22.09.2025: UK Music hosted a packed panel session at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Bournemouth, with the power of music to kickstart local growth and wider industry challenges among the topics that dominated discussion.

It was a full house at the Liberal Democrat conference fringe event, titled ‘Push The Button : Backing British Music to Kickstart Local Growth’ and chaired by Liberal Democrat Lords DCMS Spokesperson, Baroness Bonham-Carter.

The panel line-up included Liberal Democrat DCMS Spokesperson Max Wilkinson MP, Chief Executive of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Dougie Scarfe, PRS for Music Public Affairs Manager, Meg Harding, and UK Music Chief Executive, Tom Kiehl.

Attendees received a copy of UK Music’s Hometown Glory music tourism report, which was praised by Baroness Bonham Carter in her opening remarks. Among those in the audience were a number of local councillors, representatives from the News Media Association and the BBC, as well Liberal Democrat Lords Department for Science, Innovation and Technology spokesperson, Lord Clement-Jones.

Max Wilkinson MP opened the discussion by introducing the premise that “culture is something that makes life worth living”, before outlining the economic contribution made by music, and praising Charlie XCX’s Brat album.

He described the issues faced by smaller artists when touring Europe and navigating different visa regimes in EU member  states and spoke about his work engaging with ALDE grouping of liberal MEPs on this issue. He also underscored his hope that Government minister Chris Bryant would continue the leadership role he had taken in progressing these issues in his new role in the Department for Business and Trade.

Meg Harding explained the concerns of the creative industries around AI companies creating value from copyrighted works without permission or remuneration and called for a properly regulated framework. She spoke about AI-generated works and quoted statistics from Deezer, which showed that 28% of new tracks uploaded to the platfrom are AI-generated, stressing the need for transparency and the labelling of AI-generated content.

She also explained why the Text and Data Mining (TDM) exception with an opt-out mechanism for creators and rightsholders as proposed by the Government was unworkable and penalised smaller organisations and creators.

The UK Music panel discusses the key issues facing the industry at the Lib Dem conference

Dougie Scarfe spoke passionately about music education. He explained that the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra was the only symphony orchestra in the UK not based in a city, and highlighted its role in bringing music into people’s lives across an area of 10,807square miles in the South West of England, from NHS trusts to schools.

He spoke about an “existential crisis” in state schools, citing a steep drop in applicants for music teacher training programmes. He listed the multiple benefits of a creative education that provide young people all the skills that employers want, as well as a 20% higher propensity to vote. He described the skill of an orchestral performance: “When my orchestra starts playing, there will be 85 people doing physics, with wood, metal, strings, horsehair, – no AI.”

Concluding the session, Tom Kiehl thanked the chair and panellists for their “fantastic contributions”. He explained the role of music in generating economic growth, quoting its £7.6 billion contribution to the UK economy and 216,000 employment figures, but warned against complacency.

He summarised the three main challenges that the panel spoke about: EU touring, AI and music education. He outlined the growing challenge of international competition, and welcomed the Government’s Music Growth Package to help support the UK music industry maintain its edge in the international market.

Furthermore, he discussed UK Music’s Hometown Glory report and the Local Music Action Charter launched within it, which local authorities can sign up to. The charter offers local authorities practical steps with which to support and grow their local music economy. Greater Manchester became the first council to sign up to the charter, hailing it as a ‘catalyst for boosting local growth and opportunity’. You can find out more about the charter and sign up here.

Tom closed the session by stressing how important music and culture are to our national identity, and his hope that the relationships between industry and political parties would “grow to meet the challenges of the future”.

You can view our photo gallery of the event here.

PHOTO (L-R): Dougie Scarfe OBE, Max Wilkinson MBE, Baroness Bonham-Carter, Tom Kiehl, Meg Harding