Music Publishers Association

At the recent Music Publishers Association AGM, which took place on Tuesday 3^rd July, the 2018 recipients of the Richard Toeman Scholarship were revealed by MPA Chair Jackie Alway. We are pleased to announce that this year’s publisher category winner is Safra Deen Farook and the winner of this year’s student category is Tom Bladon.

Now in its 12th year the MPA RTS scheme is designed to support the progress of outstanding individuals within the music publishing business, to encourage potential, or new, recruits to the industry to develop their skills and experience through study and to encourage each year’s recipients to give themselves the best chance for a successful career in the music publishing industry. The scheme has a proven track record of success.

The scholarship takes the form of packages of support designed to meet the needs of either existing music publishing employees who are new to the business, or final year student or recent graduates. Two winners are chosen each year.

This year’s publisher category goes to Safra who has been a paralegal at MPA Member Sony ATV Publishing for almost a year. She tried tirelessly to break into the music industry following her legal qualification and her Master’s degree in Musicology. She is a trained singer and pianist and uses her musical ability particularly to spot samples and infringements for Sony ATV’s works. Safra particularly wants to help others and mentor in the future as she recognises key individuals that have helped her get into the industry and she hopes to be able to pay that kindness forward as she progresses throughout her career.

This year’s student category winner Tom is a recent graduate from Leeds College of Music, where he finished with first class honours degree in Music Business. In the second year of university, Tom started his own sync library, called ‘Set the Scene’, providing music for student television and young filmmakers. This lead to Tom helping one of his lecturers set up their own publishing company, ‘Perception Music Publishing’, specializing in production music for sync use. It’s great to be able to recognize such an initiative.

A huge congratulations to both Safra and Tom, we hope this award will provide the necessary resources and support that you will need in this exciting next chapter of your career.

The MPA encourages all its members to consider whether they know someone who might benefit from the scheme next year and to spread the word as widely as possible, applications for the 2019 Richard Toeman Scholarship will open early next year.