10/07/18: UK Music CEO Michael Dugher has welcomed Jeremy Wright to his new role as Culture Secretary – and praised outgoing Cabinet Minister Matt Hancock as a “tireless defender” of the industry.

^{Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright QC MP}

Commenting on the reshuffle, Michael Dugher said:

“Secretary of State for DCMS is widely regarded as the best job in government and I’m looking forward to working with Jeremy Wright. He is blessed with a department that has a great ministerial team in Margot James, Tracey Crouch, Michael Ellis and Lord Ashton, and he has some of the best civil servants in the country at DCMS, especially those working in support of the creative industries.

“On behalf of UK Music, I’d like to say a big thank you to Matt Hancock. He has been a very good friend of ours, always willing to engage and listen, and to take up our fight. He proved to be passionate not just about digital, but became a great champion of the British music industry, a committed believer in diversity and a tireless defender of the intellectual property rights of the creators who are behind Britain’s world-leading music industry.

“The new Secretary of State has a busy in-tray: the battle in Brussels goes on as we try to tackle the value gap, whereby the likes of Google’s YouTube continue to make a fortune without fairly rewarding creators and investors responsible for content. We need to ensure artists can continue to tour the EU without costly bureaucracy and that musicians can come to the UK to record and to perform  – from classical to pop – after Brexit.

“We must deliver the protections that grassroots music venues deserve and were promised. And we must ensure that every young person, regardless of their background, is given every opportunity to access music, including in education, so that we continue to develop the world-class talent that Britain is renowned for.”

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Music Week