International
Brace yourself, ultra-patriotic protectionists: English-language music from countries such as the U.S. is losing market share around the world — and even in its home markets.
Despite the U.S. owning the world’s most powerful culture machine, people in other countries want to listen to music performed in their native languages. According to Luminate’s 2024 year-end report, music from the U.S. and other English-speaking countries accounted for a lower share of global premium streams in 2024 than the prior year. The United Kingdom had the biggest drop in market share, falling 0.47 percentage points to 8.59%, while the U.S. dropped 0.44 points to 44.29% and Canada fell 0.39% to 3.34%.
In the Philippines, where English is spoken by roughly half of adults, music from the U.K. and U.S. were the biggest losers of market share while local Filipino music gained an astounding 3.32 points. In Japan, where local music has always outperformed English-language music, local music gained 1.35 points while the U.K., U.S. and Canada all lost market share. In Brazil, home to a thriving local music scene, homegrown music gained 0.78 points while the U.K. and Canada both lost market share.
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The shift away from English-language music isn’t happening only in countries where English is not the primary language. In the U.S., homegrown music lost 0.2 percentage points of market share. The same dynamic is seen in the U.K., where homegrown music lost 2.7 percentage points. In English-speaking Australia, music from Australia, the U.S. and Canada all lost market share.
So where did English-language music’s market share go? Mexico was the country of origin with the biggest market share increase in 2024, rising 0.88 percentage points to 4.69% of global premium streams. Brazil owned the second-largest increase, rising 0.33 points to 4.47%. India, which has a distinct local music market and a large diaspora, was third, increasing 0.21 points to 1.42%.
Often, a historical connection between countries could help explain the increasing popularity of one country’s music. In the U.S., music from neighboring Mexico, a major cultural influence for regions far beyond the border states, was the top gainer with an increased market share of 0.56 percentage points. In the U.K. and Australia, both members of the Commonwealth, music from another Commonwealth nation, India, gained 0.13 points and 0.16 points, respectively. Importantly, people of Indian ethnicity account for 2.9% of the U.K.’s population and 3.1 % of Australia’s population.
Local music is also thriving in France, a country not singled out in Luminate’s report. Azzedine Fall, Deezer’s direct of music & culture, says more musical genres performed in French are hitting the charts in the country. “[French-language] rap music is still dominating everywhere in the charts, but we have room for artists doing this kind of Ed Sheeran kind of stuff,” he says. “There is Pierre Garnier, for instance. He’s like the French version [of Ed Sheeran], and it’s kind of a new trend, like the return of pop rock music.” French-language rap has been popular for decades, adds Fall, but pop rock music performed in French is a newer phenomenon: “You would never hear someone doing rock in French 30 years ago.”
The rise of local music in the streaming era is a relatively new phenomenon that was described in a 2023 paper by Will Page and Chris Dalla Riva titled ‘Glocalisation’ of Music Streaming Within and Across Europe. Glocalization—a portmanteau of “global” and “localization”—explains how local music became more successful in a globalized, digital economy. In streaming’s early days, English-language music often dominated charts at the expense of local artists. In 2012, local artists accounted for less than a fifth of the top 10 songs in Poland, France, the Netherlands and Germany, according to the paper. But a decade later, local artists owned 70% of the top 10 in Poland, Italy and Sweden and 60% in France (but just 30% in the Netherlands and 20% in Germany).
The trend toward successful local music is likely to continue, says Romain Vivien, global head of music & president, Europe at Believe. The tools available to music producers “allow for more creation, faster and wider distribution to reach audiences more directly and accurately, and for a wider and more diverse artist community,” he says. It’s a perfect recipe for local labels and producers who create music in many different genres, says Vivien, “while bigger and more global structures sign fewer artists, across fewer genres and invest a lot to try to make them global stars.”
That’s not to say music from the U.S. has fallen out of favor. Artists from the U.S. still had the largest global market share of premium streams in 2024 at 44.29%, and the U.S. ranked No. 1 on Luminate’s Export Power Score, a measure of a country’s ability to export music globally. In fact, the U.K. and Canada rank No. 2 and No. 3 on Export Power Score, topping No. 4 South Korea and No. 5 Germany. The U.S. also gained market share in some places, too, albeit in primarily English-speaking countries: U.S. music rose 2.4 percentage points in the U.K. and 1.7 percentage points in Australia. English-speaking Ireland also gained share in the U.S., U.K. and Australia, likely because of Hozier’s global hit “Too Sweet” (which was the No. 8 song globally in 2024 with 1.71 billion on-demand audio streams, according to Luminate).
As in years past, English-language music also dominated the Luminate report’s lists of top albums and songs. The lone non-English language song to appear in a top 10 list was “Gata Only” by Chilean artist FloyyMenor. The track was a worldwide hit and had great success in the U.S., too, reaching No. 27 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and topping Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart for 14 weeks in 2024 en route to ranking No. 1 on the year-end Hot Latin Songs list.
Still, the slight decline in English-language music marks a sharp contrast with present-day “America first” jingoism. Changes in music technology mean U.S. music won’t crowd out local music in other countries, and a catchy song can become popular anywhere in the world. Politicians can build a border wall, but they can’t stop music from coming in.
Some of the biggest streaming services in music are banding together to fight against a major piece of Canadian arts legislation – in court and in the court of public opinion.
Spotify, Apple, Amazon and others are taking action against the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s 2024 decision that major foreign-owned streamers with Canadian revenues over $25 million will have to pay 5% of those revenues into Canadian content funds – what the streamers have termed a “Streaming Tax.”
Those funds will go towards established organizations like the non-profits FACTOR Canada and Musicaction, which financially support thousands of musicians and music companies across the country, and which have seen their own resources dramatically drop due to reduced contributions from private broadcasters. It will also go to funds supporting radio and local news.
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The CRTC decision was one of the biggest Canadian music stories of last year, and legal challenges from those services, as well as the Motion Picture Association – Canada (which includes Netflix, Disney, Prime Video and the major U.S. producers and distributors of movies and TV), have pushed it into 2025. The courts have paused the payments until the appeal is heard by the Federal Court of Appeal in June of this year.
That pause has already put at least one fund under immediate duress. The Indigenous Music Office had been directed by the CRTC to launch an Indigenous Music Fund with resources from the streamers’ base contributions, but the delay impedes the IMO’s ability to start the new fund.
The conflict over the regulation is turning into a major struggle, one that illustrates the massive changes and challenges that Canadian music is facing in an increasingly digital landscape. It’s a modern wrinkle to a debate that has spanned decades in Canadian music and media.
“At the base of it, the streamers are questioning the validity of CanCon policies,” says Leela Gilday, musician and board chair of the Indigenous Music Office.
The battle isn’t only happening in court, but in online petitions, political speeches and in Instagram posts from one of Canada’s most successful musicians.
“The Canadian government’s new music streaming tax is going to cost you more to listen to the music you love,” says Bryan Adams in a video shared on Instagram.
The “Summer of ‘69” singer, also a noted critic of Canadian Content regulations, has joined a lobby group called DIMA (the Digital Media Association) in publicly arguing against the regulation. DIMA, which represents Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube, launched a campaign last fall titled “Scrap the Streaming Tax.” The campaign warns consumers that the mandated payments “could lead to higher prices for Canadians and fewer content choices” as a result of increased subscription fees.
But many within the industry have welcomed the regulation, including the membership at CIMA, the Canadian Independent Music Association.
“The question for tech companies who are making money in Canada is: is it appropriate for them to contribute to the Canadian music ecosystem?” asks Andrew Cash, president of CIMA.
Head here for much more on this story.
—Rosie Long Decter
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Canadian Music Industry Leaders Lay Out the Issues That Will Define 2025
As the music industry ramps up in the post-holiday break, the agenda is being set. A number of issues have revealed themselves as the big conversations of 2025: AI, arts funding, government policies amidst uncertainty in Ottawa, support of independent promoters and venues, mental health, the divestment of DEI budgets, and many more.
Billboard Canada gathered 10 music industry authorities from music grant FACTOR, the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), Music Publishers Canada and many more to talk about the biggest challenges and opportunities facing Canadian music this year.
Here are just a few highlights:
“For the Canadian-owned sector, the ability to compete in a functioning market is paramount,” says Andrew Cash, president and CEO of CIMA. “However, market concentration among the large foreign-owned multi-nationals labels and tech platforms is now at over-reach. That is why CIMA lodged an official complaint with Canada’s competition bureau after TikTok walked away from its negotiations with Merlin. And it is why independent trade associations in Europe and Australia are raising serious concerns after Universal’s recent purchase of Downtown Music.”
“One of the biggest challenges facing the industry this year will be the divestment of DEI budgets, which have been a big part of the reason we have seen such great diverse talent enter the industry over the last five years,” says Keziah Myers, executive director of ADVANCE – Canada’s Black Music Business Collective. “Managing the shift away from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and reminding the industry that Equity-focused processes should be where their efforts are will be a challenge.”
“The fundamental principles of copyright continue to be challenged by artificial intelligence and the platforms that exploit it,” says Jennifer Brown, CEO of SOCAN. “Canadian music creators stand to lose more than 20% of their annual revenue to generative AI platforms by 2028 if safeguards aren’t put in place to protect their copyrights.”
Read the whole roundtable conversation here.
—Kerry Doole and Richard Trapunski
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Big Wreck Named Record Store Day Canada Ambassadors for 2025
Big Wreck have been named 2025 Record Store Day Canada ambassadors. The Canadian rock band will also be releasing their 2012 album Albatross on vinyl for the first time in deluxe 2xLP limited-edition featuring live and unreleased music as a Record Store Day exclusive. The album was certified Gold and was their biggest hit since In Loving Memory Of… in 1997 and its big shiny rock radio staple “That Song.” The title track of Albatross has also gone Platinum.
“It’s a great honour for Big Wreck to be Record Store Day Ambassadors,” says Big Wreck leader Ian Thornley. “We grew up going to record stores and building our vinyl collections and it means a lot to us to continue the tradition. It’s especially exciting to be putting Albatross out into the world for the first time on vinyl. That record holds a special place.”
Big Wreck succeeds another popular Canadian rock band of the era, The Tragically Hip, who were last year’s ambassadors. This week, Post Malone was named 2025 Record Store Day Ambassador for the U.S.
Head here for a list of participating Record Store Day Canada stores.
—Richard Trapunski
Last Week: A Closer Look at Canada’s Export Power
A teenager who stabbed three young girls to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England was sentenced Thursday to more than 50 years in prison for what a judge called “the most extreme, shocking and exceptionally serious crime.”
Judge Julian Goose said 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana “wanted to try and carry out mass murder of innocent, happy young girls.”
Goose said that he couldn’t impose a sentence of life without parole, because Rudakubana was under 18 when he committed the crime.
But the judge said he must serve 52 years, minus the six months he’s been in custody, before being considered for parole, and “it is likely he will never be released.”
Rudakubana was 17 when he attacked the children in the seaside town of Southport in July, killing Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6. He wounded eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, along with teacher Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, a local businessman who intervened.
The attack shocked the country and set off both street violence and soul-searching. The government has announced a public inquiry into how the system failed to stop the killer, who had been referred to the authorities multiple times over his obsession with violence.
Defendant disrupts the hearing
Rudakubana faced three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder and additional charges of possessing a knife, the poison ricin and an al-Qaida manual. He unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty on all charges on Monday.
But he wasn’t in court to hear sentence passed on Thursday.
Hours earlier he had been led into the dock at Liverpool Crown Court in northwest England, dressed in a gray prison tracksuit. But as prosecutors began outlining the evidence, Rudakubana interrupted by shouting that he felt ill and wanted to see a paramedic.
Goose ordered the accused to be removed when he continued shouting. A person in the courtroom shouted “Coward!” as Rudakubana was taken out.
The hearing continued without him.
Horror on a summer day
Prosecutor Deanna Heer described how the attack occurred on the first day of summer vacation when 26 little girls were “gathered around the tables making bracelets and singing along to Taylor Swift songs.”
Rudakubana, armed with a large knife, intruded and began stabbing the girls and their teacher.
The court was shown video of the suspect arriving at the Hart Space venue in a taxi and entering the building. Within seconds, screams erupted and children ran outside in panic, some of them wounded. One girl made it to the doorway, but was pulled back inside by the attacker. She was stabbed 32 times but survived.
Gasps and sobs could be heard in court as the videos played.
Heer said two of the dead children “suffered particularly horrific injuries which are difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature.” One of the dead girls had 122 injuries, while another suffered 85 wounds.
A teenager obsessed with violence
The prosecutor said Rudakubana had “a longstanding obsession with violence, killing, genocide.”
“His only purpose was to kill. And he targeted the youngest and most vulnerable in society,” she said, as relatives of the victims watched on in the courtroom.
Heer said that when he was taken to a police station, Rudakubana was heard to say: “It’s a good thing those children are dead, I’m so glad, I’m so happy.”
The killings triggered days of anti-immigrant violence across the country after far-right activists seized on incorrect reports that the attacker was an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in the U.K. Some suggested the crime was a jihadi attack, and alleged that police and the government were withholding information.
Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Christian parents from Rwanda, and investigators haven’t been able to pin down his motivation. Police found documents about subjects including Nazi Germany, the Rwandan genocide and car bombs on his devices.
In the years before the attack, he had been reported to multiple authorities over his violent interests and actions. All of the agencies failed to spot the danger he posed.
In 2019, he phoned a children’s advice line to ask “What should I do if I want to kill somebody?” He said he had taken a knife to school because he wanted to kill someone who was bullying him. Two months later, he attacked a fellow student with a hockey stick and was convicted of assault.
The definition of terrorism
Prosecutors said Rudakubana was referred three times to the government’s anti-extremism program, Prevent, when he was 13 and 14 — once after researching school shootings in class, then for uploading pictures of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to Instagram and for researching a London terror attack.
But they concluded his crimes should not be classed as terrorism because Rudakubana had no discernable political or religious cause. Heer said “his purpose was the commission of mass murder, not for a particular end, but as an end in itself.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said this week the country must face up to a “new threat” from violent individuals whose mix of motivations test the traditional definition of terrorism.
“After one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history, we owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve,” Starmer said after the sentencing.
Wrenching testimony from victims
Several relatives and survivors read emotional statements in court, describing how the attack had shattered their lives.
Lucas, 36, who ran the dance class, said that “the trauma of being both a victim and a witness has been horrendous.”
“I cannot give myself compassion or accept praise, as how can I live knowing I survived when children died?” she said.
A 14-year-old survivor, who can’t be named because of a court order, said that while she was physically recovering. “we will all have to live with the mental pain from that day forever.”
“I hope you spend the rest of your life knowing that we think you’re a coward,” she said.
The prosecutor read out a statement from the parents of Alice Da Silva Aguiar, who said their daughter’s killing had “shattered our souls.”
“We used to cook for three. Now we only cook for two. It doesn’t seem right,” they said. “Alice was our purpose for living, so what do we do now?”
This story was originally published by The Associated Press.
01/23/2025
Of the 4,717 tracks identified at the 2024 season, 50 were played more than all the rest.
01/23/2025
The clubs are currently dark in Ibiza, but months before the 2025 season gets underway, we’ve got tabs on the 50 most played artists at island institution Ushuaïa in 2024. These 50 artists rank highest on a list of 3,001 unique acts whose music was identified at the club in 2024. The top five slots […]
01/21/2025
The list reflects data collected at the Ibiza club, where a total of 8,251 unique tracks were identified by KUVO Powered by DJ Monitor during the 2024 season.
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During the 2024 season, tracks by 4,680 unique artists were played at the Ibiza clubbing institution Hï. Of that dizzying number, 50 artists were played more than all the others, and now we know who. Leading the list of the top 50 artists whose music was played most during last year’s Hï season is David […]
GRONINGEN — The Eurosonic Noorderslag Festival (ESNS) has long marked the official start of Europe’s music calendar. The festival, which just wrapped its 39th edition, looks to set the agenda for the upcoming year, with a particular focus on the live space.
From Jan. 15-18 in Groningen, Netherlands, a diverse lineup of emerging artists were presented to festival bookers, promoters, potential managers, media and other industry professionals. The goal: celebrate and champion artists and scenes throughout Europe and strengthen ties between markets.
At the heart of ESNS sits the The European Talent Exchange Program which promotes and assists festival bookings for the upcoming summer. By connecting 333 artists from 33 countries with 131 festival bookers and a number of stations within the European Broadcast Union (including the U.K.’s BBC Radio), the initiative aims to showcase artists from diverse regions and genres. The program has helped previous breakout artists, including Fontaines D.C., Idles, and English Teacher, secure bookings across Europe’s renowned festival circuit.
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“In today’s fast-evolving music industry, it’s increasingly difficult to uncover the hidden gems and truly exceptional acts,” said Tamás Kádár, CEO of Sziget Cultural Management, which runs Budapest’s Sziget Festival.
“With over 5,000 applicants every year, ESNS does an incredible job of curating a selection that not only supports artists in gaining recognition but also provides a vital resource for bookers like us,” he added. “Even if we can’t catch every performance live, the curated list allows us to discover new talent for Sziget. It’s a testament to the shared commitment to fostering quality music and supporting emerging talent.”
A number of acts made compelling cases during their appearances; unlike other showcase festivals, acts at ESNS only perform once at the event. Ireland’s Cardinals, signed to influential indie So Young records, brought intensity and bite to the city’s beloved Vera venue. The walls of the space are adorned with some of the names that went on to become international icons: Joy Division, The White Stripes, U2 and more all played early shows in the space.
Iceland’s Sunna Margrét expertly toed the line between folktronica and upbeat indie pop in her material, while Manchester-based Anthony Szmierek, who is due to release his debut album Service Station At The End Of The Universe in February, brought wit and humour to his rave-inspired bangers. Cork group Cliffords also drew a packed room on their debut show in mainland Europe, further solidifying the indie band place as ones to watch in 2025.
ESNS provides a boost for events like Focus Wales, a yearly showcase festival which takes place in Wrexham, north Wales. Andy Jones, co-founder and booker, says that their presence “ensures that Focus Wales and, more broadly, Wales as a music market, is part of the wider conversation with the European music community.”
He adds that the challenges facing the U.K.’s grassroots venues are impacting the ability for artists to level-up into festival headliners. “When I compare the current state of play to how things were even five or six years ago, it’s clear there’s a big problem that needs to be addressed,” said Jones. “I believe the good work Music Venue Trust is doing is vital, but it is time for Governments to do more, to ensure these vital cultural spaces are protected.”
Brexit brought immense challenges for many artists from the U.K. and significantly reduced the margins for profits. Jones is calling for “some real progress on simplifying the movement of artists in and out of the U.K., which will only reap benefits for all involved. This is also frankly, long overdue.”
Kádár concurs: “Artists face difficulties in standing out and reaching their audiences in a crowded market. Viral moments on platforms like TikTok can create sudden fame, but sustained recognition requires more. Added to this are rising costs – travel, accommodation, and the scarcity of funding – making it harder than ever for bands to tour successfully.”
The panel discussions and workshops held at Oosterport, the city’s cultural events center, covered a wide range of topics. In his keynote address, Alex Hardee, partner/agent of Wasserman Music in London, discussed the changing landscape for live agents and how they can react and respond. “We have to work harder for our commission and provide a bigger service,” he said, highlighting the company’s approach to securing new artists, as well as discussing the value of support slots and the “talent drain” that festivals are facing when booking headliners.
Throughout the program, the festival hosted additional discussions on the role of private equity investment into the live music space, the use of artificial intelligence in the creative and administrative process of making music, and how independent labels and boutique festivals can thrive in uncertain circumstances.
There were moments of celebration, too. The European Festival Awards celebrated honorees including Open’er Festival in Poland which scooped the best major festival prize and We Love Green for its commitment to making their event eco-friendly. In addition The Music Moves Europe Awards, a key component of the European Union’s efforts to support musicians, saw a number of acts secure grants of €10,000 ($10,321) including Yamê from France and Uche Yara from Austria.
ESNS may have highlighted the scale of the challenges ahead, but it’s one that Jones and his contemporaries are ready to meet head on. “I think it’s an exciting time, musically, with so much great new talent coming through. At the same time, it is encouraging that there seems to be a shared view, across Europe and including the major players in the industry, that there is a real responsibility now; for us all to create a more equitable industry going forward.”
BERLIN — In June, the three major labels sued the generative AI music companies Udio and Suno for training their software on copyrighted music without a license. Now, GEMA, the German PRO, is also taking legal action against Suno, in a case filed today (Jan. 21) in the Munich Regional Court.
In an announcement, GEMA said that it documented that the Suno system outputs content that “largely corresponds to world-famous works whose authors GEMA represents,” including “Forever Young” by Alphaville, “Mambo No. 5” by Lou Bega and “Daddy Cool” by Milli Vanilli creator Frank Farian, among others.
“AI providers such as Suno Inc. use our members’ works without their consent and profit financially from them,” said GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmüller in the announcement. “GEMA is endeavoring to find solutions in partnership with the AI companies. But this will not work without adhering to the necessary basic rules of fair cooperation and, above all, it will not work without the acquisition of licenses.”
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This case is very different from the litigation Suno faces in the U.S., which is spearheaded by the RIAA and involves recorded music owned by the major labels. Assuming that Suno has indeed trained its software on copyrighted recordings, as seems likely, that case will involve a determination of whether this would qualify as “fair use” – the legal doctrine that allows the unlicensed use of copyrighted works in some situations, including quotation and criticism. That can be notoriously complicated and it involves both specific facts and case law. It can also involve a great deal of money, since statutory damages for willful copyright infringement can reach $150,000 per work.
GEMA’s case involves the copyrights to songs, which it represents as a PRO, rather than those of recordings. The relevant legislation would be the European Union’s AI and Copyright directives, which allow copyright owners to “opt out” of having their works scanned in order to train AI software, and require “fair remuneration” if they are used. This is one of the first big cases involving this issue in Europe, as well as the first against a big generative music company. Any damages would almost certainly be more modest than they would in the U.S., but the case could establish whether AI companies need to license copyrighted works for software training purposes. Whatever the result, it is easy to imagine it being appealed to higher courts in Germany.
In November, GEMA also sued OpenAI for using lyrics of songs to which GEMA has rights in order to train its AI software. That case, also filed with the Munich Regional Court, only involves lyrics.
In its announcement, GEMA said Suno “outputs content that obviously infringes copyrights.” However, the issue in this case is not this output, but rather the music Suno has scanned during the process of training its software. If Suno has indeed scanned music for training purposes, it would presumably be infringing the rights in the songs as well as the recordings. Although a U.S. court could determine that this is fair use, that doctrine is a feature of Anglo-American law – the UK and British Commonwealth countries have “fair dealing,” which is similar but more limited – European laws are more strict. The EU Copyright Directive lays out “exceptions and limitations” to copyright, but it also provides authors and rightsholders the ability to opt-out of having their work scanned – or, as is more likely, to opt out until a license agreement is reached.
“The lawsuit against Suno Inc. is part of an overall concept of measures taken by GEMA,” said GEMA general counsel Kai Welp in the announcement of the case, “at the end of which there will be fair treatment of authors and their remuneration.”
A British teen pleaded guilty Monday (Jan. 20) to murdering three girls and attempting to kill 10 other people in what a prosecutor said was a “meticulously planned” stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in England last summer.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, entered the surprise plea as jury selection had been expected to begin at the start of his trial in Liverpool Crown Court.
The July 29 stabbings sent shock waves across the U.K. and led to a week of widespread rioting across parts of England and Northern Ireland after the suspect was falsely identified as an asylum-seeker who had recently arrived in Britain by boat. He was born in Wales.
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The attack occurred on the first day of summer vacation when the little girls at the Hart Space, a sanctuary hidden behind a row of houses, were in a class to learn yoga and dance to the songs of Taylor Swift. What was supposed to be a day of joy turned to terror and heartbreak when Rudakubana, armed with a knife, intruded and began stabbing the girls and their teacher in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England.
“This was an unspeakable attack — one which left an enduring mark on our community and the nation for its savagery and senselessness,” Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor Ursula Doyle said. “A day which should have been one of carefree innocence; of children enjoying a dance workshop and making friendship bracelets, became a scene of the darkest horror as Axel Rudakubana carried out his meticulously planned rampage.”
Prosecutors haven’t said what they believe led Rudakubana — who was days shy of his 18th birthday — to commit the atrocities, but Doyle said that it was clear he had a “a sickening and sustained interest in death and violence.”
Rudakubana had consistently refused to speak in court and did so once again when asked to identify himself at the start of the proceedings. But he broke his silence when he was read the 16-count indictment and asked to enter a plea, replying “guilty” to each charge.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, 10 counts of attempted murder and additional charges related to possessing the poison ricin and for having an al-Qaida manual.
Rudakubana faces life imprisonment when sentenced Thursday, Justice Julian Goose said.
Defense lawyer Stanley Reiz said that he would present information to the judge about Rudakubana’s mental health that may be relevant to his sentence.
The surviving victims and family members of those killed were absent in court, because they had expected to arrive Tuesday for opening statements.
Goose asked the prosecutor to apologize on his behalf that they weren’t present to hear Rudakubana plead guilty.
He pleaded guilty to murdering Alice Da Silva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6.
Eight other girls, ranging in age from 7 to 13, were wounded, along with instructor Leanne Lucas and John Hayes, who worked in a business next door and intervened. Fifteen other girls, as young as 5, were at the class but uninjured. Under a court order, none of the surviving girls can be named.
Hayes, who was stabbed and seriously wounded, said he still had flashbacks to the attack and was “hugely upset at the time that I wasn’t able to do more.”
“But I did what I could in the circumstances,” he told Sky News. “I’m grateful to be here, and by all accounts I’ll make a full recovery, at least physically. … I’m going to be OK and others won’t be, and that’s really where I I think the focus of attention should be.”
Police said the stabbings weren’t classified as acts of terrorism because the motive wasn’t known.
Several months after his arrest at the scene of the crime, Rudakubana was charged with additional counts for production of a biological toxin, ricin and possession of information likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism for having the manual in a document on his computer.
Police said they found the evidence during a search of his family’s home in a neighboring village.
The day after the killings — and shortly after a peaceful vigil for the victims — a violent group attacked a mosque near the crime scene and pelted police officers with bricks and bottles and set fire to police vehicles.
Rioting then spread to dozens of other towns over the next week when groups made up mostly of men mobilized by far-right activists on social media clashed with police during violent protests and attacked hotels housing migrants.
More than 1,200 people were arrested for the disorder and hundreds have been jailed for up to nine years in prison.