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This website is dedicated to encouraging and promoting the export of British Music overseas. It aims to provide new creative and business talent within the industry with the advice they need to break into international markets.
There is a wealth of guidance and practical help available to individual performers, bands and music companies and this website attempts to summarise this support to enable the success of British music overseas. During 2008, over 300 individual UK music companies accessed the services of UK Trade & Investment, receiving export advice, funding and participating in our export Events delivered in partnership with key industry organisations such as AIM and the BPI.
Here’s a list of reasons why the UK music industry should be looking to develop its exports and you, as part of this sector, should be joining
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Facts and figures on the UK music export industry
Music is a major UK export, worth around US$2 billion annually.
2008 saw UK acts dominate domestic and worldwide markets, achieving both huge critical success and multi-platinum sales. Four of the six biggest selling global artists of 2008 were acts from the UK – Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Take That and Leona Lewis.
UK artists stormed the 2009 Grammy Awards, triumphing in many of the key categories. Robert Plant picked up five awards, Coldplay won three, while Adele, Duffy, Radiohead and Estelle between them.
Duffy’s debut album Rockferry has achieved international sales of some 4.5 million copies to date.
The UK is a gateway to Europe for global companies, with the likes of Sony BMG and Warner Music having their European headquarters in London.
The UK is a must stop venue for international artists on tour, adding to the quality and depth of live music available week-in, week-out across the UK.
In volume terms, the UK is the largest music market in Europe, and the third largest in the world.
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The UK has a tradition of hosting world-class music festivals from Glyndebourne to Glastonbury and the London Jazz Festival. In 2007, over 395,000 people registered for tickets to the Glastonbury Music Festival; all 137,000 tickets were sold in less than two hours.
Around one in 12 artist albums sold in the US are by UK artists and the ratio is even higher in Canada where UK share of sales is more than 12%.
In leading European markets, UK share is also impressive – in Germany share of album sales has fluctuated between 15-20% and double digit market shares of best sellers are regularly recorded in France.
Last year saw UK acts secured three number ones in the US Album Charts Top Ten (Leona Lewis, Coldplay, Radiohead).
In 2008, Leona Lewis reached Number One on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 'Bleeding Love' – the first UK female to do so since Kim Wilde in 1987. Her 'Spirit' album entered the Billboard 200 at Number One, making her the first UK solo artist ever to enter the charts at the top with a debut album.
A 2007 BPI survey of independent UK record companies found that more than 80% of companies said that they sell music in overseas territories either under license, as finished product or a mixture of both and, on average, 46% of income was being generated in overseas markets.
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