Composers Demand End to Ghostwriting in Film, TV, and Gaming Music

As of October 15th, 2025, a number of leading British composers have joined The Ivors Academy's call to "End Ghostwriting" in a campaign to ensure media composers are credited and compensated fairly for their work. The academy is encouraging composers to commit to changing industry practice by signing a pledge.

The campaign aims to address the issue of ghostwriting, where composers contribute creatively to a soundtrack without receiving a writing credit. This often results in them being excluded from cue sheets and missing out on the royalties they are legally entitled to. The Ivors Academy is now taking action, with the three pillars of the pledge being: full transparency with productions about who will compose the music, ensuring all contributing composers are credited, and accurately submitting work for awards that fairly credits everyone involved.

The Ivor Novello Awards, run by The Ivors Academy, will also be impacted by this new policy starting in 2026. Entrants will now have to confirm that cue sheets list all composers who wrote a cue from scratch or made a significant new creative contribution. Entries that do not include all qualifying writers will be ineligible for consideration.