With the A&R Awards now just a week away, YouTube Music has been announced as the sponsor of one of the night’s guaranteed on-your-feet moments, the Icon Award.
Previous winners include legends of A&R who have changed the industry and influenced generations, such as Muff Winwood, Simon Cowell and Chris Blackwell.
Presented by Music Business Worldwide, the A&R Awards is the UK music industry’s most enjoyable night out of the year, celebrating the best execs, managers, producers and songwriters of the past year as well as, in the case of the Icon Award, hailing a handful of the all-time greats.
Dan Chalmers, YouTube’s Head of Music, EMEA, said: “To be a part of one of the biggest awards and most special moments at this fantastic event is a real honour for all of us at YouTube. We’re looking forward to celebrating the achievements of an industry great worthy of the Icon title.”
Other categories at the event will include Producer of The Year; A&R of The Year: Contemporary Black Music, A&R Of The Year: Electronic/Dance (sponsored by SoundCloud); Song of the Year and Songwriter of the year (both sponsored by Hipgnosis); Publisher of the Year (sponsored by Milk & Honey), Major Label of The Year (sponsored by Luminate), Independent Label of The Year (sponsored by TikTok), and Management Company of the Year (sponsored by Centtrip).
The headline sponsor of the A&R Awards is, as always, Abbey Road Studios.
Music Business Worldwide