Expat given award by old record company (8)
I believe the answer is:
emigrant
'expat' is the definition.
(expatriate)
'award by old record company' is the wordplay.
'award' becomes 'grant' (synonyms).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'old record company' becomes 'EMI' (record company broken up in 2012).
'grant' after 'emi' is 'EMIGRANT'.
'given' is the link.
(Other definitions for emigrant that I've seen before include "One leaving for another country" , "One going abroad permanently" , "One settling abroad" , "Time Gran went abroad to settle" , "I've left home for good" .)