New Bacs CEO prepares to flex political muscle for music industry.

British Academy co-founder appointed as Academy announces a raft of initiatives to help composers and songwriters

The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters (Bacs) is gearing up its political muscle after appointing Patrick Rackow as its new chief executive.

Rackow succeeds long-standing CEO Chris Green, who helped create the British Academy in January 1999 and steered the organisation towards becoming the UK's leading voice for the composer and songwriter community.

Rackow has been a director of the Academy since 2001 and, according to chairman David Ferguson, is already fully up to speed with the issues facing the sector as the pair prepare to move the organisation into its second decade.

Rackow and Ferguson's first priority will be to undertake a wide- ranging audit. "We want to look at the things we do and work out which we should continue doing and are there new things we should do," says Rackow, who runs the legal and business affairs consultancy Patrick Rackow Consulting.

Although the pair still have to work this through, there are some key areas both are keen to develop. At the most basic level, they want to increase Bacs' profile, political weight and membership and have a range of strategies for this, including expanding the recently-launched Academy Recordings - a joint venture between the Academy and aggregator The Orchard.

The label's debut album Volume 1 was issued in May and Rackow expects another 200 albums will be made available from Academy members within the next 12 months.