Management graduate recognised for championing songwriters
Tuesday 03 November 2026
LIPA Management graduate Chris Meehan (2006) has received an Honours Award from the Ivors Academy, one of Europe’s leading professional bodies for songwriters and composers.
The awards recognise leaders and innovators in music publishing who champion songwriters, lyricists and composers and help raise standards across the sector.
Chris founded independent music publisher and rights management company Sentric as his final-year project at LIPA. Since then, it has helped more than 400,000 artists collect their royalties.
Sentric was acquired by Believe in 2023. Chris is now Believe’s Publishing CEO, overseeing Believe Music Publishing, TuneCore and Sentric.
We caught up with Chris following the awards to reflect on the recognition, the growth of Sentric and what comes next.
What does it mean to you to be honoured by the Ivors Academy?
To be honoured by the Ivor’s Academy, alongside some incredible honourees, is both a humbling and proud moment. We haven’t stopped for 20 years so to be able to take a minute to look back on what our business and teams have achieved was a nice moment. Now, we’re back to work!
In your acceptance speech you discussed the music industry's initially sceptical response to your idea for opening up access to music publishing. Twenty years on, what are you most proud of?
Yes, there definitely was scepticism in our business model in 2006 when we launched. The thing we’re most proud of is having conviction, determination and still being here in business 20 years on, operating one of the largest independent publishing companies in the world. We’re able to serve Songwriters in every continent, with some of the world’s greatest songs, which from the early stages of thinking of the business plan in LIPA is phenomenal.
What's next for you and Believe?
Expansion and improvement. We’re expanding our publishing offerings to fit songwriters needs in all of the markets we have dedicated teams in. There’s always work to do to improve the conditions and challenges Artists, Labels, Songwriters and Publishers face, and we’re committed to doing that for the long-term.
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