In 1975 the Republic of Ireland Music Publishers Association of Ireland (RIMPA) was founded.
Michael O Riordan, a Cork native, was one of the founding Directors of RIMPA. Later, the Association changed its name to The Music Publishers Association of Ireland (MPAI).
Michael passed in November 2019 having spent most of his life working in the music business. Starting his career as a ‘road’ manager’ for the Dixies Showband in the 1960’s, subsequently moving on to be part of the management team behind the success of Daniel O Donnell and forming Rosette Music as the publishing vehicle for Daniel in later years.
In Michael’s memory, the current MPAI Board has instituted the Michael O Riordan Bursary Awards. This grant is aimed at young, up and coming music professionals who have showed an exceptional interest and ability in the area of music publishing. A ‘Best in Class’, so to speak. It is hoped that the bursaries will be awarded annually within the music publishing community.
The overall purpose of each Michael O Riordan Bursary Award is to help equip a young industry professional to fulfil their potential within the publishing industry. The bursaries will enable the winners to fund training to support their career ambitions.
The Awards will be structured as follows:
MPAI members will be invited to nominate rising stars from within the publishing community. A selection panel will choose 2 winners based on (i) their proven determination to pursue a career in music publishing and (ii) the quality of their contributions to date.
To each winner an award of €500 of funding will be made for approved music publishing training events chosen by the winners. These can include MPA UK NXT-Gen membership, online courses, and events.
In addition, for the runners-up, MPAI will award 5 Nxt-Gen memberships.
The call for nominations will be made on 1 December 2020. The closing date for nominations will be 31 December 2020. Nominations should be emailed to the MPAI Secretary and the selection panel will convene and announce the 2021 winners by 31 January. The winners will be invited to an MPAI Board meeting to be congratulated and presented with their prizes.
In conducting the selection process, the MPAI affirms its commitment to diversity and inclusiveness. All members (including new additions to the publishing community) will be entitled to nominate rising stars provided their membership subscriptions are paid before 31 December.
MPAI hope is that these awards will provide a timely form of support for some outstanding younger members of the publishing community this year, when they might otherwise struggle to fund training during the Covid crisis.
MPAI acknowledge their colleagues at MPA (UK) for their assistance with this new initiative.
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