Horace Trubridge is a music executive who’s completely in touch with his colourful past. Which is why the man who, this week, officially becomes general secretary of the Musicians’ Union can make a scholarly argument about streaming royalties for members on the one hand, and recount stories of being banned from hotels across Scandinavia on the other.

Trubridge is the 27-year MU veteran who was chosen for the top job in March, in the election to name a successor to ...