Protect

Campaigning and support to protect the rights and earnings of songwriters and composers.

Tom Gray at The Ivors 2024
Campaign How we're fighting AI exploitation

Empower

Empowering careers with the right connections, knowledge and support.

Composers in a crowd at event
Community Join a supportive network of songwriters and composers

Celebrate

The most prestigious celebrations of songwriters, composers and their champions.

Euterpe on purple background
The Ivors with Amazon Music 22 May 2025

About

 The Ivors Academy is the leading organisation for songwriters and composers. We celebrate the highest standards of craft through the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, campaign for a fair and equitable music industry and empower music creators at every stage of their careers.

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As a not-for-profit organisation, we ensure that songwriters and composers receive fair compensation for their work, are recognised and respected, and have access to the resources and opportunities they need to succeed.

Through advocacy, education and awards The Ivors Academy protects, empowers and celebrates the songwriters and composers who originate all the value in music.

Purpose, vision and values

Purpose

We secure music’s future.

Vision

Be the most value-driven partner to songwriters and composers.

Values

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Protect

Advocating for fair and equitable treatment

We champion fair compensation and equitable treatment for all songwriters and composers, advocating for their rights, earnings and careers across government and the music industry.

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Empower

Equipping members with knowledge and tools

We support members with the skills, knowledge and resources they need to navigate opportunities and challenges, helping them build successful and sustainable careers.

Ivor Novello Awards 2023 - Show

Celebrate

Honouring the highest craft and excellence

We celebrate the craft and achievements of songwriters and composers. Through The Ivors Academy Honours we recongise the trailblazers championing music creators.

History

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Our story

The Ivors Academy has represented songwriters and composers for over 80 years. Founded in 1944 as the Composers Guild of Great Britain, the organisation has evolved through decades of change, always staying true to its values of protecting, empowering and celebrating the creators behind the music.

We were formed through the merger of three guilds: the Composers Guild of Great Britain, representing classical composers, the Songwriters Guild of Great Britain, and the Association of Professional Composers, representing media composers.

These organisations came together over time to form the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), and in 2019, BASCA adopted the trading name of The Ivors Academy, bringing our campaigning, support and prestigious awards under one name.

In 1956 we launched the Ivor Novello Awards, to recognise the highest achievements in songwriting and composing.
Since then, these awards became known as The Ivors and have continued to honour exceptional talent, craft and creativity. Each winner receives an iconic Ivor Novello Award statuette and joins a distinguished roll call of greats.

We founded the British Composer Awards in 2003, to celebrate classical composers and sound artists, and bring their music to a wider audience. Over 15 years, the British Composer Awards earned a reputation for doing just that. They were rebranded in 2019 to The Ivors Composer Awards and from 2023 are known as The Ivors Classical Awards.

Each winner receives an iconic Ivor Novello Award statuette of Euterpe, the Greek muse of music and lyric poetry. It was designed in 1955 by Hazel Underwood, an undergraduate of St Martin’s School of Art in London. To this day it is still cast in solid bronze and weighs just over 7lbs.

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Ivor Novello

Ivor Novello (1893 – 1951) was a leading innovative composer, playwright, actor and film star of his time. As one of the most successful songwriters of his generation, he composed over 230 published songs.  As one of our founding members, his extraordinary songwriting achievements and enduring legacy were commemorated with the creation of our prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, which have since become the world’s most respected celebration of excellence in songwriting and composition.

Born on 15 January 1893 in Cardiff as David Ivor Davies, he changed his name to Ivor Novello in 1927.

He became famous for composing the hit marching song “Keep the Home Fires Burning (‘Til the Boys Come Home)” during the First World War at the age of 21. He later wrote another song of hope during the Second World War, “We’ll Gather Lilacs”, which became his signature tune. These songs became enduring symbols of hope and resilience, making them some of the most popular and iconic pieces in Britain during both World Wars.

He wrote many of the songs for his eight successful West End musicals: Glamorous Night (1935), Careless Rapture (1936), Crest of the Wave (1937), The Dancing Years (1939), Arc de Triomphe (1943), Perchance to Dream (1945), King’s Rhapsody (1949) and Gay’s The Word (1951).

Ivor Novello died aged 58 and his ashes are buried beneath a lilac bush at Golders Green Crematorium. His legacy endures through The Ivors Academy and the Ivors Novello Awards.

Our people

Our staff, Board and Senate work together to represent and
support our members.

Governance

Governance is about how we make decisions, set policies and ensure they are followed. It provides the framework that supports transparency, accountability and fairness across the organisation.

As a membership organisation, the involvement of songwriters and composers is essential to how we operate.

Our governance guide and Articles of Association outline the structures, principles and responsibilities that guide how we are run.

Committees

Our committees advise the Board, helping to shape strategy and support effective management.

Awards

Oversee our awards strategy and delivery

Ethics

Set standards and manage complaints

Finance and Risk

Advise on finances and associated risks

Membership

Drive membership growth and development

Councils, working groups and forums

Councils help shape our campaigning, events and activities. Working groups focus on specific tasks or projects. Forums explore important issues to inform our work.

General councils

Classical

Early Career

Jazz+

Media

Self-published writer

Songwriter

National councils

All-Ireland

Scotland

Wales

Working groups

Education and Careers

Advocacy forums

Disabled and Neurodivergent

LGBTQI+

Equality and ethics

We are committed to helping create a diverse, inclusive and fair music industry.

We actively challenge inequality and operate an Ethics Committee to manage a set of ethical standards and support the development of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.

This includes a framework focussing on inclusion, anti-discrimination, anti-racism, anti-hate speech, and a forum for addressing grievance complaints and broader conduct issues of members and staff.

About the Ethics Committee

Job opportunities

We’re not hiring right now, follow us on LinkedIn to hear about future opportunities.

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Membership

We champion songwriters and composers by protecting your rights, empowering your career and celebrating your achievements.