The move comes as Bacs' chief executive Chris Green readies himself to step down from the role he has enjoyed for the past decade.

Academy Recordings is a joint venture between Bacs and online distributor and aggregator The Orchard, and will launch an album at this Thursday's 53rd Ivor Novello Awards. Volume 1: Songs from the British Academy will assemble more than a dozen songs, many unreleased, from former Ivor winners including KT Tunstall, Cliff Richard, The Pretenders, Robin Gibb, ...