13.01.2015: The Department for Culture, Media and Sport revealed that the UK’s Creative Industries, were worth £76.9 billion to the UK economy in 2013.

The Creative Industries are growing faster than any other sector of the economy and now account for 5.6% of all UK jobs. The figures released are boosted by the UK’s music industry, which is also performing at record highs; in 2014 for the first time, the top selling albums of the year were all from UK artists, and in 2013, the music industry saw a sector specific growth of 9%.

The Creative Industries in 2013:

• Gross Value Added (GVA) for 2012-13 increased by almost 10 (9.9) per cent – more than three times that of the UK economy as a whole, and higher than any other industrial sector.

• GVA of the Creative Industries was £76.9bn in 2013 and accounted for 5.0 per cent of the UK Economy. For the fourth year running, the Creative Industries proportion of total UK GVA was higher than the year before, and is now at a record high.

• The Creative Industries accounted for 1.71m jobs in 2013, 5.6 per cent of total UK jobs; and a 1.4 per cent increase on 2012.

• The value of services exported by the Creative Industries was £17.3bn in 2012, 8.8 per cent of total UK service exports.

• Between 2011 and 2012 the value of service exports from the Creative Industries increased by 11.3 per cent. This compares with an increase of 2.8 per cent for total UK service exports.

Commenting on the figures, Jo Dipple, CEO of UK Music said: “We know that the UK has a strong and vibrant Creative sector, but these figures, by DCMS, show just how much the UK’s creative industries are worth. The UK has a world class creative sector and a world class music industry.

UK Music estimate that in 2013 the music contributed £3.8bn to GVA, £2.2bn in exports and sustained 111,000 jobs, clearly the music industry contributes a huge amount to the figures we have seen released today. These are the hard facts, but the soft power of music has even more cultural value to the UK plc. In 2014, UK acts like Ed Sheeran, Paulo Nutini and Sam Smith topped the charts, and for the first time, the top-ten bestselling albums, were all from UK acts.

Music is a growth market for the UK. Our value and importance must be respected and recognised in order for us to maintain our competitive advantage.”

Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, in the Departmental press release said: “The UK’s Creative Industries are recognised as world leaders around the globe and today’s figures show that they continue to grow from strength to strength. They are one of our most powerful tools in driving growth, outperforming all other sectors of industry and their contribution to the UK economy is evident to all.

Government is determined to continue its support for this most dynamic of sectors as part of our long-term economic plan. The tax reliefs we’ve got in place and are extending to Children’s TV and orchestras have been instrumental in attracting inward investment, and are part of broad package of measures designed to ensure the continued success of the Creative Industries.”

To view the DCMS report, click here.

UK Music has published its own annual economic study, Measuring Music, which shows the contribution UK music made to the British economy. This report has been acknowledged by the DCMS, and is referenced in their annex.

Concerning music, Annex D of the statistics released by the DCMS, which deals with “data limitations – impact on industries”, states:- While a good part of the music industry is implicitly included in the codes making up the Creative Industries Economic Estimates, the industry and occupation codes do not allow the contribution of music to be satisfactorily identified in a separate category. Occupation codes do not allow a number of roles to be identified e.g. in A&R.

Even at the highest resolution of detail available in the ONS data we use, live music is counted alongside theatre in a single “Performing arts” category. There are also challenges related to capture of micro-businesses and the inaccurate classification of music businesses in the ONS Business Register that underpins the Annual Business Survey on which GVA estimates in this release are produced. UK Music is currently working with the ONS and DCMS on these areas.

It has used industry data from its members to separately estimate the size of the music industry in its latest report Measuring Music, which estimates that the UK music industry’s contribution to the British economy in 2013 was £3.8bn, up 9 per cent year-on-year (£3.5bn in 2012). (https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/394668/Creative_Industries_Economic_Estimates_-_January_2015.pdf p. 37)