The Backroom Brits

Festival Republic chief Melvin Benn and Live Nation U.K. president Paul Latham are among "the backroom boys and girls" who could be in line for Brit Awards, according to The Times.

They were the only live music business figures on a list of 20 likely candidates the paper drew up in response to the Music Producers Guild pushing the Brits committee to follow the Oscars and Grammys and expand its awards to encompass all the non-performing sectors of the industry.

Dubbed the "Backroom Brits," the Times says any of the entire creative team "from stylist to engineer to label boss" could be a winner.

Claiming to have canvassed the industry’s key players, the paper had Universal U.K. chief Lucian Grange heading a list that included Pop Idol / X Factor guru Simon Cowell, Fiction record company managing director Jim Chancellor, Radio 1 head of music George Ergatoudis, artist manager Scott Rodger, EMI Music Publishing director Roger Faxon, Domino Recordings president Laurence Bell and Rough Trade "supremos" Geoff Travis and Jeanette Lee.

The only other "backroom girls" on a male-dominated list were Polydor head of marketing Orla Lee and Alison Howe, producer of popular TV show "Later… with Jools Holland."