Proposed for appointment by: Chester Music Limited, Cathy Dennis, Tom Gray, Crispin Hunt, Felix Howard, Julian Nott, Hannah Peel, Sony Music Publishing (UK) Limited, Mike Stobbie, Pete Woodroffe
V V Brown has been in the music industry for over 20 years operating at senior levels in the UK music industry. She has navigated complex commercial environments, intellectual property frameworks, funding structures and international partnerships — not as an observer, but as someone who has lived and breathed the realities of being a working artist. This first-hand understanding of how policy, regulation and industry systems affect creative livelihoods enables her to translate strategic objectives into meaningful, real-world outcomes.
Her songwriting credits include internationally recognised artists and as a recording artist in her own right, she has achieved major international success, including selling over a million records worldwide with her debut album Travelling Like the Light and securing a number one album in France.
She has toured extensively and performed alongside iconic artists including Grace Jones, Damon Albarn and Annie Lennox, strengthening her understanding of large-scale production, brand building and global audience development.
Beyond performance and songwriting, V V has run her own record label and works as a consultant to emerging talent, supporting young artists to build sustainable careers and navigate the realities of the music industry. She has lectured at Goldsmiths Uni, sharing practical expertise around creative entrepreneurship, rights and professional development.
Following three years serving on the PRS Members’ Council, she is recognised as a fresh, constructive voice committed to improving systems, strengthening inclusion and delivering long-term value.
Uniquely, alongside her music career, she is also an experienced Business Development Manager at a SEN school, inspiring children through music and creative arts. She is a writer and cultural commentator, with articles in The Guardian and Clash, and is currently preparing a self-help book to support musicians in today’s creative economy.
To be a strong voice at PRS, you need expertise, experience, and versatility — and V V Brown brings all three.
Current and recent directorships: Performing Right Society Limited, Overstone Park School Limited, Renaissance Productions Limited, and V V Brown Limited
Members’ Council attendance since last appointment:
8 out of 10 meetings.
Manifesto
It’s easy to sit in boardrooms and design policy through logic, spreadsheets, and clean frameworks. But there is a difference between building systems from the outside and understanding them from the inside, through lived experience.
Nothing replaces the winding road of being an artist, knowing rejection and success, surviving the music industry not simply as a career but as a way of life. I have negotiated myself out of deals with nothing but instinct, intelligence, and resilience, even pretending to be my own lawyer from a FedEx office to protect my work.
I have navigated an industry that is thrilling, brutal, and unequal, often all at once. I have lived through every era of change: CDs, MiniDiscs, downloads, Limewire, and streaming, watching each shift reshape power, ownership, and income for writers and performers. I have run my own label and publishing, learning not from privilege but from necessity, through risk, trial, and survival.
That perspective cannot be taught in a handbook; it has to be lived.
That is why artist voices must matter in the rooms where decisions are made. After three years on the PRS Members’ Council, I believe more than ever that writers and musicians must remain at the heart of the conversation. PRS is not abstract; it is a membership of creators, and it exists because of us. We are the backbone of the society, and our realities must be protected.
I advocate for musicians not as a concept but as people, challenging decisions that prioritise best interests on paper while leaving artists behind in practice. I will continue to shine a light on diversity, not as a box to tick but as a necessary correction, ensuring these spaces reflect us too.
As a creative and disruptive punk bureaucrat, I shape policy into action that works for creators.
