The music industry in the UK shed about 69,000 jobs in 2020, according to a new report released by UK Music.
UK Music is an umbrella organization that represents the commercial music industry as a whole. According to their research, the overall value of the music industry was nearly cut in half because of the COVID pandemic and its ongoing reverberations.
This Is Music 2021 details the carnage as concert halls and other venues were shuttered, sometimes for good, tours and festivals were cancelled.
The numbers
- Live music revenues were slashed by around 90% in 2020.
- In 2020, the music industry contributed £3.1 billion to the UK economy, a decrease of 46% from £5.8 billion in 2019.
- British music exported overseas, which includes international touring, dropped by 23% to £2.3 billion.
- The reports estimates that employment in the sector dropped by 35% from 197,000 in 2019 to 128,000 in 2020.
- The 2019 figure of 197,000 represents an all-time high, and the culmination of several years of music industry growth in the UK.
There are many underlying factors that make the music industry particularly hard hit, factors that would apply outside the UK as well.
- About 75% of music industry workers are self-employed, meaning limited access to government support programs.
- The cancellation of live gigs has a ripple effect. Collecting societies PPL and PRS (similar to SOCAN in Canada) collected fewer revenues, and broadcast revenues also fell when advertising revenues declined.
Brexit, and new levels of bureaucracy vis-à-vis the EU are also clouding the picture when it comes to touring availability for UK artists.
The bright spot? Music streaming increased by 22% last year to a record 139.3 billion streams.
What they’re saying
“The past 18 months have been exceptionally challenging for the UK music industry, with billions wiped off the value of the sector, but we are determined to look to the future and focus on recovery,” said Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive of UK Music.
Horace Trubridge, general secretary of Musicians’ Union, commented, “The total loss of live work for over a year and the fact that the financial help offered by the government left so many out in the cold, has resulted in a huge loss of jobs and talent.
“With the live industry now having to deal with the appalling impact of Brexit on artist’s mobility, now is the time for this government to step in and provide realistic and effective support for an industry that was once the envy of the world and is now struggling to survive.”
Many are calling for more government support for the industry on its road to recovery.
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