UK Music Consumption on the Increase

4 January, 2018

It’s official. Music consumption is on the increase in the UK. Figures released this week by record labels’ association the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), revealed a strong year for British recorded music, with UK consumption up across all formats in 2017.

The statistics prove the UK music industry is growing at its fastest rate this millennium, with over 135 million albums being streamed, purchased on physical format, and/or downloaded in the past year. This represents a 9.5% rise on 2016’s figures and marks a third year of consecutive growth for the national music industry economy. 4,000,000+ vinyl records were purchased in the last 12 months – a rise of 26.8% which equates to 1 in 10 physical purchases – and 8 of the top best selling artist LP’s in the UK came from British artists.

Key UK artists at the top of their game include the likes of Dua Lipa, Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, Stormzy, J Hus, Sampha and Loyle Carner. At the top of the list though is Ed Sheeran, whose latest LP “Divide” was 2017’s most streamed, downloaded and physically purchased album.

The news couldn’t be better for BIMM students and graduates looking to forge a career in the industry, and serves to back-up the findings of 2017’s UK Music survey which shows that the number of industry jobs is also up by an impressive 19% compared to the previous two years. With 82% of BIMM alumni in employment 6 months after graduating and of those 72% working in roles within the music and creative industries, the future looks very promising indeed.

 

Read the full news story on the BPI’s official website.

 

Photo by Anthony Martino

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