Report: UK music industry’s growth to deliver £4.4b to economy

A 6% surge last year in all aspects of the UK music industry will inject a fresh £4.4 billion (A$7.4 billion) into the economy, says the UK Music’sMeasuring Music 2017report.

Theumbrella body for the UK music industry represents artists, musicians, songwriters, composers, record labels, music managers, music publishers, producers, music licensing organisations and the live music industry – all of which got something out of the report this year.

Key takeaways include:

• Live music grew 14% from 2015 to £1 billion ($1.68 billion) with the draw of major festivals and little venues dotted through the UK.
• Recorded music was up 5% to £640 million ($$.07 billion)
• Music exports from all sectors jumped 13% to £2.5 billion ($4.2 billion), with help especially from Adele, Ed Sheeran, Skepta and The Rolling Stones.
• Employment across the sector had the biggest growth, by 19% to 142,208.

Despite these impressive figures, music executives took the opportunity to warn of the negative impact of the “value gap” and urged tech giants to properly reward artists and creators.

UK Music CEO Michael Dugher said: “The headline figures in this year’s Measuring Music report are undoubtedly excellent news.

“The number of new jobs created in the UK rose at a faster pace than the rest of the employment market and our export figures shot up across the board.

“The outlook for the music business is better than it has been in years.

But Dugher urged that the industry still needs to address the ‘value gap’ on the new platforms that people consume music on.

“Unlike subscription services, those platforms often offer little adequate reward to the investors and creators of the music that drives so much of their traffic.

“There is still too often a culture of denial from the big tech firms.

“The way people listen to music may be changing, but certain fundamental responsibilities must continue. It’s time for the free ride to come to an end.”

UK Music Chairman Andy Heath pointed out, “Live music continues to thrive with a 14% rise on the previous 12 months and the recorded sector has turned around with a 5% rise in 2016.

“But we face some crucial battles in the coming months.

“We have a fight on our hands when it comes to closing the value gap between what some organisations currently pay for music and what represents a fair deal for our work and creativity.

Heath highlighted that the industry needs to make a strong and persuasive case to convince everyone to fairly value the huge range of music we create.

“We must ensure that we do all we can to continue driving that growth across all sectors of our brilliant business, which continues to provide the world’s best and most successful music.”

As part of its report, UK Music also did a survey on Brexit’s impact on the music industry.

It asked: “What impact will the UK leaving the European Union have on your work within the music industry as an artist, producer or when managing talent?”

The response was not heartening.

50% thought there would be a negative impact, and only 2% saw anything positive coming out of it.

One in five suggestedit would have no impact whatsoever, while 28% admitted they did not know.