UK music exports hit record £775mn but growth slows

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The value of British music exports rose to a record £775mn last year but the rate of growth more than halved, with breakout UK stars now vying for listeners against intensifying global competition from the US, South Korea and Latin America. 

On Monday the BPI, the trade body for the UK’s music industry, will reveal new data showing that the UK continues to punch well above its size in the global music market. 

British recorded music exports — which include sales of British music outside the UK via any medium, from streaming to physical formats such as CDs and vinyl — rose in value by 7.6 per cent in 2023. However, this was less than half of the 20 per cent growth recorded in 2022, leading to warnings by executives over the future of the UK industry at a time when the government is developing a controversial new artificial intelligence policy over the use of content including music.

The BPI said UK artists now cumulatively accounted for under a tenth of global audio streams. Their collective share of global music consumption was estimated to be 17 per cent as recently as 2015, when Adele and Ed Sheeran were still breakout stars.

Both those artists are still among the most popular almost a decade later, alongside other established artists such as Harry Styles, although a range of newer UK artists achieved more than 1bn streams in 2023, including newer acts such as Central Cee, Glass Animals, PinkPantheress and Raye. 

The BPI said the UK was now competing not just against traditionally strong countries for music such as the US and Canada but also Latin America and South Korea, whose artists are achieving far-reaching international success thanks in part to significant government backing. The UK is the second-largest exporter of recorded music after the US. 

Music executives warn that government plans around allowing the use of artists’ content — alongside proposals for other parts of the media sector such as publishing — would further erode the UK’s unique strengths in music.

The government is expected to consult later this year on plans that would allow AI companies to scrape content from artists unless they specifically “opt out”. The creative industry argues that such a move would be unfair, impracticable, costly and advantageous to tech companies looking to rip off their work. 

“The fierce competition from Asia and Latin America shows in the export numbers, and a copyright exemption for AI for big tech firms would only further exacerbate this and sell British artists down the river,” said one British music executive to the Financial Times.

“Big Tech can afford to pay for British music. They’re backed by huge investors who care more about cost than culture, which is why they want to take advantage of British music without payment or permission.”

The BPI is also asking for the Labour government to produce supportive domestic policies that encourage record label investment in new talent to help develop the next Adele or Sheeran.

“It is encouraging to see British recorded music continuing to perform strongly on the world stage, but we can and must do even better in the face of fierce global competition as rival markets grow at pace,” said BPI chief executive Jo Twist.

The BPI wants continued support from the government for the Music Export Growth Scheme, which supports small to medium-sized music companies in building artists in overseas markets.

The UK saw growth in every global region in 2023, with the North American and European markets remaining the biggest regions for UK recorded music exports, accounting for almost four-fifths of the total. 

In Europe, exports rose by 6.7 per cent in Germany, the UK’s second-biggest market, with increases of 7.3 per cent and 5.9 per cent in Spain and the Netherlands respectively.