On-song music business provides an ‘incredible’ £5bn for economy

THE UK music industry contributed more than £5bn to the nation’s economy last year, according to a report.

Ed Sheeran, Dua Lipa, inset, and Sam Smith are among the British artists driving a surge in exports, as the UK music industry grew across every sector in 2018, UK Music’s new Music By Numbers report said.

The study said the total contribution of the UK music industry to the economy last year was £5.2bn, up from £4.5bn the previous year.

The total export revenue of the British music industry was £2.7bn, up from £2.6bn.

Despite the challenges facing the industry, such as concerns about Brexit, rising business rates and issues of enforcing copyright in an increasingly complex online market, the live music sector and employment in the industry have also continued to flourish.

Employment in the industry hit an all-time high of more than 190,000 jobs in 2018, with 139,352 in the sector for music creators, that category includes musicians, singers, composers, songwriters, lyricists, producers and engineers.

The live sector made a contribution of £1.1bn to the economy as fans filled venues across the country despite the absence of the Glastonbury Festival, which took a break last year when the data for the report was collected.

This was a growth of 10 per cent from £991m the previous year.

The numbers were boosted by a rise in the number of other major festivals across the country. Music tourism – which involves people travelling from within the UK and overseas to attend a live music event – has also grown. It contributed a £4.5bn spend to the UK economy, up 12 per cent from £4bn. UK Music chief executive Michael Dugher, a former Barnsley East MP, said: “The figures are hugely encouraging and show that, as well as enriching the lives of millions of people, music makes an incredible contribution to the UK’s economy.”