UK Music’s year in review: major wins for UK music amidst challenges surrounding AI and EU touring

UK Music – the collective voice of the UK music industry – has released a roundup of some of the year’s biggest stories and successes as 2025 comes to an end.

Data gathered by the company has revealed the full extent of contribution to the economy – and highlighted some of the challenges the music industry faces.

This is Music 2025 & Ticket Touts

In November, UK Music launched its report This Is Music, which revealed that UK music’s economic contribution in 2024 hit a record £8 billion in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) – up 5% from £7.6 billion in 2023. 

This Is Music also showed that UK music exports revenue in 2024 reached a new high of £4.8 billion – up 5% from £4.6 billion in 2023, while total UK music industry employment in 2024 hit a record 220,000 (full-time equivalent posts) – up 2% from 216,000 in 2023.

November also marked a major victory for UK Music, the MMF, the FanFair Alliance and all those who have campaigned for a price cap to be imposed on secondary ticketing sites, as the Government announced that resellers will no longer be able to sell tickets at exorbitant prices.

Hometown Glory

In July, the Hometown Glory music tourism report revealed how the likes of Taylor Swift, Charli XCX, Bruce Springsteen, Sam Fender and Dua Lipa helped lure a record 23.5 million music tourists to concerts and festivals in the UK in 2024. The report showed that music tourists spent a record £10 billion in 2024 – a 26% increase on the 2023 total spend of £8 billion. Of the 23.5 million total, 21.9 million were music tourists from the UK – a 21% rise on 2023. A total of 1.6 million visitors last year were overseas music tourists – up 62% on the 2023 total of one million.

As part of Hometown Glory, UK Music launched the UK Music Local Music Action Charter, which provides a practical guide designed to enable local authorities to boost their local economies through music. Policymakers can use the Charter to select a strategic priority (for example – growth, skills, high street, tourism, or inclusion) and explore relevant policy actions.

Soft Power

As 2025 kicked off, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy recruited UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl to the Government’s newly assembled Soft Power Council. Its aim is to enable the government to build stronger partnerships domestically and abroad, identifying opportunities to both strengthen the UK’s reach and reputation and boost its influence on the world stage.

Artificial Intelligence

As the music industry bade farewell to 2024 and ushered in the arrival of 2025, UK Music was setting the tone for a conversation that would dominate much of the year ahead. Keen to establish the UK as a global AI hub, the Government opened a consultation on the matter of AI and copyright, proposing a system that would rip up existing copyright law and allow big tech firms to train their AI systems on the work of the creative industries without payment, permission, or transparency.

In response, UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl joined the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John, and Sir Mick Jagger in driving home the argument that such a scheme represented daylight robbery and that big tech firms must never be allowed to steal the work of our world-leading music creators and companies. UK Music also took the message to the heart of Westminster, as artists, MPs, and music industry leaders descended on Parliament.

The campaign continued – and continues – long after the consultation period ended at the close of February. In particular, UK Music played a big role in the constitutional stand-off in the Houses of Parliament on the Data (Use and Access) Bill in spring. Here, UK Music pressed MPs and Peers to support amendments to legislation which would ensure greater transparency to music creators and businesses from AI firms. This activity resulted in some concessions, including a government reset on this policy area.

EU Touring

This year saw UK Music continue to campaign heavily for the removal of barriers to EU touring. Since the UK’s exit from the EU in January 2020, the music industry has faced a number of challenges. These include increased costs and bureaucracy due to requirements for visas, work permits and carnets for touring UK artists, merchandising costs and the need to navigate complex cabotage requirements for trucks and hauliers that support tours in the EU.

Wish You Were Here

In a bid to put pressure on UK and EU leaders to tear down these obstacles, UK Music called on figures from across the worlds of music and politics to sign an open letter demanding swift action. The campaign culminated with UK Music taking a giant postcard to the Great Escape Festival in Brighton, with artists, industry leaders, and MPs heading to the coast to sign the letter and take part in a photocall during the event. The letter was timed to coincide with the May EU-UK summit, and ensure the government’s manifesto commitment to sort out EU touring was taken forward.

Cultural Exchange Coalition

In December 2025, UK Music also announced the launch of the Cultural Exchange Coalition (CEC) – a campaign formed by UK Music, Musicians’ Union and Pearle aimed at highlighting the vast mutual benefits of a stronger cultural relationship and pushing leaders to ease the process of EU-UK touring.

Diversity

In October, UK Music introduced its ground-breaking Five Ps guide to bring about enduring change and positive outcomes for diversity and inclusion across the music industry. The Five Ps is a practical guide that follows widespread consultation right across the sector. It maps out five key areas that UK Music and the UK Music Diversity Taskforce have identified as crucial in delivering significant outcomes and enduring change. These areas are; People, Policy, Partnerships, Purchase, and Progress.

In addition, UK Music Diversity Taskforce Chair Ammo Talwar MBE wrote an op-ed that explained how the Five Ps can help the sector rethink its approach to diversity and inclusion and bring long-lasting positive change for generations to come.

Supporting Talent

Ammo Talwar also produced an op-ed on why the industry needs to do more to back marginalised artists. He wrote: “My sector, music, is supposed to be the home of self-expression and rebellion. Unfortunately, it remains a place where certain voices are heard more clearly than others. LGBTQ+ artists, musicians from Black and working-class communities, and those who don’t fit traditional moulds still face barriers that shape their careers, often long before an audience hears a single note.”

Ahead of this year’s International Women’s Day, UK Music head of diversity, Eunice Obianagha, explored the strides the music industry has made in cultivating greater gender equality, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. She wrote: “The UK music industry has made strides in gender diversity, with 53.8% of respondents in the 2024 UK Music Workforce Diversity Survey identifying as women.

However, while female representation remains strong at entry-level and mid-career positions, significant barriers persist as women age particularly due to age discrimination and caring responsibilities.

Education

2025 delivered a major win for music education and the arts as the Government announced that it is scrapping the English Baccalaureate (EBacc). The announcement came in the Government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment review.

The introduction of the EBacc in 2010 has significantly contributed to the decline in music provision in secondary schools. As the EBacc does not include arts subjects, schools have often prioritised EBacc subjects at the expense of music and other creative options.

In recommending its removal, the Curriculum Review stated that “it is clear that the EBacc performance measures have to some degree unnecessarily constrained students” choices.

UK Music has campaigned extensively for the EBacc’s removal. It formed a key part of its submission into the Curriculum and Assessment Review and was a key recommendation in the five-point plan for music education earlier this year.

Image credits: UK Music