLOW actor then took her “bum on the back of a fire truck” protest to the London offices of Live Nation and Spotify as well as the Houses of Parliament to highlight the challenges facing artists arguing: “The industry is in crisis, the music industry has failed artists, and is completely unsustainable, and my arse is shining a light on that.”This comes as the UK government recently backed the call for a ticket levy on arena gigs and above to feed the grassroots, with small venues in a perilous situation and artists struggling more than ever to make ends meet with the odds stacked against them. A deadline has since been set for March for the music industry to react in a meaningful way to the levy, before the government will be forced to step in and act.

KT Tunstall has expressed sympathy for new musicians ahead of her acceptance of the Ivor Novello award for outstanding song collection. The 48-year-old Scottish singer-songwriter is due to be honoured at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Thursday.

KT Tunstall has been named as this year’s recipient of the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection.Yesterday (May 16), the Ivors Academy announced Tunstall as the 58th recipient of the award, following in the footsteps of Queen, U2, New Order, Pulp, Noel Gallagher and more. Most recently, Kamille was honoured with the prestigious award in 2023.Tunstall will be presented with the award at The Ivors with Amazon Music, which takes place at the Grosvenor House in London, on Thursday, May 23.

Pulp‘s Jarvis Cocker has been confirmed as one of the keynote speakers of The Great Escape‘s newly revamped conference.The Brighton festival will be returning from May 15-18 and will play host to a raft of speakers from across the music industry.Cocker will be presenting a talk on May 18 called ‘Biophobia’, a a special climate-themed talk about getting to grips with nature. It will be presented by EarthPercent, the charity founded by Brian Eno to help the music industry support the most prominent organisations tackling the climate emergency.Meanwhile, Darcus Beese OBE will give the conference’s opening keynote conversation on May 15 in which he is set to reflect on his career as the UK’s first black record company CEO and his prestige as an A&R, having been responsible for signing and nurturing artists like Amy Winehouse, Florence and the Machine and U2.Another of the keynote speeches will be delivered by Tom Gray, Chair of the Ivors Academy and Labour Party prospective candidate for Brighton Pavilion, and Yolanda Brown OBE DL, musician, broadcaster and Chair of the BPI.

Bruce Springsteen is set to become a Fellow of The Ivors Academy – making him the first international songwriter to receive the honour.Announced today (March 25), The Boss is set to receive the award at this year’s instalment of the Ivors, which will take place at Grosvenor House in London on Thursday, May 23.Becoming an Academy Fellow is the highest honour the organisation bestows, and with it, the iconic singer, songwriter and guitar becomes the first-ever international songwriter that the Academy has inducted into Fellowship in its 80-year history.“I’m proud to be the first international songwriter to be recognised by The Ivors Academy. In addition to recognising my songwriting, the award stands as a tribute to the fans and friends who have supported me and my work for the last fifty years,” Springsteen said of the announcement.

Gomez guitarist and Chair of the Ivors Academy Tom Gray has beaten Eddie Izzard in the bid to be Brighton Pavilion’s Labour candidate at the next UK general election.Musician and founder of the #BrokenRecord campaign Gray was selected as candidate today (December 17), and is hoping to become the first Labour MP for the constituency in more than a decade.He said on X/Twitter that he was “delighted and humbled to be selected”.Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, has announced that she plans to stand down at the next general election, which will take place no later than January 2025.Delighted and humbled to be selected to be the Labour candidate for Brighton Pavilion. Thanks so much to everyone who helped in the campaign and thanks to Eddie, Lucy and Birgit for showing such solidarity and integrity on the trail.

The nominations for this year’s Ivor Novello Awards have been announced. Out front this year are two songwriting duos – Harry Styles and Kid Harpoon, and Cleo Sol and Inflo – both of whom are up for three awards.Among the nods for Styles and Harpoon are one for Songwriter Of The Year, all for their work on Styles’ latest album ‘Harry’s House’.

Gomez‘s Tom Gray has been appointed as Chair of the Ivors Academy.The musician is the founder of the #BrokenRecord campaign as well as running the Academy’s #FixStreaming campaign, which are calling for better streaming revenues for artists and helped spark the Economics of Music Streaming inquiry.Earlier this month, Radiohead‘s Ed O’Brien thanked Gray and others involved in the inquiry after the government outlined a “complete reset” of the streaming model that “enshrines in law [acts’] rights to a fair share of the earnings”.Today (February 1), the Ivors Academy announced that Gray has become the new Chair of The Ivors Academy after songwriter, musician and producer Crispin Hunt stepped down last week after five years in the role.In a statement, Gray said it was “extraordinary and humbling” to be elected, adding that he “intend[s] to do what is expected of me” as Chair.“In this moment, songwriters and composers feel the need for strong advocacy and representation,” he continued. “The Academy’s excellent campaigning has been a source of hope for many.

UK songwriter organisation the Ivors Academy has a new Chair in the form of Tom Gray, the songwriter, Gomez musician and founder of the #brokenrecord campaign.That campaign, of course, worked closely with the #fixstreaming initiative instigated by the Ivors Academy and the Musicians’ Union in pushing for and then contributing to the UK Parliament’s inquiry into the economics of streaming. And then in supporting the private members bill proposed by Kevin Brennan MP which, had it passed, would have made some of the copyright reforms proposed by that inquiry.Gray takes over from Crispin Hunt – another artist and songwriter who has been very vocal in the big streaming debate – and who announced that he was standing down as Chair of the Ivors just last week.The Academy has rejigged its structures in recent years, and when commenting on his appointment as the organisation’s new Chair, Gray also explained the process behind that appointment.

Perth and Kinross Council has argued a developer’s appeal against a committee’s rejection of their application to build 15 houses in Kinfauns ought to be dismissed.

The Lightning Seeds’ Ian Broudie has said ‘Three Lions’ only earned £6,000 when it topped the charts during the 2018 World Cup.Speaking to The Mirror, Gomez frontman Tom Gray recalled a conversation he had with Broudie back in 2019.“I was playing at a festival in 2019 with the Lightning Seeds,” Gray told The Mirror.“And I said ‘Hey, you know that song of yours. How much money did you make from it during the world cup?’… He said about six grand.

Three Lions going to number one in the charts made its songwriter just £6,000, the Mirror has learned.

Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Elbow’s Guy Garvey, Nadine Shah and Gomez‘ Tom Gray have told MPs that streaming payments are “threatening the future of music.”MPs are currently examining the economic impact that music streaming is having on artists, record labels and the wider music industry in a new inquiry.The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee are looking into the issue, with the first evidence session for the ‘Economics of music streaming’ inquiry being held today (November 24).Garvey told the inquiry that whilst the comment “sounds very dramatic,” he went on to tell MPs that “if musicians can’t afford to pay the rent…we haven’t got tomorrow’s music in place.”Radiohead’s O’Brien went on to explain how the ongoing coronavirus pandemic

The data shows the differences in pay between the major streaming services