British music industry hits right note for UK economy

Revenues from concerts and songwriting rights rose to £3.8 billion in 2013

Ellie Goulding (Getty Images)

The contribution of the British music industry’s to the country's coffers grew 9 per cent to £3.8 billion last year, thanks to the strength of live music and songwriting revenues, according to new figures from trade body, UK Music.

Chief executive Jo Dipple hailed the growth, pointing out the rise in music’s contribution — known as Gross Value Added (GVA) — showed “how important an industry we are to the UK economy”.

But she urged the Government to do more to protect copyright and educate young people about paying for music and the problems of piracy.

UK Music also called for Google and other web giants to give priority to licensed, online music services in search results and urged better access to bank finance for small music businesses.

Dipple said: “The young, bearded kids in the pub, making a racket on a Friday night, might just turn out to generate more revenue for Her Majesty’s Treasury than a car manufacturer. But they need support to get there.”

According to UK Music’s report, the industry supports 111,000 full-time jobs and one in eight albums sold worldwide are by British artists from Adele to Ellie Goulding.

Dipple said UK Music wanted to help government “develop policies as good as the music we produce”.