Music industry creates 23,000 new jobs in 2016

According to the 2017 Measuring Music report released by UK Music on Wednesday, almost every sector of the music industry grew in 2016, with live music revenue jumping up 14% to bring a total of £1bn to the sector over the year.

Millions of Britons poured into everything from festivals and stadiums, to dive bars and auditoriums, in an attempt to catch their favourite acts live, and in doing so generated £300m more in ticket sales than the combined sales figures of all recorded music during the same period.

But Michael Dugher, chief executive of UK Music, warned that unless the industry was supported at its grassroots, it might not be as viable of a long-term prospect as the report appeared to show.

"Live music is a fantastic driver for growth. But future talent will never get the chance to shine if we continue to see cuts in music in schools and closures in venues where artists need to learn their craft in the first place. To reach the big stage you need to have a hit record and you need to be able to pay the bills. That means that those who create music and invest in it must be properly rewarded, " said Dugher.

"We want to maintain and build on this success by continuing to work with UK Music and others to nurture British talent," said Secretary of State for Digital Culture, Media and Sport, Karen Bradley. "For the Government, that means working with schools, orchestras and organisations that fund music, such as the Lottery distribution bodies. We want to help artists do business across the world and make it easier for them to tour and export their music."

Dugher also called out the likes of Facebook and YouTube, that combined accounted for 44% of all streaming plays, for their artist remuneration practices.

"Unlike the subscription services, those platforms often offer little adequate reward to the investors and creators of the 'content' - i.e. the music - that drives so much of their traffic," he said.

Google had already defended its royalty practices in August when hip-hop mogul and former head of digital initiatives at Warner, Lyor Cohen penned a letter saying that in his new role as YouTube's global head of music the video streaming service had handed out over $3 per thousand streams in the United States, more than any other advertisement supported streaming service.

However, UK Music's chairman, Andy Heath still accused "some platforms and distributors" of hiding from their responsibilities to artists, saying "We need to make a strong and persuasive case to convince everyone to value fairly the huge range of music we create. We must ensure that we do all we can to continue driving that growth across all sectors of our brilliant business, which continues to provide the world’s best and most successful music."

Streaming helped boost the value of recorded music 5%, marking the first forward movement in the sector since the Measuring Music report began in 2012.

Increased international awareness of British artists like Ed Sheeran, Adele and Stormzy gave exports a helping hand as they increased 13% to £2.5bn.

The British music industry offered employment to 142,208 people in 2016, up 19% from 2015's figures, but the report indicated that many within the industry saw Brexit as a potential roadblock to continued growth.

"Brexit may also make touring more difficult and expensive for musicians and crews to move freely across Europe. Increased red tape will make it harder to promote music overseas, damaging our export markets. Developing new markets may present risks in unproven countries where there is not a track record for UK content," the report read.