‘End Ghostwriting’: British Composers Call for Fair Credits on Music in Film, TV & Video Games

A fig of starring British composers person joined The Ivors Academy’s telephone to “End Ghostwriting” successful a run to guarantee media composers are credited and compensated reasonably for their work.

Calling for an extremity to the signifier of ghostwriting successful euphony for film, TV and video games – the enactment of contributing creatively to a soundtrack, without a penning recognition being disclosed – the academy is encouraging composers to perpetrate to changing manufacture signifier by signing a pledge.

Ghostwriters successful these sectors often person nary surface oregon IMDb credit, and truthful are excluded from cue sheets, meaning they suffer the royalties they are legally entitled to.

According to the academy, the 3 pillars of the End Ghostwriting pledge are: To beryllium afloat transparent with productions astir who volition constitute the music; To guarantee that each contributing composers are credited connected cue sheets, connected surface wherever possible, and connected IMDb; To accurately taxable enactment for awards information that reasonably credits everyone progressive successful the composition.

The run has been backed by a bid of renowned media composers and members of The Ivors Academy, including Sheridan Tongue (Silent Witness, Wonders of the Universe), David Arnold (Casino Royale, Sherlock), Aisling Brouwer (The Buccaneers, White Riot) and more.

Other names progressive see Ben Foster (Happy Valley, Torchwood), Daisy Coole and Tom Nettleship (The Pay Day, The Wives), Jessica Jones (The Tinder Swindler, Our Universe), and Sofia degli Alessandri-Hultquist (Dickinson, Red, White and Royal Blue), on with Jenna Fentimen, caput of bureau astatine Manners Faber, among others.

In a property release, Roberto Neri, CEO of The Ivors Academy, said: “We’re calling clip connected ghostwriting, wherever talented media composers tin enactment connected high-profile productions without ever being acknowledged. Thanks to our Media Council of composers, we’re bringing transparency, integrity and fairness backmost to the bosom of audio-visual music. We indispensable springiness composers recognition wherever recognition is due.”

David Arnold, chap and committee subordinate of The Ivors Academy, added: “Our Industry is changing rapidly. Budgets and schedules are becoming much compressed and workloads are becoming much analyzable to manage. So sometimes we request help. This run is present to guarantee that assistance doesn’t spell unrecognised and unrewarded. It’s lone decent and it’s lone fair.”

The Ivors Academy besides runs the Ivor Novello Awards, which admit excellence successful songwriting and composing. The End Ghostwriting run volition interaction the 2026 variation of the event, arsenic entrants volition present besides beryllium asked to corroborate that cue sheets database each composers who wrote a cue from scratch oregon made a important caller originative contribution. Entries that bash not see each qualifying writers volition beryllium ineligible for consideration.

Elsewhere, earlier this period (Oct. 2), RAYE received an Ivors Academy Honour successful designation of her songwriting advocacy, led by a run that resulted successful U.K. large labels committing to screen expenses for songwriters attending their workplace sessions.

Upon accepting the grant astatine an lawsuit successful London, she said: “Being a songwriter is besides 1 of the top privileges, and I deliberation it’s thing that should beryllium astir grafting and talent, not astir however affluent you are, oregon to beryllium successful a bully concern financially to beryllium a songwriter. It shouldn’t beryllium astir that.”