United Kingdom
Page: 2
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.”
Vinyl and CD music sales grew 7.9% to £164 million ($213 million) in the United Kingdom in the first six months of 2024, due in no small part to the all-conquering, seemingly unstoppable success of Taylor Swift, according to mid-year figures from the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA).
Released in April, Swift’s eleventh studio set The Tortured Poets Department is the singer’s fastest-selling album in the U.K., shifting the equivalent of 270,000 units across all formats in its first seven days, according to Official Charts Company (OCC) data.
To date, The Tortured Poets Department has spent eight non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in the United Kingdom — surpassing Swift’s previous best chart run of five weeks at the summit with 2022’s Midnights — making it the biggest-selling album in the country so far this year by some distance.
Trending on Billboard
Mid-year sales for The Tortured Poets Department stand at 542,000 equivalent units in the U.K. across all formats, just under half of which (251,000) were physical format purchases, according to ERA data for the first 26 weeks of 2024. The Tortured Poets Department additionally sold just under 20,000 digital downloads.
The second highest-selling album year-to-date is The Weeknd’s Highlights with 220,000 equivalent sales units.
Swift was also behind the half-year period’s biggest-selling physical single, “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone, which topped the U.K.’s official singles charts for one week in May, selling more than 16,500 copies on CD, the only physical format it was available on, reports ERA.
In total, Swift had six of the Top 20 best-selling albums across all formats (digital and physical) in the U.K. during the sales period, including fan favorites 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Lover, Midnights and Folklore.
The singer’s ubiquitous chart success helped lift physical format and download music sales to £164 million ($213 million) in the U.K. in the first half of 2024, a rise of 7.9% on the same period the previous year, said ERA CEO Kim Bayley, who also credited April’s Record Store Day with further boosting retailers’ revenues.
ERA’s half-year sales figures do not include music streaming, which account for more than 88% of all music sales in the U.K. ERA said overall music streaming consumption was up 11% year-on-year in the first six months of the year but did not provide value figures.
Breaking down physical format sales, vinyl album purchases were up 13.5% year-on-year to just over £86 million ($111 million), while CD sales showed a 3.2% year-on-year increase to £58 million ($75 million). In total, there were 8.5 million physical albums sold in the U.K. during the period, said ERA.
As a result, growth of physical format and download music sales outpaced growth of video sales (comprising of DVD and Blu-ray sales, video downloads and digital rental), which totaled £214 million ($277 million), up 5.4% year-on-year, not including revenues from video streaming services like Netflix or Apple TV.
Music sales also outpaced equivalent growth of video games (combining physical and digital downloads), which fell by almost 30% year-on-year to just under £350 million ($454 million) due to what ERA called a “soft release schedule” in the first half of the year.
The United Kingdom is the world’s third-biggest recorded behind the United States and Japan with sales of $1.9 billion in 2023, according to IFPI.
LONDON — Universal Music Group is to merge its historic Island and EMI label divisions as part of a widespread restructuring of the company’s U.K. business that will also see the launch of new Audience and Media Division to support artists and labels.
The announcement was made on Tuesday (July 9) by David Joseph, chairman and CEO Universal Music U.K. and Ireland, in an internal memo, which has been viewed by Billboard.
The reorganization of Universal Music’s U.K. operations follows changes the company made to its U.S. teams earlier this year with the formation of Interscope Capitol Labels Group and Republic Corps.
That structure is now being loosely mirrored in the United Kingdom with the creation of what Joseph called “two new powerhouse frontline label groups” — Island EMI Label Group, headed by Louis Bloom as president, and the newly formed Polydor Label Group, led by Ben Mortimer.
Trending on Billboard
Both label groups will be home to multiple labels “all with creative autonomy,” said Joseph’s memo. Each department will also contain a team dedicated to supporting artists from the wider UMG family, said the Universal U.K. boss.
In line with the restructuring, which comes into effect Oct. 1, Universal is shuffling its executive ranks.
EMI Records co-president Jo Charrington has been appointed president of a “reimagined” U.K. arm of Capitol, which will sit within the wider Polydor Label Group, as will 0207 Def Jam, led by president Alec Boateng. (Billboard understands that Boateng’s brother and co-president of 0207 Def Jam Alex Boateng is to remain with Universal and will be given a job within an international division).
EMI Records’ other co-president, Rebecca Allen, will take up the role of president of Universal’s Audience and Media Division (AMD), a newly formed U.K.-based department dedicated to serving artists and labels that will have a global remit.
Joining Allen in the Audience and Media team will be Suzy Walby (media), Kate Wyn Jones (Audience and Digital Strategy) and data and strategic branch The Square insight team, led by Jack Fryer.
In his internal staff memo, Joseph said the “industry first” AMD team “will revolutionise how we deliver for our artists” and will become Universal U.K.’s largest division.
Not mentioned in the memo is the scale or number of job losses that will result from the changes, although it does state that the consultation period for staff whose roles are potentially at risk starts today and will continue until mid-September.
In the United Kingdom, it is a legal requirement that companies must follow so-called “collective consultation” rules if it is making 20 or more employees redundant within any 90-day period. Universal U.K. declined to comment on staff redundancies.
Not impacted by the changes are Laura Monks and Tom Lewis, who will continue in their current roles of Decca co-presidents, which will remain a stand-alone label. Hannah Neaves remains sole president of Universal Music Recordings.
“As a company, we must continue to be forward-looking, innovative, and bold. Developing artists now requires more creativity and patience than ever before,” said Joseph in his internal memo.
Joseph went on to say that the restructure would “strengthen our labels’ capabilities to deepen artist and fan connections.”
“We are committed to being the number one place for artists, fans and talent,” surmised the U.K. CEO. “I have an incredible appreciation for our team given what we have achieved in the past and what I know we will achieve in the future.”
The U.K. has elected a new government. Following the country’s General Election on Thursday (July 4), Labour won an overwhelming majority with 412 elected MPs, and its leader, Sir Keir Starmer, is the new Prime Minister. The U.K. had been under Conservative rule since 2010, but the Rishi Sunak-led party lost 249 seats, finishing with just 121, the worst result in its history.
This comes as little surprise, as polling consistently put the left-wing party Labour ahead of its rivals. The only real question was how comprehensive the result would be. Starmer’s success rivals previous Prime Minister Tony Blair and his landslide victory with Labour in 1997’s General Election.
Starmer ran his campaign on a ticket of “Change,” but few knew quite what that meant. There were promises of economic growth and a greater respect for the office, but a final YouGov poll released the day prior to the election found that only 5% of registered voters were choosing Labour MPs for “policy reasons.” Despite the seat majority — 326 elected MPs are required to win in the U.K.’s first-past-the-post electoral system — Labour’s vote share has increased by just 1.5% from the 2019 General Election that it lost comprehensively. It’s been a line of attack hammered repeatedly: What does Labour actually stand for?
Trending on Billboard
It’s a question that the music industry has been asking, too. Between the cost-of-living crisis, the rise in inflation and the long-running impact of Brexit, a perfect storm has been brewing under the Conservatives which, Ed Sheeran suggested earlier this week, did “not value art at all”.
There are positive noises. In its manifesto, Labour says it “will implement our creative industries sector plan as part of our Industrial Strategy, creating good jobs and accelerating growth in film, music, gaming, and other creative sectors.” There are references to assisting performers in touring through the EU, ensuring “new consumer protections on ticket resales” and plans to ban “no fault” evictions which, as NME previously reported, is contributing to the housing crisis felt by creatives and society at large.
Michael Kill, CEO of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA), is optimistic that the members he campaigns on behalf of — venues, clubs, bars, performers, workers and more — feel positively towards the new government. Fourty four percent of respondents to the NTIA’s Consumer Insight Survey feel that Labour is supportive of the arts, culture and sport, compared to the Conservatives at just 11%.
“There’s been lots of positive rhetoric behind the scenes,” says Kill, but “it still seems very unclear where Labour is from the manifesto.” There will now be additional concern that Thangam Debbonaire, who had been widely expected to become the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sports, failed to win her seat in her Bristol Central constituency; she is one of just two shadow cabinet ministers to not join the party in government.
The changes that Kill and other industry bodies like the Music Venue Trust (MVT) are calling for are simple. He points to the VAT rate (Value Added Tax) that campaigners like the NTIA and Save Our Scene want reduced to 12.5%, and a reduction of VAT on tickets for music events at grassroots venues. They say these changes would bring them closer to comparative rates in Europe.
In 2022, it was estimated that the nighttime economy generated £136.5 billion, an increase from 2019’s pre-pandemic figure of £121.3 billion, but the NTIA’s report notes that inflation and an increase in operating costs means that any turnover gains will be “essentially wiped out.” Between policy, legislative and financial issues, the live music and hospitality industry is on the back foot.
“We do need to change the attitude in terms of the value we bring,” Kill says. “The nighttime economy needs to start to be perceived as non-burdensome and more value-driven. The worry that we have is that the U.K. is going to lose that status as a real driver of culture.”
There are similarly pressing issues for artists, too. Lily Fontaine, lead singer of indie-rock band English Teacher, which released its critically acclaimed debut album This Could Be Texas on Island Records this year, says artists like themselves are in a dire position. “I’m still not earning. It’s still a struggle for me and my band,” she says. “And it’s even more of a struggle for smaller artists that are trying to make a career.”
When Fontaine gave evidence to the Culture Media & Sport Parliamentary Committee on Grassroots Music Venues in March, she pointed out the “cost-of-touring” crisis and the burden it places on her and her band to keep their tour crew — from technicians to production staff — employed and paid. Though the band received funding from PPL Momentum Accelerator to help record its first single, the sheer cost will lead to a landscape unrepresentative of the U.K.’s diverse music scenes.
“We didn’t have enough time to maintain full-time jobs to get enough money,” Fontaine says. “It was so hard to create and to enjoy creating [our debut album] when you’ve got to think about earning. Then that creates a homogenised scene because only the people that can afford it would do it.”
Manchester-based musician Chloe Slater — who released her single “Nothing Shines On This Island” earlier this year — is concerned that young people are being priced out of music events that help inspire creativity, and that grassroots music venues are closing at an alarming rate. The MVT says that 125 grassroots venues shut down in 2023, while the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) says that 50 independent music festivals have been canceled, postponed or closed in 2024.
“Grassroots venues and festivals [are] where young musicians hone their craft, and the industry is an ecosystem,” Slater says. “And if you lose those venues, it’s such a massive part of that. I don’t understand where all the new artists are supposed to come from if they’re not there.”
A levy on tickets at larger venues to help support the grassroots venues has been recommended by MPs. Kill welcomes this suggestion but wants to ensure the whole ecosystem is supported, not just music venues. Elsewhere, Labour has suggested a crackdown on secondary ticket touts, but its position on AI is still uncertain, even as it’s become a pressing topic in the music industry and beyond.
The in-tray is bulging and the U.K. music industry is holding its breath, hoping that the incoming Labour government can meet the challenge.
Tixr, the fast-growing primary ticketing and live event commerce company, today announced the official opening of its London office and strategic expansion into continental Europe. Industry veteran Stephanie Rosa has been appointed to serve as managing director of the London outpost, leading a new handpicked local team to build upon the company’s already robust roster of partners in the region.
The move marks the California-based company’s latest international launch, following the expansion of its operations into Canada, announced in March. Tixr’s recent client partnerships in Europe include Space Ibiza, Eden Nightclub in Ibiza, British digital radio station Kisstory, F.A.T. International, RuPaul’s Dragcon, Dreamhack, Uptown Festival, Dublin ComicCon, Leicestershire County Cricket Club, Egg London, E1 Series, Brockwell Live, Aramco Team Series, and London’s popular brewery Signature Brew.
Most recently, Tixr partnered with Forbidden Forest Festival which took place earlier this month. Nestled in hundreds of acres of lush forest on the grounds of the stunning Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, Forbidden Forest brings together 20,000 over three nights to celebrate music, nature and dance. Tickets for next year’s fest, the first to be handled under the new Tixr deal, go on sale to the general public later this year.
Trending on Billboard
“There’s no modern platform more capable of servicing such a wide array of complex events, and the opportunities in the region are immense,” said Rosa. “The fantastic regional team we’ve built is honoured to partner with iconic sell-out festivals like Forbidden Forest that value design, innovation, and share in our mission to deliver the best fan experience possible, starting with the ticket.”
Before relocating to London for her newly created role, Rosa served as Tixr’s director of partnerships and sales operations. She came to Tixr from UK-based Festicket, which was acquired by Lyte in 2022, where she served as vp of sales in North America.
“Each year we set out to deliver extraordinary customer experiences”, said Laura Ball, marketing director at Forbidden Forest Festival. “When we selected Tixr as our trusted ticketing partner for 2025 and beyond, we knew each year we could collaborate to further raise the bar and deliver a best-in-class experience for our Forbidden Forest customers.”
Tixr already services events in 10 European countries and exclusively powers more than 500 of the most respected live entertainment brands in 40 countries. Since its inception, Tixr has processed nearly $2 billion in transactions through its highly visual, modern, unified commerce platform built for sales beyond admission tickets.
Tixr’s new London office is located at London Bridge.
LONDON — Tom Kiehl has been announced as the new chief executive of UK Music, succeeding Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, who left the British industry trade body last year to work for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Kiehl has held the role of interim chief executive at UK Music since Njoku-Goodwin’s sudden exit in September. He has worked at the London-based umbrella organization, which represents all sectors of the United Kingdom’s music industry, since 2012 – initially working as director of public affairs before being promoted to deputy CEO in 2018.
In a statement announcing Kiehl’s appointment, UK Music said it had received more than 130 applications for the role and had carried out an “extensive recruitment process” to find its new CEO.
Trending on Billboard
“We are entering a critical new era of change for the music industry when the political landscape is also rapidly changing. At this important time, I’m confident Tom is the right person for the job,” said Tom Watson, UK Music Chair, in a statement.
Watson went on to say that Kiehl “will be a tireless advocate for our members and our sector – using his wide range of talents to drive UK Music to even greater heights.”
Kiehl’s promotion to the head of UK Music comes less than two weeks before the U.K. general election on July 4 when the country goes to the polls to elect a new government.
Last month, Kiehl called on the leaders of all the main British political parties to support the U.K. music industry’s role as a “key national asset” that is facing intense global competition.
To help grow the British music industry, which generated £6.7 billion ($8.2 billion) for the country’s economy in 2022 and supports 210,000 jobs, according to research commissioned by UK Music, the trade group wants policy makers to protect creators’ rights from being exploited by AI developers, as well as secure a cultural touring agreement with the EU to address many of the lasting issues caused by Brexit.
UK Music also wants the next government to introduce a new tax credit to increase U.K.-based music production and establish tighter regulations for secondary ticketing platforms.
Kiehl’s extensive experience of working with politicians and government officials means that he is well placed to try and achieve those aims. Prior to joining UK Music, the widely respected music executive worked in the Houses of Parliament for 11 years as a senior advisor and researcher for the Liberal Democrat party. More recently, Kiehl led a successful campaign to change planning laws to better protect grassroots music venues.
“It’s an immense privilege and great responsibility to take on the role of leading UK Music at such a pivotal moment,” said Kiehl in a statement.
The newly appointed CEO said he would continue to work with the organization’s members to lobby government officials for measures that would support the music industry “ranging from strong copyright protections and more music teachers, to key safeguards around AI and greater support for music freelancers.”
“My vision for UK Music is to build on our mission of bringing our sector together to speak with one voice and secure our place as the key organization that fuels the growth and prominence of the UK’s music industry,” said Kiehl. “We must be relevant, representative, and able to deliver for the sector in order to achieve this.”
Jelly Roll is undoubtedly on a hot streak. After toiling on the edges of the industry for nearly a decade, his career has gone supernova over the past year thanks to his singles “Son of a Sinner,” “Need a Favor” and “Save Me,” the latter of which earned him a Grammy nomination. He rolled across the United States on his 44-city Backroad Baptism Tour in 2023, has played a string of festivals this year and is slated to hit a few more this summer, along with hopping on shows with Morgan Wallen and headlining this fall’s Beautifully Broken tour with Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay.
But if you look at Jelly’s road history one thing you’ll notice is that his gigs have kept him within the lower 48, a situation he explained while talking to Jon Bon Jovi for Interview Magazine earlier this year. During the chat, the 39-year-old singer born Jason DeFord noted that his felonious past has kept him grounded when it comes to playing gigs overseas.
Trending on Billboard
“It’s funny, America has finally agreed to let me leave and give me a passport, but some countries won’t let me come because of my felonies,” he told Bon Jovi. “We’re working on that. I think it’s going to work in my favor.” Then, on Howard Stern‘s SiriusXM show Wednesday morning (June 12) after the host asked if Jelly’s past misdeeds are still keeping him grounded, the singer said, “I actually got off the phone with a lawyer yesterday, We are working… it’s getting good, it’s starting to look promising. It didn’t look good even just six months ago, but it’s starting to look really promising.”
Jelly Roll has spoken openly about his past scuffles with the law and his jail time, including dozens of stints behind bars on drug charges going back to when he was 14, as well as an arrest at 16 for aggravated robbery that landed him a year in prison when he was tried as an adult; he had been facing a potential 20-year sentence in the case, though he served just over a year behind bars and seven years of probation. He’s also talked about the time in 2008 when, at 23, he was locked up on drug dealing charges when his daughter Bailee was born. Among the repercussions are an inability, until recently, to secure a passport, as well as an inability to vote, volunteer at most nonprofits or own a firearm.
So what’s still keeping him from getting his first passport stamp? Billboard spoke to several prominent European immigration lawyers to find out what the hang-up is and whether Jelly might be able to rock stages overseas in the near future. (The experts agreed to speak in general terms about immigration laws in their country, but had no first-hand knowledge of Jelly Roll’s case.)
First, the good news.
According to the rules about entrance to the 26 European countries that allow unrestricted travel within their borders — collectively known as the Schengen Area, which includes Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden, among others — non-EU nationals can be denied entry if they are considered a “threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any EU or Schengen country.”
A prominent Italian immigration lawyer who requested anonymity tells Billboard that once you legally enter a country in the Schengen region, you are free to travel among the countries with a valid passport, as long as you are not listed on INTERPOL’s list of restricted individuals. The region does have a list of serious criminal offenses over the previous decade — or 20 years in the case of terror offenses — that an applicant for entry must report before visiting. The list of barring offenses includes terrorism, human trafficking, child pornography, drug/weapon trafficking, fraud, money laundering, environmental crimes, murder, racketeering, arson and nuclear material trafficking.
Based on that list, Jelly Roll’s priors do not appear to rise to the level that would bar him from visiting the Schengen countries. The attorney noted, however, that those rules are slated to change in 2025 when non-EU nationals who don’t need a visa to travel to the Schengen area — a list that includes U.S. citizens — will have to apply for travel authorization through the ETIAS travel portal for short-term (90-180 day) stays; at present, if you have a valid passport and don’t plan to stay for more than three months a visa is not required to enter the region.
At press time, a spokesperson for Jelly Roll had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment on the status of Jelly’s overseas touring plans.
The bad news, according to Matthew James of leading U.K. immigration law firm Bates Wells, is that the United Kingdom has what are called “General Grounds For Refusal” laws that look at whether an individual has previously overstayed their visa in the country as well as a past history of criminality. What gets captured under that rather broad umbrella are mandatory and discretionary grounds for refusal, which James says are somewhat “opaque.”
“If you’ve received a custodial sentence of more than 12 months, that should be a bar to entering the U.K., so there’s absolutely no chance of you coming in if you’ve done 12 months of jail time,” he says, noting that if you’ve done less than 12 months but are a “persistent offender” with multiple drug offenses you can be refused as a “persistent” offender; you can also be refused if the offense has caused serious harm.
However, for artists looking to visit for less than six months to stage a series of performances, there is an added wrinkle that if they’ve received a conviction within 12 months of their visit, their application will also be refused, which should not apply to Jelly Roll since his convictions occurred more than 20 years ago.
The U.K.’s secretary of state could also decide that an individual’s presence in the nation is “not conducive to the public good” because of their character or other reasons, with James pointing to Tyler, the Creator announcing that his lyrical content had gotten him banned from entering the United Kingdom for 3 to 5 years due to his then-violent and misogynistic lyrics. At the time, the Home Office issued a statement reading, “Coming to the U.K. is a privilege, and we expect those who come here to respect our shared values. The Home Secretary has the power to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the U.K. is not conducive to the public good or if their exclusion is justified on public policy grounds.” Tyler has subsequently been invited to the nation with no incident.
Snoop Dogg has talked about how the late Queen Elizabeth II helped him avoid getting booted from England in 1994 when he was facing first- and second-degree murder charges for which he was later acquitted. Ja Rule said he was “devastated” when his planned 2024 U.K. tour was canceled after he was denied entry due to his criminal record on gun possession and tax evasion.
James says that, in general, American visitors — especially those coming for permitted paid engagements — can enter the United Kingdom for what are called “permit-free” festivals, such as Glastonbury, without applying for a visa. In a testament to money talking, he added that the ultimate discretion lies with the secretary of state. “If you are a Snoop Dogg and you are about to sell out Wembley Stadium for three nights and it’s going to make a huge amount of money for the U.K. economy and he’s done loads of great work rehabilitating other people and people learning from his errors and never caused another issue since in 20-plus years,” says James, you could likely talk to someone more senior in the government and get some leeway on the rules, which, he notes, are mainly intended to bar known criminals from living in the country.
That said, those who have committed particularly heinous crimes face a different standard. R. Kelly — who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence on child sex abuse convictions — is unlikely to ever be allowed to perform in the United Kingdom again following his release.
Jelly Roll has talked extensively about the work he’s done talking to youth about his law-breaking days and visiting facilities to share his story, including donating a recording studio to the Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, where he was incarcerated as a teen, in 2023.
James says that given that Jelly Roll’s arrests and incarcerations occurred mostly when he was young, that he’s clearly worked on rehabilitating himself and that he’s on the upswing of his career, it’s always possible that “overarching discretion” could come into play. This allows officials not to apply the rules in the strictest manner, particularly if an artist’s concerts will bring significant revenue to the United Kingdom and the person is not a perceived risk. “They will fly in on their private plane and play their set at Wembley and then leave,” he says. “They would have to show remorse and a redeemed character and the benefits to society they are bringing and the economic advantages they’re bringing.”
LONDON — A U.K. indie label is suing Sony Music-owned Ministry of Sound Recordings over a remix of a song by R&B artist Jay Sean that became a global viral hit on TikTok a decade after its original release.
According to legal papers filed in the London High Court, which have been viewed by Billboard, 2Point9 Records is suing Ministry of Sound for copyright infringement of Sean’s “Ride It” – a Top 20 single in the United Kingdom in 2008.
Attorneys for London-based 2Point9 say that a 2019 remix of “Ride It” by Kosovo-based producer DJ Regard, whose real name is Dardan Aliu, illegally sampled the master recording of Sean’s original track without clearing its use.
Trending on Billboard
First posted on TikTok, Regard’s “Ride It” quickly became a viral hit before being licensed by Sony-owned imprint Ministry of Sound Recordings and officially released in July 2019.
The track peaked at number two in the U.K. singles chart the same year. In the U.S., Regard’s “Ride It” peaked at number 62 on the Hot 100 (where it spent 10 weeks on the chart) and number three on the Billboard Top 100 Hot Dance/Electronic chart.
The song has since gone on to be streamed more than 1.3 billion times on Spotify, while the video has been viewed more than 285 million times on Regard’s official YouTube channel. 2Point9 says total YouTube views of the remix have crossed 500 million and well over 4 million videos have been created by TikTok users.
DJ Regard
Courtesy Photo
The London-based indie, which was founded by Billy Grant and Rob Stuart in 2000, alleges that Ministry of Sound Recordings was notified that the track featured an unauthorized sample of Jay Sean’s 2008 song when it first released it, but “chose not to enter into any meaningful commercial discussions” over clearing the sample.
2Point9’s legal claim is for infringement of the production master recording rights of the original version of “Ride It,” which the label says it owns on a worldwide basis.
The indie label employed producer Alan Sampson in 2007 to work with Jay Sean, real name Kamaljit Singh Jhooti, on a number of songs, including “Ride It.” Sampson is not listed among the claimants and Billboard understands that the producer assigned his share of the master recording rights to 2Point9 under the terms of his 2007 production contract.
Attorneys for 2Point9 say that when Ministry of Sound was first told in 2019 that the DJ Regard version of “Ride It” featured an unauthorized sample, the Sony-owned label rejected their claims and insisted the new song featured a re-recording of Sean’s vocal.
Several months later, Ministry of Sound acknowledged that Regard’s song did feature parts of the original recording and subsequently replaced the infringing sample with a re-recorded version.
The re-recorded “Ride It” was commercially released in late 2019 but was assigned the same ISRC code as the earlier infringing song, say 2Point9. The indie label infers this was done to prevent any distinction being drawn between the two songs when tracking global plays. The original DJ Regard track (featuring the unauthorized sample) still continued to receive regular airplay in the U.K. after the new version was released, claim 2Point9.
“Throughout the entire time we have been pursuing this claim, Ministry of Sound Recordings has treated our label with arrogance and dismissiveness,” said Billy Grant, co-founder of 2Point9 Records, in a statement.
“Why they think that this kind of behaviour against a small label is acceptable is bewildering,” said Grant, noting that prior to Ministry of Sound’s acquisition by Sony Music Entertainment in 2016 it too was an independent label.
Grant vowed to continue his legal fight “until we get justice” and said his company was “determined” to make Ministry of Sound realize “that it is not OK to ride roughshod over the commercial rights of those in the independent sector and that there are consequences for doing so.”
According to legal papers, 2Point9 Records has not yet been able to fully quantify the size of its losses and damages relating to the infringing recording but believes them to be substantial. Sony Music U.K. said it would not be commenting whilst the legal case is ongoing.