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Sound Engineering, Visual Effects and Film Technology: The Music Industry

This guide brings together key resources to help you find information relating to Visual Effects, Digital Film Production, Music Technology, Sound Engineering and Production courses.

The following sections give you advice on where to look for information related to the music industry.

Market research publishers

Mintel publishes various reports covering the UK market for Music and Other Audio, November 2022 and Music Concerts and Festivals, June 2023.

MarketLine Advantage publishes industry profiles for various economies including a report on the UK Media Industry from February 2023 and UK Online Music Streaming from March 2022.

Trade associations

Representing record companies worldwide, IFPI publishes its annual Global Music Report every March. The overview (state of the industry) is freely available.

Representing over 500 record labels, BPI's members account for 85% of all music sold in the UK. Each April, the BPI publishes its annual All About the Music, a detailed look at the UK recorded music industry.

UK Music represents all sectors of the UK music industry, bringing them together to collaborate, campaign, and champion music. As such, it publishes its annual This is Music, previously Music By Numbers. The 2023 report is expected in the autumn.

Acting as a voice for the UK creative industries for an international audience, the Council provides statistics, case studies, relevant news and commentary, predictions and key contact details for the music industry.

Represents the UK’s independent music sector, which makes up around a quarter of the recorded music market. Provides strategies and case studies and highlights from Aim Connected 2023 and previous conferences.

 

Trade magazines

Rather than searching individual magazines, you would benefit from searching one database which contains multiple music magazines. Business Source Premier is one such database. It also allows you to search across multiple music publications such as Music Week, The Economist and The Mix.

Print and online versions:

Online only versions:

Founded in London in 1998, CMU brings together, informs and educates the global music community, and champions great music, music-makers and music businesses.

News sources, blogs and social media

Rather than searching individual news sources, you would benefit from searching one database which contains multiple news sources. Nexis is one such database. It also allows you to search across multiple magazines and music publications such as Billboard, New Musical Express and Rolling Stone.

Legal aspects

Legal aspect of the music industry are covered by the law database, Lexis. This database contains a section on the music industry. The music in a song, song lyrics and the recording of the song all attract copyright and other intellectual property (IP) rights that can be licensed in the UK and globally. IP rights and copyright and associated rights are therefore key to the exploitation of the works that the music industry generates.

Govenment publications

The UK Government occasionally holds inquiries or commissions research into specific aspects of the music industry. The subsequent reports often contain representations from segments of the industry.

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