Report: UK music industry contributed £7.6bn to UK economy in 2023
November 20, 2024

UK Music, the collective voice of the UK music industry, has released its annual economic report, This is Music 2024. The report outlines the economic contribution the UK music industry makes to the economy.
It was a stellar year for live music with artists such as Beyoncé, Burna Boy, Harry Styles, Blur and Pink, Elton John and Ed Sheeran all playing big UK shows, while there were also standout performances in 2023 from emerging acts like The Last Dinner Party and English Teacher. Exports received a further boost from international touring by British artists in 2023, including Harry Styles, Coldplay, Depeche Mode, Blur, Def Leppard, Sam Fender, and Arctic Monkeys, while Adele continued her 2023 residency at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.
- UK music’s contribution to the UK economy in 2023 hit a record £7.6 billion (€9.1bn) in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) – up 13 per cent from £6.7 billion in 2022.
- UK music exports revenue in 2023 hit a new high of £4.6 billion – up 15 per cent from £4 billion in 2022.
- Total UK music industry employment in 2023 hit a record 216,000 (full-time equivalent posts) – up 3 per cent from 210,000 in 2022.
UK artists now cumulatively account for less than 10 per cent of global audio streams, whereas their collective share of global music consumption was estimated at 17 per cent in 2015, according to the BPI.
For the past two years, UK Music has surveyed British-based music creators and their experiences of Brexit for its This Is Music report. Of those whose income was impacted by Brexit, 87 per cent said their earnings fell in 2023 – up from 82 per cent of those surveyed in 2022.
UK Music Chief Executive, Tom Kiehl, commented: “The music industry is ideally placed to turbo charge the new UK government’s mission to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7. 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 per cent to £4.6 billion. Employment continues to rise steadily at 3 per cent, with 216,000 people now working in the sector. This is not a time to be complacent, however. Far from it in fact. 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. 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.”
Kiehl highlighted four key areas where urgent action was needed to help the UK’s music sector grow in an increasingly competitive global market:
- Promote changes to the law that safeguard against unregulated AI, and reject proposals that fail to achieve this.
- Ensure every child and young person across the UK has access to free music making.
- Introduce a cap on secondary ticket resale prices.
- Fight for visa-free touring for musicians and crew.