The UK music industry contributed £5.8 billion to the economy last year but the coronavirus pandemic has had a ruinous impact, according to a new report.
Scots music star Lewis Capaldi was among the musicians named that helped the industry continue its growth in 2019, along with Ed Sheeran, Stormzy, Dua Lipa and George Ezra.
The figures were included in the industry body’s annual report, titled Music By Numbers 2020, which looked at the 12 months up to December 31 last year.
The pandemic has since had a catastrophic impact, with lockdown and social distancing rules all but wiping out live music and closing venues across the country.
READ MORE: Potentially offensive? BBC Radio 1 to play edited version of Fairytale Of New York
Musicians rely “very heavily” on live performing for income, the report says, adding: “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% for those most reliant on live performance.”
The industry now faces a “marathon effort to get back on its feet as it strives to return to pre-Covid levels of success as swiftly as possible,” UK Music said.
Chief executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin said: “2019 was a fantastic year for the UK music industry, and we were firmly on track to be one of the great British success stories of the coming decade.
“Music By Numbers 2020 shows just how successful our industry was before the catastrophic blow of Covid-19 knocked it down, and how important it is that we get it back on its feet.
“When the time comes to recover from this pandemic, our world-leading music industry can be a key part of our country’s post-Covid economic and cultural revival – but we need the right support to get us there.”
Minister for Digital and Culture Caroline Dinenage said: “We know what an immensely tough year 2020 has been for the music industry as a result of Covid-19 which has presented significant challenges for the sector.
“That is why the Government stepped in with an unprecedented £1.57 billion culture recovery fund to help the sector weather the impact of coronavirus and protect music venues, festivals, and our vital cultural assets.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel