Britain’s recorded music exports rose by 7.6% year-over-year in 2023 to a record high, but the increase wasn’t enough to offset a steady decline in the UK’s share of global music consumption.
That’s according to data released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the country’s recorded music industry group.
The BPI reported that last year, UK-signed/released records generated GBP £775 million (USD $964 million) outside their home nation.
The 7.6% YoY increase in exports marks a significant slowdown from the 20% growth rate seen in 2022, BPI noted.
It was also slower than the overall growth of recorded music revenues worldwide, which, according to global recorded music trade group IFPI, increased by 10.2% YoY in 2023.
The BPI estimated that UK artists now account for about 10% of music streaming worldwide.
In one regard that’s a solid showing given the UK accounts for about 1% of the world’s population. However, it represents a significant decline from BPI’s estimate of 17% as recently as 2015.
One reason UK artists might be seeing this market share decline abroad? Their language.
Earlier this year, Luminate‘s midyear 2024 report looked at the market share of total global streams for artists from various international markets in the first half of this year.
Luminate found that artists from the UK, US, and Canada saw the largest YoY declines in market share of total worldwide streams in the period. Those three nations happen to be the world’s largest English-language recorded music markets.
UK artists accounted for 7.90% of streams worldwide in the first half of 2024, down from 8.49% in the same period a year earlier.
In contrast, artists from Mexico, Brazil, and France saw the biggest YoY growth in market share of total global streams, said Luminate.
“The UK is now competing not just against traditional heavyweights such as the US and Canada, but fast-growing markets including those in Latin America and countries like South Korea, whose artists are achieving far-reaching international success thanks in part to significant government backing,” the BPI said in a report released on Monday (October 21).
The report said the UK is on track to meet the BPI’s goal of GBP £1 billion in recorded music exports by 2030, but “for this to be realized, it will require a supportive domestic policy environment that encourages record label investment in talent and helps maximize the overseas potential of UK recorded music, at a time of intensifying global competition.”
The UK’s declining share of music exports comes at a time when musical phenomena such as K-pop, Latin Music, and Afrobeats are growing in popularity worldwide.
Recent data from Luminate has shown that English-language music is declining in popularity even in the US, as Latin Music takes a larger share of the pie. In many European and Latin American countries, local-language music has come to dominate the hits charts.
That’s not to say that the UK’s cultural influence and the revenue that comes with it have disappeared entirely. Many UK acts were among Luminate’s 100 most-streamed artists of 2023, including Adele, Arctic Monkeys, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, and Lewis Capaldi.
Notably, however, many of the top 100 acts – such as Queen, The Beatles, and Elton John – hail from the 1960s and 1970s, when the UK dominated popular music in a way it doesn’t today.
“If we are to maintain our proud record as a music superpower, UK music needs government backing and a supportive policy environment which encourages investment in talent-led growth, and keeps human artistry at the heart of the creative process.”
Dr Jo Twist OBE, BPI
The BPI highlighted the benefit to UK artists from government support, noting that of the 500 UK artists who clocked 100 million or more streams last year, two dozen were beneficiaries of the Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) managed by the BPI and jointly funded by the music industry and UK governments.
Among those artists were Beabadoobee, Dave, Bicep, and Wolf Alice.
The British government recently announced that funding for the scheme would be increased by an additional £3.2 million over the next two years, having found a 14-to-1 return on the money MEGS invests in artists.
“It is encouraging to see British recorded music continuing to perform strongly on the world stage, but we can and must do even better in the face of fierce global competition as rival markets grow at pace,” BPI Chief Executive Dr Jo Twist, OBE, said in a statement.
“If we are to maintain our proud record as a music superpower, UK music needs government backing and a supportive policy environment which encourages investment in talent-led growth, and keeps human artistry at the heart of the creative process.”
The US remained far and away the largest market for UK recorded music exports in 2023, accounting for £320.9 million ($399 million), up by 8.3% YoY.
This was followed by Germany at £63.0 million (up 6.7% YoY), and France at £44.1 million (up 2.4% YoY).
The top 10 markets were virtually the same in 2023 as 2022, except for China, which overtook Sweden to take 10th place.
The fastest-growing region for UK recorded music consumption was India, with 26.3% YoY growth, putting it in 19th place.
GBP to USD conversions in this story made at average annual 2023 rate as per the IRS.Music Business Worldwide