Singer wins £20k payout from music company

The tribunal heard 3tone's chief executive held complete "financial control" over Troi Irons (pictured)

An American singer has won a £20,000 payout after an independent music company failed to pay his wages and left him pleading for dinner money.

Musician Troi Irons was flown to Bristol from Los Angeles in 2023 and told to "work with a handshake instead of a contract", an employment tribunal heard.

Mr Irons said 3tone Music had agreed to pay him £30,000 a year to work as an artist and musical engineer, but he did not receive this money.

In January, the BBC reported 3tone was facing numerous allegations of unpaid royalties and several former staff were still waiting for wages to be paid.

The singer-songwriter had to message Dean Roberts, chief executive of Bristol-based 3tone Music, asking for "money for dinner" while Mr Roberts partied at Glastonbury Festival, the tribunal was told.

Mr Irons, who has performed in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Bristol, was provided with a flat by the company until he was evicted when they failed to pay the rent.

Mr Roberts argued no contractual terms were ever agreed and said the musician had never done any work for him.

But the tribunal concluded the company’s "degree of control" had made it "the master" of Mr Irons.

Mr Irons was also unaware that he could take holiday while with the company, the tribunal heard, so he did not take any

The singer arrived in the UK on 15 January 2023, and was told by 3tone that a long-term visa for him would be arranged.

When the company finally applied for a creative worker visa in April 2023, the sponsorship certificate said he would be working as a “musician/producer” for an established UK label, the tribunal was told.

In June 2023, Mr Roberts was at Glastonbury and Mr Irons sent him a WhatsApp message to remind him money should be transferred to him.

Mr Roberts replied that his signal was "pretty non-existent" and he would get something over to him that day.

The musician sent him a follow-up message saying: "Please I don’t have money for dinner".

The tribunal heard 3tone provided a flat for the singer when he came to the UK, but he was evicted from it in November 2023 because the company had not paid the rent.

The hearing concluded that Mr Irons had been an employee of the company and should have been paid his wage.

He was awarded £13,691 in respect of unpaid wages, £2,692 for accrued but untaken holiday and £4,331 for a further work agreement.