11.03.2026: UK Music has launched a Manifesto for Music in Wales based on a five-point plan to turbocharge the economy and drive tourism to Wales ahead of the Welsh Senedd elections on May 7.
The organisation, which champions the UK music industry, believes the five-point plan laid out in the manifesto could increase the 834,000 “music tourists” who visited Wales in 2024; build on the 3,650 jobs supported by music in Wales in 2024; and add to the £384 million music contributed to the Welsh economy in 2024.
Wales has produced some of the world’s best loved artists, from Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Tom Jones, Manic Street Preachers, Catfish and the Bottlemen and Stereophonics, to Duffy, Charlotte Church, Catatonia and Cate Le Bon to name but a few.
Now, UK Music is calling on all candidates standing in the Welsh Senedd election on May 7 to back the manifesto to boost homegrown music businesses and creators, ease touring at home and abroad, and make a great music education accessible for all.
The five key recommendations in UK Music’s Manifesto for Music Wales are:
- Grow Welsh music through smart public investments
- Bring down barriers to exporting Welsh music
- Ensure music education is accessible to all
- Ensure AI policy supports homegrown creativity
- Use music to drive Welsh tourism
The main points include: strategic public investments to safeguard vital music institutions and infrastructure and boost workforce opportunities; a drive to remove the barriers that have made touring the EU unviable for so many emerging Welsh acts; ensuring that an excellent music education is available to all; delivering an AI policy that supports homegrown creativity by ensuring that big tech firms cannot steal the work of human creators without payment, permission, and transparency; and harnessing the power of Wales’s incredible music sector to drive tourism to the country.
UK Music Chief Executive Tom Kiehl said: “Wales boasts a proud and rich musical heritage that has produced some of the world’s most successful and best loved artists. This manifesto will harness the power of Wales’s incredible music sector to turbocharge economic growth, ramp up tourism to the country and make sure that everyone, no matter what their background, has access to a great music education.
“It will also produce practical solutions to the big challenges affecting the sector, from ensuring big tech firms are not allowed to steal human creations to train AI systems, to tearing down barriers to Welsh musical exports.”
Wales’s iconic music events, venues, and institutions have long been essential components of its musical ecosystem and must continue to be safeguarded and nurtured.
In 2025, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium hosted homegrown heroes Stereophonics for two sold out nights, and Green Man in the Brecon Beacons – the UK’s largest independent festival – entertained a 25,000 strong crowd every night for four nights of music.
This cultural strength translates into economic value, with music tourism in Wales adding £384 million to the economy – a key part of the £8 billion music contributed to the UK economy in 2024.
But challenges remain. Internationally renowned Welsh music institutions such as the Welsh National Opera (WNO) and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) face severe financial pressures. Meanwhile, internationally important venues have faced closure, Welsh musicians continue to feel the impact of Brexit, and grassroots music spaces are under pressure.
The manifesto covers the vast diversity of Welsh music and its creators along with the importance of its vital music venues, studios and music businesses.
It also includes case studies from Cardiff-based artist Aleighcia Scott and Neal Thompson of FOCUS Wales – Wales’s largest international music showcase festival and industry conference. Each case study offers fascinating insights into the workings of the Welsh music industry.
The manifesto will be launched tonight (Wednesday March 11) with a special performance by the Welsh National Opera String Sextet in Cardiff (invitation required).
You can read the English language manifesto here.
You can read the Welsh language manifesto here.
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