Huge shows by acts such as Beyoncé, Burna Boy, Harry Styles, Blur, P!nk, Elton John and Ed Sheeran helped the UK music industry contribute a record £7.6 billion (€9.1bn) to the UK economy in 2023.

UK music’s contribution to the UK economy rose 13% from £6.7bn in 2022 in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA), according to the latest edition of UK Music’s annual economic report, This Is Music 2024.

The umbrella association’s study adds that exports received a further boost from international touring by British artists, while Adele continued her residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. UK music exports revenue in 2023 hit a new high of £4.6bn – a 15% increase on 2022.

Meanwhile, total UK music industry employment hit a record 216,000 full-time equivalent posts – up 3% from 210,000 in the previous year.

“The music industry is ideally placed to turbo charge the new UK government’s mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7,” says UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl. “A decade which began with the pandemic, causing much devastation to the sector, has seen a resilient music industry emerge. International appetite for UK music remains strong, with exports growing by 15% to £4.6 billion. Employment continues to rise steadily at 3%, with 216,000 people now working in the sector.”

“We are now at a tipping point, and if the problems we face are not addressed then future growth cannot be guaranteed”

While the study does not break down live’s individual economic contribution, it states that “live performance and international touring revenues continued to grow in 2023”. In a separate report published earlier this year, UK Music revealed music tourism increased by 33% in 2023, with spending surging 21% year-on-year to £8bn.

Nevertheless, Kiehl advises that it is not a time for complacency, amid a number of concerns.

“This is Music 2024 tells the story, based on real evidence and data from across the sector, that despite some very strong headline figures in 2023, the UK music industry has vulnerabilities too,” he adds. “Increasing global competition, tough financial conditions for artists and the grassroots, as well as the wild west that is generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), are all conspiring to be significant challenges for the sector.

“We are now at a tipping point, and if the problems we face are not addressed then future growth cannot be guaranteed.”

Though acknowledging the emergence of bands including The Last Dinner Party and English Teacher, the report warns that “a succession of stadium and arena tours by major artists masks major problems for touring artists as a whole and especially developing artists”.

It continues: “High inflation in the UK, the cost of international travel, increased US visa costs and a litany of Brexit-related issues have negatively impacted, to varying degrees, most of the industry too, but touring artists have been hardest hit. For developing artists building their international profiles for the first time, the impacts of Brexit have been a catastrophe.”

“There are concerns that the UK’s position as a world leader in music and culture could be threatened”

Furthermore, it references Music Venue Trust (MVT) figures showing that 76 live music venues closed entirely during 2023, with another 72 ending their live music programming, as well as data from the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), which noted 36 festival closures during 2023 followed by around 60 during 2024.

The live segment of the report finishes with a call to arms to the new Labour government.

“Concert promotion and touring have never been easy and, whilst the sector is used to finding creative ways around challenges, there are concerns that the UK’s position as a world leader in music and culture could be threatened,” it concludes.

“Labour has indicated its commitment to reforming secondary ticketing in the UK. There is scope for the new Labour government to build upon this to support the sector more generally, protecting the cultural value of live music in the UK and protecting livelihoods in the live music sector, and the talent pipeline it supports while delivering great value to the consumer.”

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UK live music attendance reached an all-time high in 2022, with 37 million people generating ticket revenue, ancillary spending at venues and merchandise sales.

Stadium tours by acts such as Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga are credited alongside the return of Glastonbury and the expansion of BST Hyde Park from seven shows to nine.

The findings form part of the 2023 edition of British music industry umbrella organisation UK Music’s annual This is Music report, which puts UK music export revenue for last year at £4 billion – a figure boosted by the return of international touring.

“2022 was packed with live shows, including rescheduled dates from 2020 and 2021 in addition to newly announced shows for 2022,” states the report. “Demand for stadiums was so high, venue operators, promoters, and agents had to be flexible with routing – in some cases, sourcing alternatives.

“Wembley Stadium hosted a record 16 concerts in 2022, up from 14 concerts in 2019.”

“Costs for promoters and artists have soared over the past two years owing to inflation, extremely high energy prices, and supply chain costs”

Furthermore, the report reveals that the UK music industry contributed £6.7 billion to the UK economy in 2022 in gross value added (GVA), while total employment in the business was 210,000. But despite some positive headline figures, the organisation notes that the overall landscape is not entirely rosy, with the Music Managers Forum (MMF) reporting that its members saw cost increases of 35% last year.

“Costs for promoters and artists have soared over the past two years owing to inflation, extremely high energy prices, and supply chain costs, some of which were influenced by Brexit,” it says.

“Rising costs squeezed margins for promoters and artists, especially for those shows scheduled in 2020 and 2021 because ticket prices and fees were already set and could not be amended. Even where tickets were on sale for the first time in 2022, promoters and artists were limited in the extent to which they could increase prices.”

It continues: “In many instances, promoters and artists looked to cut costs, but this had a knock-on impact on others within the music ecosystem. For example, in some cases, artists and their managers have had to make tough decisions about the size of their road crews, the number of touring musicians performing with an artists’ live band, and so on.

“It is also the case that some artists have had fewer invitations to perform as promoters reduce the number of acts on the bill or look for cheaper alternatives.”

“The added burden of the cost of living crisis and soaring energy bills has further exacerbated the problem for small venues”

The report also underlines the threat facing grassroots music venues and independent music festivals, with the Music Venue Trust reporting that venue closures of 66 in the last 12 months are at an all-time high.

“Many venues have struggled to recover from the pandemic, but the added burden of the cost of living crisis and soaring energy bills has further exacerbated the problem for small venues,” it adds. “Rising costs are also a problem for festivals, according to the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), with costs up 30%, but ticket prices have only risen by 12-15%. This increases the risk for festival promoters, and one in six independent
festivals did not survive the pandemic.

“A decline in the number of tours at that level and the number of dates per tour has significantly added to these challenges, especially for small venues. Artists are not touring in the way that they used to. Rather than going from town to town, the focus has swung increasingly towards bigger cities where demand is felt to be more reliable.”

UK Music interim CEO Tom Kiehl says the music business requires additional government assistance to continue to compete on a global level.

“The UK music industry and its exports have grown beyond doubt to hit new heights, which is fantastic news in terms of our sector’s contribution to jobs and the economy,” he says. “However, the competition for international markets is intensifying rapidly. The UK’s competitors are increasingly well funded and can often count on far more support from their governments.

“South Korea, Australia and Canada have invested heavily in music and cultural export offices to help grow their overseas markets. The UK has several successful export schemes, such as the Music Export Growth Scheme and the International Showcase Fund.

“However, we need far more support – otherwise we risk the UK being left behind in the global music race and that would be a bitter blow for music industry and a missed opportunity to grow our export market.”

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