The A&R Awards 2023: The finalists revealed!
By

The UK music industry’s most enjoyable night out is just six weeks away. And now we know who’ll be competing for the top prizes.

Taking place on the evening of Tuesday, November 7, the A&R Awards 2023 will be held in Central London.

ALL TABLES ON THE SHOW FLOOR HAVE NOW SOLD OUT, with just two balcony tables remaining.

(If you want one of them, please contact Rebecca@musicbizworldwide.com to purchase one – they will go before the end of the day!)

Today (September 26), we’re excited to announce the finalists for this year’s event, which covers industry activity from end of September 2022 through to end of September 2023.

The exclusively UK-focused A&R Awards will once again see awards that recognise those working in both independent and major sectors across record labels, publishing and management.

Categories include: Songwriter Of The Year and Producer Of The Year – for non-featured contributors on artist projects – as well as Song Of The Year, which celebrates some of the best hits majority-written by British (or UK-based) writers during the period.

In addition, our individual A&R awards – also counting A&R duos – are once again segmented by genre: Adult Contemporary; Alternative; Contemporary Black Music; Electronic/Dance; and Pop, plus the ever-popular A&R Administrator Award (aka ‘The Forbesie’).

There’ll also be team awards, including two Publisher Of The Year categories (for UK pubs above and below a certain size threshold), plus Major Label Of The Year, Independent Label Of The Year and Artist Management Company (aka The David Enthoven Award).

In addition, we have Manager of the Year, recognising the efforts and success of an individual talent manager (or duo) who has gone the extra mile for their client/s.

Celebrating an up-and-coming entrepreneur, we have the Trailblazer Award (aka The Richard Antwi Award), while the Vevo-backed DSCVR Artist of the Year Award will shine the spotlight on a talent we’re all going to be hearing more about very soon.

This year, we have two new categories: Songwriter/Producer Management Company Of The Year and Artist / Label Services Company, the latter of which will primarily be judged on the success and development of indie artist signings.

Then there are our two extra-special awards: The A&R Icon award – supported by YouTube Music – plus the Sir George Martin Award.

Winners will be determined via the confidential votes of a select cast of global music business experts in the coming weeks.

In addition to our returning headline partner, Abbey Road Studios, supporters of this year’s A&R Awards include Centtrip, Hipgnosis Song Management, Luminate, Milk & Honey, PPL, PRS For Music, SoundCloud, Spotify, TikTok, Vevo, YouTube Shorts and YouTube Music.

Here are this year’s finalists…

PRODUCER OF THE YEAR – SUPPORTED BY ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS
  • Billen Ted (Tom Hollings and Sam Brennan)
  • Catherine Marks
  • Fred Again.. (Fred Gibson)
  • Jae5 (Jonathan Kweku Awote-Mensah)
  • LostBoy (Peter Rycroft)
  • Mark Ralph
  • Mark Ronson
  • P2J (Richard Isong)
  • PRGRSHN (Kass Alexander)
  • Steve Mac
  • Kid Harpoon (Thomas Hull)
  • TMS (Tom Barnes, Benjamin Kohn and Pete Kelleher)
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR – SUPPORTED BY HIPGNOSIS SONG MANAGEMENT
  • Camille Purcell
  • Caroline Ailin
  • Fred Again.. (Fred Gibson)
  • Grace Barker
  • Jimmy Napes
  • Karen Poole
  • Lostboy (Peter Rycroft)
  • Pablo Bowman Navarro
  • Phil Plested
  • Steve Mac
  • Tom Mann
  • Tre Jean Marie
SONG OF THE YEAR – SUPPORTED BY HIPGNOSIS SONG MANAGEMENT
  • adore u – performed by Fred Again.. & Obongjayar (written by Gibson/Umoh/Lister/Wimbley/Robinson/Parisi/Wincorn/Morales)
  • Boy’s A Liar – performed by PinkPanthress (PinkPanthress/Mura Musa)
  • Celestial – performed by Ed Sheeran (Sheeran/Mac/McDaid)
  • Dance The Night – performed by Dua Lipa (Lipa/Wyatt/Ronson/Ailin)
  • Escapism – performed by RAYE & 070 Shake (Keen/Balbuena/Sabath)
  • Little Things – performed by Jorja Smith (Jordan/Hyouyhat/Nelson/Smith/Stafford/Isong)
  • Messy In Heaven – performed by Venbee & Goddard (Goddard/Fable/Doyle/Cinti)
  • Miracle – performed by Calvin Harris & Ellie Goulding (Wiles/Burns/Bowman/Rycroft/Goulding)
  • Pointless – performed by Lewis Capaldi (Capaldi/Mac/McDaid/Sheeran)
  • Psycho – performed by Anne Marie & Aitch (Nicholson/Barker/Tucker/Mann/Armstrong/Brennan/Hollings)
  • Sprinter – performed by Central Cee & Dave (Evans/Central Cee/Dave/Legxacy/Caleb/Leslie)
  • Unholy – performed by Sam Smith & Kim Petras (Napier/Petras/Smith/Fedi/Walter/Salmanzadeh/Slatkin)
A&R Of The Year: Adult Contemporary
A&R Of The Year: Contemporary Black Music – supported by Spotify
  • Alec Boateng – 0207 Def Jam
  • Amber Davis – Warner Chappell UK
  • Austin Daboh – Atlantic Records UK
  • Benny Scarrs & Jack Foster – Neighbourhood
  • Colin Batsa – EGA
  • Emmanuel Olowojoba – EMI Records
  • Joe Gossa – Black Butter
  • Kilo Jalloh, Moe Bah & Mel Ijieh – 5K Records
  • Shauni Caballero – Sony Music Publishing UK
  • Trenton Harrison-Lewis – ADA/Warner Music UK
  • Zubin Irani, Richard Uchendu & Seb Smith – FAMM
A&R Of The Year: Electronic / Dance – supported by SoundCloud
  • Adrienne Bookbinder – Sony Music Publishing UK
  • Allan Nicoll, Simon Dunmore & Wez Saunders – Defected
  • Anton Powers – Ministry Of Sound
  • Briony Turner – Atlantic Records UK
  • Dan Stacey – WUGD/Loving Alliance
  • Harri Davies – Concord Music Publishing
  • Jack Duckworth – Polydor
  • Jamie Croz & Shabs Jobanputra – Relentless
  • Jamie Spinks – Columbia Records UK
  • Pete Simmons – Universal Music Publishing UK
  • Sam Lowe – Warner Chappell UK
A&R Of The Year: Pop – supported by PRS For Music
  • Amber Davis – Warner Chappell UK
  • Ed Howard – Atlantic Records UK
  • Glyn Aikins & Riki Bleau – RCA/Since ‘93
  • Joe Kentish – Warner Records UK
  • Kenny McGoff – Kobalt Music Publishing UK
  • Lisa Cullington – BMG
  • Mike McCormack – Universal Music Publishing UK
  • Nick Huggett & Nick Shymansky – Day One Music
  • Richard O’Donovan – Polydor
  • Saul Fitton – Sony Music Publishing UK
  • Shaurav D’Silva – Stellar Songs / Tim & Danny Music
A&R Of The Year: Alternative
  • Hugo Turquet – BMG
  • Laurence Bell – Domino Recording Co
  • Louis Bloom – Island Records UK
  • Jack Greengrass & James Talbut – Island Records UK
  • Jamie Oborne & Chris Fraser – Dirty Hit
  • Jeff Bell – Partisan Records
  • Jen Ivory & Ben Durling – Warner Records UK
  • Joe Iddison – RCA UK
  • Matt Riley & Will Hunt – AWAL
A&R Administrator (‘The Forbesie’) – supported by PPL
  • Ellie Spilker – Universal Music Publishing UK
  • Karyn Hughes – Decca
  • Matt Gibbon – Columbia Records UK
  • Mark Stemp – Island Records UK
  • Matt Prior – Sony Music Publishing UK
  • Paul Walmsley and Rebecca La Porta – Polydor
  • Steve Skelton – EMI
  • Susie Woodbridge – Warner Chappell UK
  • Sarah Vaughan – Sony Music UK
  • Sarah Stern – RCA
Artist MANAGEMENT COMPANY (THE DAVID ENTHOVEN AWARD) – SUPPORTED BY CENTTRIP
  • All On Red
  • FAMM
  • Eleven Management
  • Grumpy Old Management
  • Method Music
  • Neighbourhood
  • Red Light Management
  • TaP Management
  • Three Six Zero
  • UROK
  • Various Artists
  • YMU
Songwriter/Producer Management Company
  • 2K Management
  • Darah Music
  • Karma Artists
  • Milk & Honey Management
  • North Pole Management
  • Raw Kingdom
  • Red Light Management
  • TaP Management
  • The Flight Club
  • Transmission Management
  • YMU
MANAGER OF THE YEAR – SUPPORTED BY YOUTUBE SHORTS
  • Alex Gibson & Oliver Sasse
  • Benny Scarrs & Jack Foster – Neighbourhood
  • Bello
  • Jamie Oborne – All On Red Management
  • Jazz Sherman – Hunger Management
  • Kilo Jalloh and Moe Bah – 2K Management
  • Mark Gillespie – Three Six Zero
  • Niamh Byrne & Regine Moylett – Eleven Management
  • Paul Keen & Sarah Keen – S1bling Management
  • Phoebe Gold & Jesse Gassongo-Alexander – Up Close Management
  • Ryan Walter – Interlude Artists
  • Stuart Camp – Grumpy Old Management
Artist / label Services Company (UK)
PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR (1) – SUPPORTED BY MILK & HONEY
PUBLISHER OF THE YEAR (2)
  • Blue Raincoat Music
  • Concord Music Publishing
  • Defected Music
  • North West Songs
  • Phrased Differently
  • Promised Land Music
  • Reservoir
  • Rokstone Music
  • Stellar Songs / Tim & Danny Music
  • Ultra Music Publishing
INDEPENDENT Record Company – supported by TikTok
  • Concord Label Group
  • Defected
  • Dirty Hit
  • Domino
  • EGA
  • FAMM
  • FRTYFVE
  • Neighbourhood
  • Partisan Records
  • XL Recordings
MAJOR LABEL – SUPPORTED BY Luminate
  • 0207 Def Jam
  • Atlantic Records UK
  • Black Butter
  • BMG
  • Columbia UK
  • EMI Records
  • Insanity
  • Island Records UK
  • Polydor
  • RCA UK
  • Relentless
  • Warner Records UK

Music Business Worldwide