UK Music Industry Set to be Cut in Half This Year Due to Covid, a Report States
Experts say the UK music industry will significantly reduce in size due to issues this year surrounding Covid such as the closure of concerts, gigs and festivals, bleeding £3bn from its investment into the economy.
The UK music scene made up of artists, record labels and live concerts saw a growth of 11% in 2019, said to be valued at £5.8bn to the economy.
But, UK Music’s annual Music by Numbers report, released on 16th November analysed the economic health of the sector and saw a grim outlook for the Music industry on years to come.
The report estimated that the UK Music industry’s investment into broader society, involving music sales, licenses to stadiums for tours, live gigs, concerts and even merchandise would estimate to fall by approximately £3bn this year.
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive over UK music, stated to the Guardian that the impact of the virus had dealt a “catastrophic blow” with thousands out of the nearly 200,000 people who work in the industry in danger of losing their jobs.
Njoku-Goodwin added: “Our music industry is a key national asset
“As this report shows, it contributes £5.8bn a year to the economy, generates £2.9bn in exports and supports almost 200,000 jobs. The UK music industry was a vibrant, fast-growing and commercially successful sector before the pandemic hit.”
The most affected industry with the UK music scene has been live music, such as festivals and live shows which saw its most prosperous year yet in 2019 with bands such as Eagles, Bon Jovi, Spice Girls and Take That filling out UK venues.
In 2019 the UK’s live music industry earned over a fifth of its usual earnings £1.3bn. This year, it’s set to drop by almost 85% resulting in live music’s expected profits to fall by about £300m as touring and live concerts are suspended to accommodate social distancing.
The report also reveals that music creators such Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran amongst thousands of other artists, songwriters and producers will see most of their earnings from live concerts and events will see a significant drop in their paychecks this year.
“In aggregate over 65% of music creators’ income will be lost as a direct consequence of Covid-19 and this could extend to over 80% of those most reliant on live performance”, the report added.
The one good thing about the pandemic this year has been the growth of the music streaming industry, Spotify a popular streaming app saw a surge of nearly 30% of paying subscribers during the pandemic.
Caroline Dinenage, the current minister for digital and culture, stresses to the Guardian: “We know what an immensely tough year 2020 has been for the music industry as a result of Covid-19.
“That is why the government stepped in with an unprecedented £1.57bn culture recovery fund to help the sector weather the impact of coronavirus and protect music venues, festivals and our vital cultural assets.”
