The Current State of Music Podcast Season 3 Ep 6 - Tom Gray

Current State of Music

Tom Gray is someone you probably don't know, but you may well know the band he is in, Gomez, who lit up things with music that seemed to be on the verge of falling apart and won a Mercury Music Prize for their debut album Bring it On in 1998. and we talk about what that means to Tom, then and now. Which kind of sums up Toms character, always looking forward and relishing the chance to be creative in whatever guise he happens to find himself, of which, he has many guises, but really it is all the same to Tom.

So you may know Toms music, but you probably don't know how he is changing the landscape for the better for millions of musicians and songwriters around the world, starting a movement called #brokenrecord which has already seen most major record labels write off atists historic debt, which means artists might now stand a chance of making some money from their back catalogue. I am clearly not knowledgeable enough about the music industry, but I've spent quite a bit of time with Tom this year (helping him build his new studio) and I"ve learned so many tings I wasn't aware of, and most of it isn't good, but Tom is working tirelessly for change and, its no surprise given his outlook, and the fact he is very hard to argue against, that he is making real progress.

Tom has also recently been diagnosed as ADHD, which we didn't have time to go into, but mirrors my own mental health journey and currentlly being diagnosed with autism, maybe we'll get a chance in the future to revisit this subject, There was a load of things we could have got into, but didn't have the time for, hsi work for The Ivors, his work with the PRS, UK Music, as well as his songwriting and his work with the Roald Dahl Foundation.

Tom is a really fascinating person and I enjoy being in his company, he is funny, intelligent and engaged, often absolutely knackered, but a genuinely warm and caring person who gets it done...

Here are some links you might look at if you want to find out more about Tom:

Gomez: https://www.gomeztheband.com/

Ivors Academy: https://ivorsacademy.com/news/tom-gray-is-the-new-chair-of-the-ivors-academy/

Broken Reocrd: https://mixmag.net/feature/brokenrecord-music-industry-streaming-labels-artists-exploitation-equitable-renumeration

---

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.