The Government has published a wide-ranging policy paper on its strategy for music.

The publication of the paper comes as the industry, and some of the pressures it faces, has received increased attention recently. For example, we have discussed calls for the Competition and Markets Authority  to launch a market investigation into the UK live music industry (here), the publication of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s Fan-led Review of Live and Electronic Music (discussed here), and calls to introduce a statutory private copying scheme (here) .

The paper brings many of these strands together to provide a comprehensive account of the Government’s approach to an industry that contributed £8 billion the UK economy. While much of the paper focuses on initiatives to improve music education and skills across the country, it also identifies a number of priorities that will be of particular interest to the industry, including:

• Encouraging the the “widespread adoption” of the live music sector’s £1 voluntary ticket contribution for shows with a capacity over 5,000, with money reinvested into the grassroots sector. The paper stresses that, if needed, the Government is “prepared to explore legislative options to support this industry initiative and ensure the sustainability of our world-leading live music industry”.
• Monitoring the impact of the Principles that were developed in consultation with the Creator Remuneration Working Group to support the fair remuneration of artists (discussed here), and reviewing progress in 2027 to determine if further intervention is needed.
• Introducing the Creative Freelance Champion shortly to “build a better understanding of the freelancing workforce”.
• Supporting the work of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, noting its addition to the Prescribed Person Order (discussed here), and monitoring the outcome of the consultation on the misuse of NDAs to determine if protections should be broadened to include freelancers.
• Reviewing and expanding guidance on unpaid internships.
• Launching a consultation on digital replicas in the summer and establishing a taskforce on AI labelling to “put forward proposals for government on best practice for labelling AI-generated content, with an interim report to be published in autumn”.
• Passing the Ticket Tout Ban Bill, as announced in the King’s Speech (see here).
• Improving guidance for artists, creators, and businesses to navigate the barriers to touring in the EU.

To read the paper in full, click here.