The Future of the UK Music Industry: Exploring Policy and Practice

The Secretary of State for Culture has stated that she wants “to maximise the potential of the creative industries the make sure our music industry can grow its status as world leader in the years and decades to come. This industry is worth £4bn and it's one that's packed with incredible talent & bursting with creativity.” This fellowship looks to the same goal. It brings together academia and research with DCMS and the music industry to explore and consolidate on key issues to advance the sustainable and successful future of the UK music industry for the benefit of the music community and society.

The four areas for consideration which form the foundation of the fellowship remit are:

• Pillar 1: Recognising the Value of Music. There is a growing body of research that demonstrates the multifaceted power of music as an economic and social benefit, recognising the true value of music lays the foundation for prioritising investment of effort and resources into the music business. This pillar justifies and underpins the three remaining pillars, as it justifies the investment of resources.
• Pillar 2: A Sustainable and Inclusive Industry. This pillar focuses on the investment that needs to be made in order to sustain the music industry which may include funding and tax incentives, education and access to music opportunities for all, environmental sustainability and equality, diversity and inclusion. It recognises the challenges faced by the industry that could lead to a loss of opportunity in maximising the benefits of an inclusive and sustainable music industry. This includes informing effective policy development to support the talent pipeline, in order to strengthen the resilience of the UK music industry amidst booming global competition. Skills and talent development are amongst the DCMS Secretary of State current policy priorities.
• Pillar 3: Regulating and Future Proofing. This pillar focuses on the regulatory agenda for safeguarding the sustainability of the music makers and rightsholders by ensuring fair and balanced copyright and contract provisions and future proofing regulation to maximise benefits from developing technology such as streaming and artificial intelligence.
• Pillar 4: Exporting for Global Success. This Pillar focuses on driving the global recognition of the UK music industry by considering things such as coordinating a creative industries export office and resolving challenges around touring.

As a result of technological and cultural change, amplified by Brexit and the pandemic, together with the desire to enhance and strengthen the resilience of the music industry amidst booming global competition, this fellowship seizes the opportunity to inform UK policy. Utilising the lead-researcher’s unique position as a trusted advisor to policymakers and the industry, this fellowship brings together academia, UK Government, and music to analyse pivotal aspects for promoting the sustainable success of the music industry. The core focus areas, structured into four pillars, encompass recognising the multifaceted value of music, fostering a sustainable and inclusive industry, regulating and future-proofing the sector, and promoting global success through enhanced export strategies. The lead-researcher consolidates strategies and insights, engaging policymakers, and industry to advance UK music policy. Building on the researchers’ reputation for communicating to non-specialist audiences it embraces public engagement through a broad dissemination strategy.

This fellowship provides a novel multi-pronged knowledge exchange that will directly benefit policymakers, the music community and legal academia. Moreover, contributing to the sustainable and successful future of the UK music industry benefits society as a whole. Music listeners and users of music platforms will be directly impacted by music industry regulation, and as Pillar one emphasised, the benefit of music to society in general is being more widely supported by evidence. Outputs therefore range from policy briefs aimed at policymakers, to resources for the music community as well as engaging with the general public through a Conversation article and podcast.

Outputs

• Research Report - identifying and analysing music industry policy developments and perspectives to enhancing understanding, leading to policy and practice recommendations.
• Policy brief for policymakers, outlining key challenges, research findings and recommendations.

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Dr Hayleigh Bosher - Hayleigh is a Reader in Intellectual Property Law and Associate Dean (Professional Development and Graduate Outcomes) at Brunel University London, as well as, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy and Management, a legal consultant in the creative industries, an advisor for the independent UK charity for professional musicians, Help Musicians. Hayleigh was awarded the British Academy Researcher-led Innovation Fellowships 2023-24 for her project 'The Future of the UK Music Industry: Exploring Policy and Practice,' in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). Hayleigh is well-recognised in the field of intellectual property law, in particular copyright law and the creative industries, and has attained an international reputation in the field of music copyright in particular. Her work in this area has been cited extensively in academic, practitioner and policy outputs and she is regularly interviewed by numerous national and international media outlets, including the BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 5 News and The Guardian, The Times and The Wall Street Journal. Hayleigh researches in the area of copyright and related laws in the creative industries, particularly in context of music, social media, and artificial intelligence and related technologies. Her research always involves public, policy and industry engagement, with an emphasis on helping creators understand their rights whilst at the same time ensuring that those rights are fairly balanced and adequately supported by law. As such, she is widely published in academic peer-reviewed journals, in the press, and has responded to a number of policy inquiries at international and national level. Her recent book; Copyright in the Music Industry, is accompanied with a playlist and podcast which she produces and co-hosts with Jules O'Riordan (AKA Judge Jules). She appeared before the DCMS Select Committee in relation to their Inquiry on the Economics of Music Streaming, the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee for their Inquiry on the Governance of Artificial Intelligence and the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee on Large Language Models. Hayleigh is a member of the UK Intellectual Property Office Research Experts Advisory Group, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence: Social and Digital Innovation, and the Research Centre for Law, Economics and Finance at Brunel. Hayleigh joined Brunel in 2018, having previously held positions at Coventry University, The University of the Arts London and the Academy of Digital Entertainment, Breda University (Netherlands). 

Related Research Group(s)

Law, Economics and Finance - The Centre for Law, Economics and Finance aims to advance the wider societal impact of our research by engaging with policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholder.

AI Social and Digital Innovation - Social, economic and strategic effects of AI and associated technologies. Impact of AI and related technologies on societies, organisations and individuals.

Project last modified 21/02/2024