United Kingdom
LONDON — The United Kingdom’s music industry is at a “tipping point” due to increasing competition from other international markets and the threat posed by unregulated generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), the head of umbrella organization UK Music has warned.
In 2023, the music industry contributed £7.6 billion ($9.6 billion) to the country’s economy, up 13% from the previous year, according to the organization’s annual This Is Music study, which measures the economic impact of the U.K. music industry across all income streams including live, record sales, publishing, merch, brand endorsements and public performance revenue for UK based music creators and rights holders.
Huge grossing U.K. tours by Beyonce, Burna Boy and Harry Styles helped drive the record economic contribution, said UK Music, which bases its calculations upon the gross value estimates of money generated through music sales, concerts, recording studios, touring and music tourism — roughly equivalent to pre-tax profits and salaries.
Trending on Billboard
However, despite strong appetite for British artists and songs, the country’s music market is facing several significant challenges that threaten its continued prosperity, says UK Music. It identifies increasing competition from other international markets, tough financial conditions for grassroots artists and music venues, as well as the potential risks posed by generative AI on music creation as the biggest dangers to the sector.
According to export figures released earlier this year by U.K. labels trade body BPI, artists from the United Kingdom now cumulatively account for less than 10% of global music streams, compared to 17% in 2015. BPI says the U.K.’s declining share of the global music market is partially down to it facing tougher competition from fast-growing international markets such as Latin America and countries like South Korea.
The U.K.’s grassroots live sector is also battling a number of well-documented financial hardships with around 125 small capacity music venues closing in 2023 and more 350 currently at risk of closure, according to the Music Venue Trust (MVT) charity. Additionally, this year has seen 60 U.K. music festivals either postpone, cancel or close due to rising costs, slow ticket sales and poor weather, says the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF).
“We are now at a tipping point, and if the problems we face are not addressed then future growth cannot be guaranteed,” said UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl in a statement on Wednesday (Nov. 20).
Kiehl said that without tougher regulation “the wild west” of generative AI could further undermine the U.K.’s long-held status as the world’s second biggest exporter of music behind the United States. Kiehl is calling for the British government to press ahead with implementing laws that protect artists and rights holders from AI developers using copyright protected works to train their systems without permission.
UK Music also wants to see ministers establish a legislative framework that will require tech companies to clearly identify AI created music and keep records of works that have they have ingested, akin to what the European Union introduce earlier this year in its AI Act.
Other areas where UK Music said urgent action was needed to maintain the market’s growth in the face of heightened international competition was in music education and the live industry. The organization is urging the Labour government to press ahead with its previously proposed cap on secondary ticket resale prices, as well as secure a cultural touring agreement with the EU that will allow visa-free touring for musicians and crew.
In a statement, U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called the country’s music industry “a real British success story” that is “vitally important” to driving overall economic growth. Nandy said she was committed to ensuring that the government works with the music industry to build upon its current success for years to come.
“By supporting vital grassroots venues, introducing new secondary ticketing protections for fans and ensuring all children can access high quality music education in schools, we can help the sector go from strength to strength in the future,” said Nandy.
According to figures released earlier this year by U.K. labels trade body BPI, global superstars like Styles, Adele and Ed Sheeran helped British music exports climb to a record high of £775 million ($974 million) in 2023 based upon estimated label trade revenue — the highest annual total since BPI began analyzing labels’ overseas income in 2000.
UK’s Music’s This Is Music study uses a different methodology to report on export revenues, which it says climbed to a record high of £4.6 billion ($5.8 billion) in 2023, up 15% year-on-year. That export figure is based upon gross income generated overseas by British music companies and creators, including recorded music, publishing, brand endorsements, merchandise sales, international touring by homegrown artists and foreign visitors attending U.K. gigs and festivals (so-called music tourism).
The total number of people employed in the U.K. music industry grew 3% year-on-year to a record 216,000 full-time equivalent posts, reports UK Music.
LONDON — The British government is calling on the live music industry to introduce a voluntary levy on stadium and arena tickets sold in the United Kingdom “as soon as possible” to “safeguard the future of the grassroots music sector.”
“We believe this would be the quickest and most effective mechanism for a small portion of revenues from the biggest shows to be invested in a sustainable grassroots sector,” said the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in a report published Thursday (Nov. 14).
Earlier this year, a cross-party committee of MPs said a new levy on arena and stadium tickets was urgently needed to stem the tide of small grassroots music venue closures in the United Kingdom.
Trending on Billboard
According to the Music Venue Trust (MVT), the number of grassroots music venues (defined as limited capacity venues regularly staging live music) in the U.K. declined from 960 to 835 in 2023, a fall of 13%, representing a loss of as many as 30,000 shows and 4,000 jobs.
Responding to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s report on the grassroots live music sector, published in May, the government said Thursday that it was “deeply concerned” with the rate of venue closures and that “a small industry-led levy within the price of a ticket” would benefit the U.K.’s live music system “as a whole.”
The government said it wanted the voluntary levy to come into effect “as soon as possible” so that it could be applied to arena and stadium music shows taking place in 2025. How the funds raised will be used to support small and low-capacity music venues should be clearly explained to ticket buyers, said the government.
“We urge the live music industry, and in particular the biggest commercial players who will have the biggest impact on the success of an industry-led levy, to act and to do so swiftly,” said DCMS.
Exactly what form such a levy on arena and stadium shows will take is still to be determined. While there is broad support throughout the U.K. live music industry for a voluntary levy, some promoters would prefer that it is applied on a case-by-case basis and stakeholders are divided on whether the levy should be included within the ticket’s price or as an additional fee on top of the face value of the ticket.
The size of venue the levy would be applied to and its cost/rate is also yet to be decided, although the Music Venue Trust has previously called for a £1 levy ($1.26) to be applied to arena and stadium shows above 5,500 capacity, excluding festivals. Discussions are currently taking place between live executives around what charitable body should collect, manage and distribute proceeds from the fund.
In a statement, Jon Collins, chief executive of live music industry umbrella organization LIVE, said driving forward “an industry-led solution to the challenges currently being experienced by venues, artists, festivals and promoters remains our number one priority.”
The idea of a voluntary arena tickets levy to support the grassroots music sector is one that has already received support from several high-profile U.K. artists and organizations.
In September, Coldplay announced that it would be donating 10% of the band’s proceeds from their 2025 dates at London’s Wembley Stadium and Hull’s Craven Park stadium to the Music Venue Trust.
Other acts backing the initiative include rock band Enter Shikari, who donated £1 from every ticket sold on its February U.K. arena tour to the trust, and Sam Fender, who has pledged to do the same on his forthcoming U.K. dates. This year, Halifax-based venue The Piece Hall became the first U.K. venue to give ticket-buyers the option to donate to the charity.
A similar scheme to support grass roots music creation exists in France, where a statutory 3.5% levy on the gross value of all concert tickets sales goes into a central fund administered by the Centre National de la Musique (CNM), France’s public agency for the music industry.
“This is the beginning of a way forward,” Kwame Kwaten, director of artist management company Ferocious Talent, whose roster includes Blue Lab Beats, Hak Baker and Caitlyn Scarlett, tells Billboard.
“If [the levy] happens, it will at least begin the process of addressing something that has been left out to dry with humongous consequences, especially at the kind of levels that we have to operate at before an artist gets to the arena, stadium level, which is where 80-90% of [touring] artists are,” says Kwaten, who gave evidence to the CMS committee during the inquiry.
“We are standing at a massive crossroads,” he says, “and we have now got a chance to do something about it.”
In a statement, CMS Committee chair, Dame Caroline Dinenage, said she welcomed the government’s recognition that “swift action on a levy is needed from the bigger players who pack out arenas and stadiums,” but warned that “the lack of a firm deadline for movement risks allowing matters to drift.”
“Without healthy roots, the entire live music ecosystem suffers,” said Dinenage, who is calling for government ministers to set a clear deadline for the industry to act. If no significant progress is made within six months, she said the CMS committee will hold another hearing with representatives of the U.K. live music industry.
“Every week I hear from music managers trying to do the impossible and bridge catastrophic shortfalls in their artists touring budgets,” said Annabella Coldrick, chief executive of U.K. trade body the Music Managers Forum (MMF), in a statement. Coldrick says it is “imperative” that the music industry comes together to establish a ticket levy on “all large-scale live music shows” to support smaller scale touring artists. “The current situation is untenable,” she says.
The U.K. government’s support for an arena ticket levy is the latest in a long line of Parliament-led interventions into the music industry that have taken place in recent years, including a nine-month probe into the music streaming business and a subsequent review of the sector by the U.K. competition watchdog.
More recently, authorities have turned their attentions to the live industry. In September, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Ticketmaster over its much-criticized use of dynamic ticketing for Oasis‘ reunion tour, which prompted hundreds of complaints from fans and fierce condemnation from British politicians.
The British government has also said it would be looking into the practice of dynamic pricing for music concerts as part of its consultation into the secondary ticketing market, which is due to begin in the coming weeks.
Global superstars like Adele, Harry Styles and Ed Sheeran helped British music exports climb to a record high of £775 million ($974 million) last year, though increasing competition from other international markets such as Latin America and South Korea is putting the U.K.’s long-held status as a “music superpower” at risk, according to labels trade body BPI.
BPI, which represents over 500 independent labels, as well as the U.K. arms of Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group, says 2023’s export tally is the highest annual total since the organization began analyzing labels’ overseas income in 2000 and more than three times the amount recorded a decade ago.
However, last year’s 7.6% rise in export sales — comprising all physical music sales and streams of U.K. artists overseas — was less than half of the 20% increase reported in 2022, with BPI estimating that artists from the U.K. now account for less than 10% of global music streams, according to figures released Monday (Oct. 21).
Trending on Billboard
In comparison, as recently as 2015, U.K. artists were estimated to collectively account for 17% of music consumption worldwide, reports BPI, which bases its numbers upon label trade revenue.
“It is encouraging to see British recorded music continuing to perform strongly on the world stage, but we can and must do even better in the face of fierce global competition as rival markets grow at pace,” said BPI CEO Jo Twist in a statement.
BPI said the U.K. was no longer just competing against traditional “heavyweights” such as the U.S. and Canada but also with fast-growing music markets in Latin America and countries like South Korea where artists can receive significant government backing.
To maintain the U.K.’s “proud record as a music superpower,” said Twist, the British music businesses must receive government backing to create “a supportive policy environment” that encourages record label investment in talent. Future legislation around the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the U.K. must keep “human artistry at the heart of the creative process,” added the BPI boss.
Adele, Dua Lipa, Sheeran, Styles, The Beatles, Queen and Elton John all ranked among the most streamed U.K. artists globally last year, said the London-based trade organization, citing Luminate data.
Breakthrough acts Glass Animals, PinkPantheress, Raye and rapper Central Cee all received more than 1 billion streams worldwide in 2023, while around 500 U.K. artists accumulated more than 100 million global streams last year, up from almost 450 in 2022, reports BPI.
Worldwide, consumption of British music increased in every region last year, with export revenues rising by 8.2% in North America and 4.8% in Europe — the two biggest regions for U.K. music exports, accounting for almost 80% of the global total combined. There were also double-digit increases in Latin America (up 17%) and Africa (up 11%), although equivalent monetary values were not provided.
In terms of countries, the U.S. remains the biggest market for U.K. music sales, accounting for £321 million ($417 million) in trade revenue, a rise of 8.3% on the previous year. Germany stays in second place with revenue climbing 6.7% to £63 million ($82 million), followed by France (up 2.4% to $57 million). China overtook Sweden to claim tenth position, with British acts’ earnings rising by 11% to £14 million ($18 million) in the country.
The U.K. is the world’s third-biggest recorded music market behind the U.S. and Japan with sales of $1.9 billion in 2023, according to IFPI. It is also the second-largest exporter of recorded music worldwide behind the U.S.
David Gray has been appointed U.K. managing director of Universal Music Publishing Group, succeeding Mike McCormack, who is stepping down from the role after almost nine years in charge to launch a new consultancy and joint venture with UMPG. In addition to taking the reins at the company’s U.K. arm, Gray will also take up the newly created post of head of global A&R at UMPG.
Gray’s promotion was announced Tuesday (Oct. 15) by UMPG chairman and CEO Jody Gerson, who called him “one of the best creative A&R executives I have ever known.”
Gray was most recently UMPG’s executive vice president and co-head of U.S. A&R, as well as head of the company’s Global Creative Group – a division which he and Gerson formed in 2022 to amplify opportunities for songwriters, producers, artists and executives on a worldwide scale.
Trending on Billboard
Successful projects that have spun out of the Global Creative Group include Colombian artist Feid and American hip-hop producer ATL Jacob‘s “Luna,” which topped the charts in multiple countries and Brazilian artist Luísa Sonza‘s album Escandalo Intimo, which became the third biggest debut of a female Latin album in the history of Spotify following its release last year.
Artists Gray has signed to UMPG include Sabrina Carpenter, Stephen Sanchez, Julia Michaels, Shawn Mendes, Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato.
In his new expanded role, Gray will be responsible for leading the management and creative direction of UMPG’s London office, overseeing the signing and development of songwriters, artists and producers, as well as supporting the company’s current roster. Gray will relocate to London from New York in January, said Universal Music Publishing Group.
Announcing the appointment, Gerson praised Gray’s “talent for identifying and building careers for songwriters, artists and producers,” as well as his “leadership and mentorship of the next generation of publishers.”
“I want to thank Jody for her constant belief in me and for shaping a company built upon A&R, creativity, and a belief in songwriters and artists that is at the heart of our ethos,” said Gray, who joined the company in 2013 having previously held A&R posts at Zomba, Sony Music International and Simon Cowell‘s Syco Music, where he developed artists signed to the label via TV shows X Factor and the Got Talent franchise.
Prior to becoming a music executive, Gray was signed to UMPG as lead singer of the band Idle Wilds.
Gerson also thanked McCormack for “his many contributions” to UMPG over his almost nine years as managing director of the U.K. division. “I value him greatly as a friend and colleague,” said Gerson in a statement. “I am delighted he will continue to be part of the UMPG family.”
In a memo sent to staff, which has been viewed by Billboard, McCormack said he would be stepping down from his role on Nov. 4 but would remain a partner of UMPG for the next few years via a new joint venture that is being set up. McCormack, who first joined UMPG’s U.K. business in 1999, said he would also continue to help manage some of the long-term relationships he has built over the years with the firm’s writers and catalogues.
“It’s been a real honour to lead the U.K. company for the past nine years,” said McCormack, paying tribute to what he described as an “exceptionally talented and wonderful” team of colleagues. “I’m very proud of our accomplishments, and the many awards we have won together, but my real fulfillment during the past 25 years at UMPG (as Deputy MD then MD) has come from working closely with artists, songwriters and producers when incredible music is being created,” he said.
LONDON — The British government has pledged to look into the practice of dynamic pricing for music concerts after tickets for Oasis‘ highly anticipated reunion tour more than doubled in price on official ticketing platforms, prompting hundreds of complaints from disgruntled fans.
Tickets for the band’s 17-date U.K. and Ireland 2025 tour went on sale Saturday morning with prices starting at £65.00 ($85.00) for seating and £148.50 for standing tickets.
Fans’ excitement quickly turned to anger, however, after enduring long queues on the tour’s primary ticketing vendor, Ticketmaster, and then discovering that the cost of a standing ticket had soared to £355.00 without warning when they finally got to the front of the queue – due to high demand.
Trending on Billboard
Although tickets to all 17 shows sold out in less than a day, the unexpected price hikes provoked an angry backlash against Oasis and Ticketmaster from fans with hundreds venting their frustration on social media.
In response, the U.K. culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, said it was “depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live.”
The cabinet minister said that dynamic pricing is one of the issues the government would be looking at as part of its previously announced consultation on the secondary ticketing market, which is due to begin in the fall.
Transparency and the technology that ticketing companies use to incentivize dynamic pricing would also be examined as part of the forthcoming review, said Nandy, adding that the newly elected Labour government is “committed to putting fans back at the heart of music.”
“Working with artists, industry and fans we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair prices,” she said in a statement.
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer echoed the culture secretary’s concerns over secondary ticketing and said the government will get a “grip” on the issue of dynamic pricing to “make sure that actually tickets are available at a price that people can actually afford.”
“This is really important, because this isn’t just an Oasis problem,” Starmer told the BBC. “This is a problem for tickets for all sorts of events, where people go online straight away… and within seconds sometimes, sometimes minutes, all the tickets are gone, and the prices start going through the roof, which means many people can’t afford it.”
On Monday (Sept. 2), the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it had received 450 complaints about “misleading claims about availability and pricing” concerning the sale of Oasis’ tickets by Ticketmaster. The regulator said it was “carefully assessing these complaints” and couldn’t comment further. Ticketmaster did not respond to requests to comment when approached by Billboard.
Priced Out
Although dynamic ticket pricing has become an increasingly regular occurrence in the U.S. live music industry in recent years, Oasis’ comeback tour – which is being jointly promoted by Live Nation, SJM Concerts, MCD and DF Concerts – marks its most high-profile and potentially biggest roll out for live music concerts in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
As in other countries, the practice is commonly used by travel companies, taxis and hotels in the U.K., but it is understood to have only been fleetingly used for gigs and tours so far in the British touring market and, when it has, has failed to draw major scrutiny or attention.
The furore around dynamic pricing from U.K. politicians is further unwelcome news for Ticketmaster owner Live Nation, which was hit with an antitrust lawsuit earlier this year, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and a group of 30 states, who accuse the concert giant of market dominance and demanding that it and Ticketmaster be broken up.
In the U.K., competition regulators looking into the live music business have so far largely focused on resale ticketing platforms such as Viagogo, which has previously been subject to numerous controversies, investigations and inquiries, culminating in the firm being ordered to offload its StubHub business outside of North America in 2021.
Calls for Stronger Protections
Scrutiny of all aspects of the live industry from governments and regulators in all major touring markets is nevertheless steadily growing.
Last year, the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said that it was “aware of the concerns” about ticketing companies using dynamic pricing and was “monitoring the situation.” Excessive prices imposed “by a dominant company” would be in breach of EU laws, the commission warned at the time.
Prior to July’s U.K. general election, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said that, once in power, he would limit the number of tickets individual resellers could sell on resale platforms and give the U.K. competition watchdog greater powers to take “swift” action against services and scalpers who break the rules.
“The lack of transparency in live music overall is increasingly problematic. This is an opportune moment to look at the market overall,” says Adam Webb, campaign manager of consumer organization FanFair Alliance, who backs the government’s promise to examine dynamic pricing.
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has also welcomed the government’s pledge to strengthen consumer protections around ticket buying and said on Tuesday it is “urgently reviewing recent developments in the ticketing market, including the way dynamic pricing is being used in the primary market.”
“Consumer protection law requires businesses to be fair and transparent in their dealings with consumers, and businesses must give clear and accurate information about the price people have to pay, ” said a CMA spokesperson. “Failure to do so may breach the law.”
LONDON — Nearly three decades after Oasis‘ cultural and commercial peak, the Gallagher brothers — songwriter/guitarist Noel and singer Liam — are once again making headlines around the world, following the shock announcement that the long-warring siblings are to reunite for a series of huge outdoor shows in the United Kingdom and Ireland next year.
In the U.K., anticipation for the band’s comeback has been building since rumors began circulating several weeks ago that the feuding brothers had buried the hatchet after a 15-year war of words and were set to return. The group split up in 2009 when Noel quit before a show at French music festival Rock en Seine following an argument with Liam.
Oasis fans’ wildest dreams were realized on Tuesday (Aug. 27) with the announcement that the band will play a massive 14-date stadium tour of the U.K. and Ireland next summer, marketed as ‘Oasis Live ’25.’
Trending on Billboard
“The guns have fallen silent. The stars have aligned. The great wait is over. Come see. It will not be televised,” Oasis bullishly said in a statement, prompting a feverish rush of news coverage in their home country and beyond that has reignited interest in the Britpop-era rock act.
Registration for the tour’s ticket pre-sale opened the same day. 48 hours later the group announced three extra concert dates due to “unprecedented demand.”
The additional gigs mean Oasis will now play five nights at London’s 90,000-capacity Wembley Stadium, five nights at Heaton Park in their home city of Manchester (80,000 cap.) and three shows at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh (67,000-cap.), as well as two performances at Dublin’s Croke Park (83,000-cap.) and two shows at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium (74,000-cap.).
With tickets expected to quickly sell out when they go on sale Saturday (Aug. 31), Oasis look set to perform to around 1.3 million people across the 17-show run, according to Billboard‘s calculations.
That puts the band’s live return at a similar level to Taylor Swift‘s recent U.K. and Ireland leg of her “Eras Tour,” which spanned 18 sold-out stadium shows, including eight nights at Wembley Stadium – a new record for a solo singer at the venue. The estimated total attendance for Swift’s U.K. shows was 1.2 million, not including her three shows at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
With tickets to Oasis’ live shows priced between £65.00 ($85.00) and £250.00 ($330.00), excluding fees, Billboard estimates that the tour — jointly promoted by Live Nation, SJM Concerts, MCD and DFC — could gross the band around £200 million ($262 million) on ticket sales alone (based on an average ticket price of £150.00). When VIP and premium packages, merchandise, sponsorship, performance rights and future filming revenues are factored in total earnings are likely to be at least double that amount, according to talent agent Jonathan Shalit, posting on X before the three extra concert dates were announced.
FINANCIAL WINDFALL
“It’s a once in a generation moment for a lot of music fans to experience an iconic rock band that has a very special place in many people’s hearts. It’s also going to be a really big economic moment for the country and music industry,” Tom Kiehl, chief executive of umbrella trade body UK Music, tells Billboard.
In 2023, 19.2 million “music tourists” — defined by UK Music as someone who travels outside of their hometown or city for a gig or visiting from overseas — attended live concerts and festivals in the United Kingdom, up 33% on the previous year, generating 8 billion pounds ($10.3 billion) for the country’s economy.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, says the frenzy of interest in Oasis’ return ensures it will create large revenues for hotels, taxis, bars, restaurants and pubs in cities where the band is performing “bringing a significant boost to the U.K. economy.”
The U.K. leg of Swift’s “Eras Tour” was estimated to have earned £1 billion ($1.3 billion) for the U.K. economy, according to analysis by Barclays bank, based on Swifties each spending a projected £848 ($1,100) on tickets, travel, accommodation, outfits and other expenses.
“While spending by Oasis fans might not reach those heady heights, they are unlikely to hold back from splashing the cash to celebrate the brothers’ return,” Streeter tells Billboard.
In Oasis’ home city of Manchester, the band’s five shows will earn the local economy over £15 million ($19.7 million), says Sacha Lord, the city’s nighttime economy advisor and founder of Parklife music festival.
WILL A RISING TIDE LIFT ALL BOATS?
Alongside the financial benefits, live execs hope that the explosion of interest in Oasis will strengthen support for the U.K.’s struggling grassroots music sector, where the band cut their teeth in the early 1990s, but has experienced a tide of small venue closures in the decades since.
According to the Music Venue Trust (MVT), just under 150 grassroots venues closed or stopped staging live music in the U.K. in 2023. Of the 15 venues that Oasis played on its first ever tour, nine are reported to have closed or are no longer putting on gigs.
To stop the wave of small venue closures, live execs are pushing for the British government to cut sales tax (VAT) on tickets for all grassroots music shows from 20% to the European average of between 5-7%. Doing so “will mean more shows and festivals, thriving venues of all sizes and [help] the next world class superstars off the U.K. talent production line,” says Jon Collins, CEO of U.K. music trade body LIVE.
“The Oasis reunion is a huge moment not just for fans, but for the live music industry too,” Andrew Foggin, global head of music at ticketing company DICE, tells Billboard. “These high profile, beloved artists serve as a catalyst to get people out more. They don’t just draw crowds to massive stadium events, but they also remind people what makes live music so special, creating benefits for the rest of the industry.”
As for the Gallaghers themselves, they stand to land a sizable royalty windfall even before a single ticket is sold. On the back of Tuesday’s reunion announcement, Oasis’ Spotify streams spiked 690% globally, says the streaming service, with some of the band’s lesser-known songs such as “Turn Up The Sun” and The Swamp Song” enjoying especially large spikes (450%-plus) in the U.K. The band has more than 24 million monthly listeners on Spotify with its most popular song, “Wonderwall,” having been streamed more than 2 billion times in total.
On TikTok, Oasis has seen a 101% increase in video views, creations and user engagement over the past seven days, with #OasisReunion having 109 million video views over the past two weeks, reports the platform. (Billboard understands that Sony Music owns the master rights to Oasis’ entire catalog, which it licenses back to the band’s label Big Brother Recordings, with the exception of 2008’s final album Dig Out Your Soul, which Sony doesn’t own).
“Oasis has always been popular on TikTok, and the news of the reunion has taken it to another level,” says Adam Read, TikTok’s U.K. and Ireland music programs manager. “Fans have celebrated in typically creative ways, whether it’s dressing up like Liam Gallagher waiting [for] the on sale or remixing classic Oasis tracks in unique TikTok videos. We’re excited to see how the community will continue to get creative with the band’s catalog on the platform.”
So far, the only live dates announced by Oasis are the 17 shows in the U.K. and Ireland, although the fact that the band is calling its 2025 outing a world tour suggests that international dates, including possible U.S. shows, will likely follow. It’s anticipated that additional U.K. shows could be announced if the initial ticket allocation sells out quickly, although the band has made it clear that it will not be playing next year’s Glastonbury festival, as previously rumored.
“Oasis were the last big band of the pre-digital era,” enthuses Kiehl. “There’s a legendary status attached to them and there’s a whole new generation of Oasis fans who have never seen them perform live, as well as all of their original fans from the Nineties, so their return is going to be a really big moment for the music industry and live music.”
LONDON — The U.K. competition regulator has closed its investigations into Apple’s App store and Google’s Play Store on the grounds of shifting “administrative priorities” as it prepares to rollout stronger enforcement powers over tech companies.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opened an investigation into Apple in 2021 following complaints from developers over the way that the California-based tech giant operates its app store.
For many years, developers and app makers have complained about Apple’s restrictions to outside developers and the up-to-30% fee it charges them on all purchases made through its app store.
Two of the company’s biggest critics have been Spotify and Fortnite developer Epic Games with the latter taking its fight against Apple through the U.S. courts (Epic eventually lost the case, but in the process a California ordered Apple to make changes to how its store operates, including allowing links to outside platforms and third-party services).
Trending on Billboard
The CMA opened a separate investigation into suspected anti-competitive conduct by Google in relation to its own app store in June 2022.
Both of those probes have now been dropped, the competition watchdog announced Wednesday (Aug. 21), pending reforms to U.K. competition and consumer protection laws, which are due to come into force later this year under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA).
The act, which was passed by the previous government administration in May, grants the CMA new and expanded powers over how large digital companies operate in the United Kingdom, including the ability to directly impose fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover for firms found to be breaching consumer protection and competition laws.
“Once the new pro-competition digital markets regime comes into force, we’ll be able to consider applying those new powers to concerns we have already identified through our existing work,” said Will Hayter, executive director for digital markets at the CMA, in a statement.
The CMA said that should Apple or Google each or both be designated as having “strategic market status” – a categorization that requires global turnover of more than £25 billion or U.K. turnover of more than £1 billion — it will be able to use its new powers to investigate the companies “more holistically” than it could under its now-closed probes.
The regulator said it expects to launch three to four investigations into companies with strategic market status (SMS) within the first year of its new powers coming into force. If the CMA finds businesses are using their status to gain an unfair competitive advantage, it says it will take “targeted and proportionate action” to address their behavior.
The CMA also said that it has rejected new commitments from Google that would have given app developers the choice of using alternative payment options to Google Play’s billing system, under proposals known as “Developer Only Billing” and “User Choice Billing.” Those proposals failed to “address its competition concerns effectively,” said the CMA.
In response, a spokesperson for Google said the company has actively engaged with the regulator throughout their investigation and has “made a number of significant commitments to further broaden the billing options available to developers through Google Play.”
Google says that its fees are the lowest charged by major app stores with 99% of developers qualifying for a service fee of 15% or less. The company says that in 2022 its Android app business generated almost £10 billion in revenue for British developers and supported over 457,000 jobs in the U.K. Apple did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by Billboard.
The CMA’s warning that it will continue to closely monitor the tech sector over competition concerns and may reopen further inquiries in the not-too-distant future comes as regulators and politicians around the world look at ways to curb the dominance of tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Google and Meta.
In March, the European Commissioned fined Apple 1.8 billion euro ($1.95 billion) for breaking competition laws and unfairly favoring its own music streaming service over rivals including Spotify. [Apple appealed in May.]
The company has also been forced to make a number to how its App store operates in the 27-member EU trading bloc as a result of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which officially came into force in 2022, although companies had until March this year to comply with its terms.
The Digital Markets Act requires tech companies trading within the EU region to open up their services and platforms to other businesses and allow them to operate more freely.
For music streaming services like Spotify that means it is now able to list pricing information inside its app for European users – an update that is “something as obvious as it is overdue,” the company said in a blog post earlier this month. Freemium Spotify users looking to upgrade can also see special introductory offers and the pricing once a promotion ends.
While Spotify has welcomed the gradual loosening of restrictions, it says its long-running battle with Apple isn’t over and continues to criticize the company for preventing EU iOS users from purchasing subscriptions in-app because of what it describes as “illegal and predatory taxes Apple continues to demand, despite the [European] Commission’s ruling.”
Since 2019, U.K. music festival We Out Here — which is set to host its fifth edition from Aug. 15-18 in the Dorset countryside — has sought to elevate under-the-radar artists whose music falls outside mainstream tastes. Now, the festival is opening more doors — this time for the next generation of promoters.
Newly launched by We Out Here, the Future Foundations initiative is seeking to educate and empower grassroots music promoters by offering 15 applicants the opportunity to level up their skills with a bespoke training program. In addition to on-the-job training at We Out Here, the initiative includes mentoring, networking opportunities and virtual workshops. It will also knock down other potential barriers for hopefuls by covering the cost of travel, accommodation and meals.
“As an elder, it is without a shadow of a doubt our responsibility to support the grassroots scenes for the sake of the culture,” says Gilles Peterson, a curator, radio host and A&R who co-founded We Out Here with live music promoter Noah Ball. “We’ve all benefited from that expertise over the years, so we need to allow those experiences and opportunities to happen.”
Trending on Billboard
Grassroots music promoters are often the first line of discovery for emerging musicians, but that comes with a certain amount of jeopardy, says Ellie White, head of marketing at We Out Here. “Those promoters take a lot of financial risk doing what they do,” she says. “They often do it as passion projects; they get to platform amazing artists who get to work their way up the chain, but the promoters often don’t see anything back from it.”
The Future Foundations project was funded by Arts Council England on behalf of the Department of Culture, Media & Sport, which is distributing £5 million to festivals, promoters and music spaces as part of the Grassroots Music Fund. A spokesperson for Arts Council England says Future Foundations “offers a vital platform for the grassroots communities to connect with new generations, share their knowledge, and strengthen the industry’s future.”
White tells Billboard that by the time the application period closed, they had received over 200 applicants for the positions, with an emphasis on attracting promoters from under-represented scenes and those based outside of London (the pool will ultimately be narrowed down to 15). In U.K. Music’s Diversity Report 2024, the number of Black, Asian and ethnically diverse respondents aged 16-24 had risen from 23.2% in 2022 to 40.6% in 2024. U.K. Music says industry initiatives seeking to diversify the workforce — much like Future Foundations — “are working.”
Gilles Peterson
Benjamin Teo
“We wanted to impact the diversity of promoters,” White says. “It’s currently a very male, very white section of a homogenous industry as a whole. It can be quite hard for people to enter it without connections or a bit of financial backing.”
This emphasis is a natural outgrowth of Peterson’s longtime mission of giving fresh and/or underrepresented voices a chance. During his broadcasting career at BBC Radio, Worldwide FM and Jazz FM, Peterson has given early plays to music by Amy Winehouse, Khruangbin, The Roots, Madlib and more; for the past decade, he’s hosted a weekly show on BBC Radio 6 Music. With We Out Here, he and Ball made a point of supporting artists the mainstream may not quite get, making it the kind of event where André 3000 of OutKast fame can perform his flute-heavy debut solo record New Blue Sun in full and have the 18,000 capacity crowd embrace it, while left-of-center artists like Sampha, Floating Points, Yaya Bey and jazz legend Brian Jackson also get a spotlight.
We Out Here is not immune to the challenges facing much of the festival market in the U.K. and Europe. According to figures from the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF), 56 music festivals have either been canceled, postponed or closed this year, up from 36 in 2023. “We’re fighting big, big promoters and machines who are controlling the acts, the fees and all of that,” Peterson says. “In recent times there’s a lack of support for this kind of grassroots work and we’re navigating our way to stay independent and be an important part of the journey for people in the industry.”
At least so far, We Out Here has managed to ride out the turbulence happening in the U.K. live scene. But with Future Foundations, it’s hoping to provide a gateway for the next generation to build something better.
Tributes from across the live music industry have been paid to Chris York, one of the United Kingdom’s leading promoters and a director of SJM Concerts, following his death at age 55 following a long illness.
In a statement on Thursday (July 25), SJM Concerts said the company was “deeply saddened” to announce the passing of a man who “helped define the U.K.’s live music scene” over the past three decades.
York’s career in the live music industry began in the late 1980s when he started booking gigs at Warwick University, where he was a student.
After finishing his studies, York worked as a booker at London’s The Venue — putting on early shows by Pulp, Suede and PJ Harvey — before deepening his knowledge of the live business with roles at U.K. live promoters Straight Music and MCP Concerts.
Trending on Billboard
In 1993, York joined SJM Concerts, where he “formed a solid and unshakeable partnership and friendship” with the company’s founder, Simon Moran, that “would last the rest of his career,” the Manchester-based firm said in a statement.
Artists that York promoted during his three decades at SJM included Oasis, Foo Fighters, Green Day, The Chemical Brothers, Lily Allen, Massive Attack, Smashing Pumpkins, Underworld, Robert Plant, Underworld, Lorde, Morrissey, Lorde, Placebo, Kraftwerk, Swedish House Mafia, Suede and Stereophonics, among many others.
Oasis singer Liam Gallagher, The Doves, The Pogues, Stereophonics and Suede are among the many acts who posted tributes on social media.
“Chris York was a true unsung hero of the music world,” wrote The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess on X, adding that the British group “are proud” to have called York a friend.
“You might not recognise the name but if you’re a London gig-goer then you’ll have been at one of the thousands of gigs [York] put on through SJM,” stated Suede’s bassist Mat Osman, who called York “a huge friend and supporter” of the group. “He put on Suede shows from the lowliest to the biggest and was a constant presence in our career,” he added.
Posting on X, U.K. indie rock group Shed Seven said it was “heartbroken” to hear of York’s death. The promoter “played a pivotal role in shaping our career from the very beginning, standing by us every step of the way,” said the band, who topped the U.K. albums charts earlier this year. Shed Seven went on to call York “a kind and inspirational man, a true gent, one of the good guys.”
Those sentiments were echoed by U.K. venue operator Academy Music Group, which called York “a force of nature, exceptional promoter, industry pioneer and above all, a genuine music fan and all-round lovely man.”
During his career, York also worked closely with The Who’s Roger Daltrey, live producer Des Murphy and fellow SJM director Rob Ballantine on establishing the annual Teenage Cancer Trust spring concert series at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Since its launch in 2006, the event has raised more than £30 million ($38 million) for charity with everyone from Ed Sheeran to New Order to Paul McCartney taking part.
In 2021, York was awarded the Jo Walker Meador International Award by the Country Music Association for his work on the Country to Country (C2C) Music festival, which SJM launched in 2013 in partnership with AEG Europe. The event has since become Europe’s biggest country music festival, taking place annually at London’s The O2 arena, Glasgow’s OVO Hydro and Belfast’s The SSE Arena.
“When he got involved at the start of C2C Chris really knew f— all about country. But to his credit he knew what he had to do and immersed himself in every aspect of it and soon became a go-to oracle on country, which he always maintained,” Steve Homer, CEO of AEG Presents U.K., tells Billboard. “He has left a big hole in the live music industry and I’m not sure it will ever be filled.”
“Chris was so loved by the business as you can see from the tributes that are flooding in for him from far and wide,” Emma Banks, co-head of global touring at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and a close friend of York, tells Billboard.
“I am going to miss working with him. I am going to miss his wisdom. I am going to miss chatting with him about pretty much everything and having a laugh with him,” Banks adds. “My thoughts are with Alice, his family, friends and the team at SJM.”
Also paying tribute was Live Nation U.K. and Ireland chairman Denis Desmond, who said York was “a fighter to the end. His legacy will live on.”
Sellout events like Glastonbury Festival and mega-grossing stadium shows by Beyoncé, Harry Styles and Blur helped lift the U.K. live music industry to record heights last year, generating 8 billion pounds ($10.3 billion) for the country’s economy, according to new figures published Tuesday (July 23).
Umbrella trade organization UK Music reports that 19.2 million “music tourists” attended live concerts and festivals in the United Kingdom in 2023, up 33% on the previous year. The trade body defines a “music tourist” as someone who has traveled at least three times the average commuting distance for their region or is based overseas.
The £8 billion financial windfall these music tourists contributed to the local economy through direct spending on things like gig tickets, travel, accommodation and food and beverage sales, as well as indirect spending on supply chain businesses such as security and fencing, represents an increase of 21% on 2022’s 6.6 billion pound total.
Trending on Billboard
The 2023 figure is the highest ever recorded by UK Music since the organization started analyzing music tourism spending a decade ago. That’s despite the number of foreign concertgoers falling fractionally to just over 1 million last year, down from 1.053 million in 2022. However, the total number of domestic music tourists grew 36% year-on-year to 18.2 million, said UK Music, while 62,000 jobs were sustained by live gigs.
On a regional basis, London was the United Kingdom’s most popular destination for attending music concerts, drawing 6.9 million music tourists — up 40% year-on-year — who contributed £2.8 billion ($3.6 billion) in spending. The North West of England, a region which includes the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, was the second most popular destination for traveling music fans, with 2.3 million people visiting for live shows and spending £735 million ($950 million).
UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl said in a statement that the record numbers “demonstrates the positive impact music tourism has on our towns and cities” but warned that “beyond a handful of very successful musicians the opportunities for many artists are becoming increasingly squeezed.”
“Grassroots music venues and festivals, studios and rehearsal spaces are facing tough economic pressures and it’s vital that the music ecosystem that enables musicians and artists to perform is supported to ensure that everyone — no matter where they live — can have access to music,” added Kiehl.
So far this year, around 50 U.K. music festivals have either been canceled or folded entirely due to rising production costs and changes in music fans’ ticket-buying habits, according to The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF). The country’s grassroots music venues circuit is also having a difficult time, with the Music Venue Trust (MVT) reporting that 125 venues have either shut down or stopped putting on live music in 2023.
For emerging and mid-tier U.K. artists, the increased costs of fuel and post-Brexit requirements for touring carnets and work permits have brought further financial burdens. As a result, UK Music is calling on the newly installed Labour Government to urgently address what it is calling a “cost-of-touring crisis.”
The United Kingdom is the world’s second-largest music exporter and the world’s third-biggest recorded music market behind the United States and Japan. But without action, it risks being overtaken by countries who are more proactive, warns the trade body, which published a 10-point “Manifesto for Music” last year.
“The U.K’s thriving music industry continues to be one of our most powerful global exports and an important driver of economic growth,” said culture secretary Lisa Nandy in a statement accompanying Tuesday’s music tourism figures.
She said the government will “work hard to ensure our creative industries get the support they need to flourish, driving opportunity and economic growth into every community and inspiring the next generation of performers.”