Martin Mills honoured by Music Producers Guild

Founder and chairman of Beggars Group Martin Mills, is to receive the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award at the 2012 MPG Awards.

The award will be presented to Mills at the MPG 2012 Awards, which takes place on February 16th at the Café de Paris in London.

Steve Levine, chairman of MPG, said: "The Outstanding Contribution Award acknowledges those who have made a significant contribution over a long period of time to the success of the UK music recording industry. This may be a producer or engineer, but it can equally be a manager, an A&R person or even a great artist.

“We have chosen Martin as our 2012 recipient because he has always adopted the philosophy of putting artists first. Artists signed to Beggars Group are given the time and freedom to develop and are supported every step of the way. In our industry it is rare to find a record company chairman who is so determined to release quality music that he is prepared to put creativity above profits, and for this reason we applaud him.”

As Europe’s largest independent record label network, Beggars Group has its roots in the Beggars Banquet record shop, which Mills founded in 1973 in London’s Earls Court.

Alongside his role as Beggars Group chairman, Mills is a director of both UK and European independent music bodies AIM and IMPALA, a founding member of similar US and Worldwide organisations A2IM and WIN, a director of Merlin and PPL and a former director of VPL and BPI. He has also been part of the Government Music Industry Forum and chaired ‘Consumers Call The Tune’, the Department of Culture’s report into the Digital Music Industry.

Tickets for this year’s event are selling fast and early indications are that it will be another sell-out. “Last year we were completely sold out well in advance of the event and many people who wanted to attend were disappointed because they left it too late to book. We strongly recommend early booking, especially given the calibre of our shortlist which is incredibly strong this year,” said Levine.

There are two types of tickets available for the Awards and both can be booked via the MPG Awards website at www.mpgawards.co.uk.

Seated tickets for the whole event, which includes the cocktail reception and the two-course dinner, cost £110 plus VAT.

Awards only tickets are from 9pm and are a standing-only ticket to view the Awards and attend the after-presentation drinks. These cost £40 plus VAT.