The BBC Sound of 2024 Longlist
The BBC Sound of 2024 longlist has been announced and we would like to congratulate The Last Dinner Party and CMAT who have both been nominated (2 of the 10 acts).
This year’s longlist was voted for by more than 140 music industry experts, including representatives from Spotify, Apple Music, Glastonbury Festival, the BBC and former nominees. The winner will be revealed in the new year on BBC Radio 1, with the top five revealed in reverse order between Monday 1 and Friday 5 January.
Further info here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67565919
Business Today – Top 10 Influential Non-Contentious Music Lawyers in UK
We would like to congratulate Jo Brittain, Gavin Maude and Simon Jordan who were all named in the Top 10 Influential Non-Contentious Music Lawyers in the UK, 2023 Edition by Business Today.
Follow this link for further info: https://businesstoday.news/top-10-influential-non-contentious-music-lawyers-in-uk-2023-edition/
Arctic Monkeys – Spotify Wrapped
Congratulations to Arctic Monkeys who are the biggest UK act in Spotify Wrapped for 2023. This was based on the listening habits of 574 million Spotify users.
Click here for further info: https://www.musicweek.com/digital/read/arctic-monkeys-are-biggest-domestic-act-in-uk-spotify-wrapped-2023
New Minimum Wage Rates Confirmed for April 2024
As part of the Autumn Statement delivered on Wednesday 22 November 2023, the Government announced that from April 2024:
- The National Living Wage will increase by more than one pound to £11.44 (from £10.42) per hour from 1 April 2024. The age threshold will also be lowered to those aged 21 or over (from the current threshold of 23 years old); and
- The National Minimum Wage (which applies to all other age groups) will increase as follows:
a. £8.60 per hour (14.8% rise) for those aged 18-20;
b. £6.40 per hour (21.2% rise) for those aged 16-17; and
c. £6.40 per hour (21.2% rise) for apprentices.
Employers will need to ensure they plan for the wage increases (especially in relation to younger workers) and pay their employees at least the relevant rate per hour from April 2024.
Please contact Nicola Tager and Lucy Cinnamond for further advice.
Lisou wins ‘Fashion Brand of the Year’
Congratulations to Rene Macdonald and her fashion brand and company Lisou https://lisou.co.uk/who collected the award for ‘Fashion Brand of the Year’ at the W Magazine Awards at the Grosvenor Hotel in Park Lane on 12th November 2023.
Women in Music Awards – Winners
Russells would like to congratulate the following who all won awards at this year’s Women in Music Awards:
- Bola Abioye, UK Group Company Secretary, Universal Music Group who won a new award Special Recognition sponsored by YouTube
- Golnar Khosrowshahi, CEE & Founder, Reservoir who won International Woman Of The Year
- Sugababes who won Inspirational Artist sponsored by Vevo
The ceremony, which was the biggest ever edition marking 10 years of Women In Music, took place on Friday 10th November at the Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London.
Further info: https://www.mw-womeninmusic.com/23/winners
A&R Awards – Lostboy
Congratulations to Lostboy (Pete Rycroft) on his win for Songwriter of the Year supported by Hipgnosis Song Management at this year’s Music Business Worldwide A&R Awards on 7th November 2023.
Further info here: https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/the-ar-awards-2023-all-the-winners/
Welcome!
We would like to welcome Anna Ling who has joined Russells’ Book Publishing and Film, TV & Theatre departments. Anna studied law at the London School of Economics before training and qualifying at Shearman & Sterling LLP, where she advised on both English and US law matters. She later formed part of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati’s Corporate team. She joins the team at Russells after having recently completed the Next Editors Programme at Penguin Random House UK, a commissioning editor traineeship that saw her working with award-winning bestselling authors and launching important debut titles across the Allen Lane, Penguin Classics and Particular Books imprints.
Russells – Times Best Law Firms 2024
We are very proud to announce Russells have again been named (for Entertainment & Sport) in The Times top 250 UK legal practices.
You can find out more about the list which was all chosen by lawyers here:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russells-best-law-firms-2024
Russells Running Club – Half Marathon
Congratulations to the Russells running club who ran The Royal Borough of Kingston’s Half Marathon on Sunday. They all managed to finish the race in less than 2 hours so should all be very proud!
Pictured left to right: Jo Brittain, Ryan Vince, Melissa Hutter and Simon Jordan
CMAT Number 1!
Russells would like to congratulate Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson (CMAT) who has gone to number one in the Irish Album Chart with her album Crazymad, for Me which was released on 13th October 2023 through CMATBaby and AWAL.
You can stream and download the album here: https://cmat.ffm.to/crazymadforme
Recognition in Legal 500
We are delighted to see so many of our lawyers recognised in this year’s recently released Legal 500 rankings, reflecting the breadth and depth of our practice.
With rankings in 6 practice areas (Music; Film & TV; Theatre, Publishing & Other Media; Family; Reputation Management; and Sport) it is fantastic to see several of our junior lawyers recognised as ‘Key Lawyers’ (together with their more experienced ‘Next Generation’, ‘Leading Individual’ and ‘Hall of Fame’ colleagues!).
A huge thank you to all our clients for their continued support.