Crispin Hunt is a songwriter and campaigner.
He served as Chair of the UK’s Ivors Academy for five years before stepping down in early 2022.
He is also the former frontman of Britpop band Longpigs.
Crispin Hunt: Early career and musical success
Crispin Hunt was the singer of Sheffield-based Britpop band Longpigs, which formed in 1993. They saw some UK chart success while signed to U2’s Mother Records and supported bands like Echobelly, Supergrass and Radiohead on tours.
Longpigs split up shortly after the folding of Mother Records in 2000, after which Hunt went into politics, working as a Parliamentary Researcher and Campaign Coordinator for six years.
Crispin Hunt: Songwriting and championing songwriters
Crispin Hunt is a renowned multi-platinum-selling songwriter and producer, having worked with artists including Jake Bugg, Florence and The Machine, Lana Del Ray, Ellie Goulding, Maverick Sabre, Newton Faulkner, Natalie Imbruglia, Bat For Lashes, Rod Stewart, You Me At Six, Tom Grennan, Luke Sital-Singh and numerous others.
In 2016, Hunt was appointed Chair of BASCA (now known as The Ivors Academy). In this role, he campaigns for songwriters’ rights, including the EU Copyright Directive and Broken Record campaigns. In 2018, he wrote in an op-ed for MBW that “Silicon Valley and its evangelists appear outraged that we would legislate to protect EU interests. And not in a protectionist manner, I should add.
“They are mad that we place value on art, on culture, on diversity. That we demand compliance with the laws. That while we recognise that the internet is indeed exceptional, that we reject the exceptionalism that would place internet-based conduct outside the application of the law.”
Hunt was also elected as a Writer Director of the PRS Board in 2019.Music Business Worldwide