Imogen Heap’s ‘Creative Passport’ will change how musicians get paid

Her system is designed to connect otherwise isolated musicians and music-lovers around the world, writes Andy Martin

Imogen Heap speaks about her Mycelia Creative Passport at a web summit in Lisbon, Portugal (Getty)

Imogen Heap just got paid. It’s only fair. She had appeared in front of a sold-out crowd at the Roundhouse in London. She had 200 pins in her hair, her five-year-old daughter was asleep under the dressing table, and for a couple of hours she sang songs about life, love and the River Thames.

And she was wearing MI.MU gloves that enabled her to play audible air guitar (and air drums and control the lights too). She also gets a regular cheque, quite possibly signed JK Rowling, on account of writing the music for the Harry Potter stage play. Which is very nice.

But consider this: what if you play the trumpet for 30 seconds on a track that is played once on Radio Cambodia? What are your chances of getting paid for that? The answer, sadly, is practically zero. It would cost Radio Cambodia HQ more to find out who you are and where you are and send the money to you than the fee amounts to. Imogen Heap, among all her other musical activities, has dedicated herself to ensuring that our impoverished trumpeter finally gets paid through her new Mycelia Creative Passport.