How can the UK music industry be both in crisis and booming? In 2024, the sector was worth a record £8 billion to the UK economy but at the same time, grassroots venues are closing, artists are struggling to tour, and AI threatens to steal musicians’ work for the profit of broligarchs.
In this week’s episode, Sean Adams speaks with Tom Kiehl, CEO of UK Music, about the findings in the organisation’s brand new <a href='https://www.ukmusic.org/news/new-report-reveals-uk-music-industry-contributes-record-8-billion-to-uk-economy'>annual report </a><a href='https://www.ukmusic.org/news/new-report-reveals-uk-music-industry-contributes-record-8-billion-to-uk-economy'>This Is Music 2025</a>. Together they unpack the contradictions of a sector growing on paper but straining at its foundations from slowing post-pandemic growth and the fight for fair AI regulation, to the obstacles making it harder for new artists breaking through.
With reflections on Brexit’s lasting damage, AI’s issues with consent, and a new £1 grassroots levy, it’s a revealing look at an industry at a crossroads.
Chapters
 00:00 – The £8 Billion Paradox: Growth vs Crisis
 03:30 – Who UK Music Represents and What It Does
 07:30 – File-Sharing to AI: The Evolution of Rights Battles
 13:30 – “Pro-Innovation” or Anti-Artist? AI and Copyright in 2025
 18:30 – Levies, Inequality, and the Grassroots Squeeze
 24:30 – Breaking Artists in a Post-Pandemic Landscape
 29:30 – Rehearsal Spaces, Mentorship, and Missing Infrastructure
 35:30 – Why Britain Needs a Music Export Office
 41:30 – Ticketing Chaos, Regulation, and the Fan Experience
 47:30 – What Fans Can Do: From Campaigns to Collective Power
 52:30 – The Future of British Music: Soft Power and Survival
Continue the Conversation: 
Head to the <a href='https://community.drownedinsound.com/'>Drowned in Sound community</a> to chat about the topics in this episode.
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Links & Resources:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight:400;"><a href='https://www.ukmusic.org/news/new-report-reveals-uk-music-industry-contributes-record-8-billion-to-uk-economy/'>Read UK Music’s This Is Music 2025 Report</a></li>
<li style="font-weight:400;"><a href='https://www.ukmusic.org'>UK Music Official Website</a></li>
<li style="font-weight:400;"><a href='https://www.instagram.com/uk_music'>UK Music on Instagram</a></li>
<li style="font-weight:400;"><a href='http://drownedinsound.org'>Drowned in Sound Newsletter</a></li>
</ul>

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What crisis?! UK Music’s CEO on our £8 billion industry

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