20.02.2025: UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl addressed attendees at Brand Finance’s Global Soft Power Summit 2025 in Westminster where he stated that increasing national confidence and creativity must be a measure of success for the newly created Soft Power Council.

Tom set out his hopes and aspirations for the Government’s new Soft Power Council, following his appointment to the new body. His remarks at the QEII Centre on February 19 were part of a panel entitled ‘The UK Soft Power Council – Shaping Strategy and Global Influence’.

Measurements for how to assess the impact and success of the Council were a hot topic of discussion on the panel. While Tom agreed the measures of GDP growth, both for the UK and the countries it influences, were important he also highlighted other qualitative areas, too.

He argued that how confident the UK feels on the global stage will be a measure of success, as well as whether the UK can develop new creativity that is enjoyed on the global stage. While the industry is doing well in an overall sense, with the sector contributing £7.6 billion to the economy, he warned the music industry should not be complacent.

Tom highlighted the sector’s economic success to the UK as a £4.6 billion export intensive industry, and acknowledged the UK is a key driver of soft power influence given the country’s rich music infrastructure and history. However, he warned of an increasingly globally competitive music market with the gulf states and South Korea in particular investing in culture.

Given the increasingly complex geopolitical situation, Tom said music, which had no barriers, was in his view the ‘ultimate form of communication’, and could be a key asset to Government as it navigated the world. This should include taking inspiration for how music helped bridge and shape understanding between East and West countries during the Cold War.

Tom said that music as a soft power asset could help broaden networks, alliances and cooperation outside of the UK to tackle shared challenges on an international level, such as meeting the threat of unregulated Artificial Intelligence.

Furthermore, he felt that it was very welcome that music was put at the heart of the Soft Power Council, and hoped that the opportunity of working with a diversity of other sectors, such as Rule of Law and Higher Education, on the shared goal of soft power will demonstrate the great linkages that exist for music. This is particularly the case given the relative international strength of the UK’s copyright law and world leading conservatoires and music schools.

In terms of the specific value that the Soft Power Council could add to a sector like music, Tom stated that it would enhance the credibility and importance of the creative industries across Government, particularly in pursuit of economic growth and a new industrial strategy.

Tom was speaking on the panel (pictured) alongside fellow Soft Power Council members Dr Linda Yueh CBE (Fellow in Economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, & Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School) and Sara Pantuliano (Chief Executive, ODI Global).

The panel was moderated by Catriona Laing (Senior British Diplomat and Senior Responsible Officer for Soft Power at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office).

The Global Soft Power Summit is an annual event that brings together businesses, individuals and government officials from across the world to explore the role of soft power in international relations and businesses.

This year’s theme is ‘Responding to the Decline of Globalization’. As well as keynote speeches from the 68^th US Secretary of State John Kerry, Former President of Poland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Lech Wałęsa and Former Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin, the Summit saw the inauguration of the latest Soft Power Index, details of which can be found here: Global Soft Power Index | Brandirectory

You can watch the panel session in full below.