News & press release


Monday, August 02, 2010, Record labels continue to diversify as secondary revenues generate £193.5m in 2009

Income outside of traditional music sales up 6.6% in 2009 Film, TV, advertising and games sync licensing income rises 19.6% year-on-year. 2009 total recording industry revenues were £1,122.3m, u ..read

Friday, July 23, 2010, AIM and BPI Commission Environmental Research into the Impact of Physical Promos

AIM and BPI have joined together to commission research into the carbon impact of a switch to digital promo delivery by the independent sector.    Conducted by industry organisation Julie’s Bicycle ..read

Friday, July 09, 2010, BPI Chairman Tony Wadsworth AGM Speech

This year, Britain celebrated a hatrick.  No, not the third time in a row that we failed to get beyond the opening stages of the World Cup.No, it was the third year in a row that the world's best sell ..read

Monday, July 05, 2010, BPI Statement on BBC 6 Music

Geoff Taylor, BPI Chief Executive, said: “We are delighted that the BBC Trust agreed that the case for closing 6 Music was unconvincing.  The Trust’s initial findings support our case that 6 Music ..read

Thursday, May 27, 2010, Trailblazing British Black Music Album Anatomy: 'Osibisa' (MCA 1971) Monday July 5 2010, 6.30-8.30pm

    The Black British Music Congress, in conjunction with the BPI, are presenting the latest in their popular ‘Album Anatomy’ events dissecting the 1970s ground breaking album ‘Osibisa’, which catap ..read

Monday, May 24, 2010, Closing 6 Music Would Weaken BBC's Ability To Meet Its Charter And Fail Generation of British Artists

24 May 2010 - The closure of BBC 6 Music would weaken the BBC’s compliance with its Charter requirements, failing current and future generations of British artists by removing a key national outlet fo ..read

Thursday, May 13, 2010, Coldplay and La Roux Lead Artist Support for 6 Music As BPI Survey Confirms Listener Passion

13 May 2010 - Coldplay, La Roux, Sigur Ros, The Zutons and Delphic are amongst the latest artists to add their voices to the campaign against the proposed closure of radio station BBC 6 Music as a maj ..read

Tuesday, May 11, 2010, New BPI Data Shows Music Better Value Than Ever

·         Average price of a CD dips below £8 for the first time. ·         43.1% of the UK population aged 12+ bought music in 2009 – same as 2008. ·         The number of people active in the digi ..read

Friday, May 07, 2010, Music Takes Centre Stage In UK Games Genre Worth £100M

May 7, 2010 – Hits from Blur, Gorillaz and Calvin Harris helped Ubisoft’s ‘Just Dance’ for Nintendo Wii become the UK’s biggest-selling music game in 2009, with Nintendo’s Wii console also grabbing th ..read

Wednesday, May 05, 2010, Pop Resurgent As It Achieves Six-Year Album Sales High

May 5, 2010 – Best sellers by Lady Gaga, Paolo Nutini, Lily Allen and Robbie Williams confirmed the resurgence of pop in 2009 as new figures today showed that the genre had claimed its biggest share o ..read

Monday, April 26, 2010, Recorded Music Sales Revenue Stabilise In 2009

  ·         Total UK recorded music trade income rises 1.4% overall to £928.8m. ·         Trade revenues from physical formats down 6.1% to £739.9m. ·         Digital income now a fifth of total re ..read

Monday, April 19, 2010, 2010 BPI Los Angeles Sync Mission Postponed

April 19, 2010 - The BPI Sync Licensing Mission to Los Angeles has been postponed as a consequence of the disruption to air traffic from the Icelandic volcano.  It is hoped that this will be reschedul ..read

Thursday, April 15, 2010, Music Industry Sets Out The Case For Saving BBC 6 Music

Record industry body The BPI set out a series of significant concerns over the proposed closure of BBC 6 Music at a summit meeting held yesterday afternoon between senior figures in the UK music indus ..read

Thursday, April 15, 2010, UK maintains share of North American music market in 2009

April 15, 2010 – Scottish superstar Susan Boyle’s multi-platinum selling album ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ and the release of The Beatles’ remastered back catalogue by EMI helped the UK maintain a strong shar ..read

Thursday, April 15, 2010, Celebrities & Pupils from The BRIT School set to perform at Wimbledon Cannizaro Park Festival

Celebrities set to perform at Wimbledon Cannizaro Park Festival Cheryl Cole impersonator, comedian Rufus Hound, will perform at the Wimbledon Cannizaro Park Festival this summer.   Other confirme ..read

Thursday, April 08, 2010, BPI Heralds Landmark Digital Economy Act

April 8, 2010 – BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor welcomed the passage into law today of the Digital Economy Act as a key milestone in the development of the internet, which will help secure Britain’s ..read

Tuesday, April 06, 2010, BPI To Hold 6 Music Summit with BBC Trust

BPI has organised a summit meeting between senior figures in the UK music industry and the BBC Trust to set out, face-to-face, significant concerns over the proposed closure of BBC 6 Music and the rat ..read

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, Kings of Leon Set New Digital Landmark

Kings Of Leon’s Only By The Night has become the first album to hit the quarter of a million sales mark, the Official Charts Company can announce.     The album – which was released 18 months ago - ..read

Wednesday, March 10, 2010, BPI Responds to UK Internet Lobby on Digital Economy Bill Amendment

In a letter published today in the Financial Times, the UK's major ISPs joined forces with Internet giants Google, eBay, Facebook and Yahoo to publicly demonstrate their opposition to a recent House o ..read

Monday, March 08, 2010, Digital Music Services Could Earn UK ISPs £100m By 2013

Digital music services could generate more than £100m of potential direct revenue for UK ISPs by 2013 according to a new study1 conducted by global industry analyst Ovum, commissioned on behalf of the ..read

Friday, March 05, 2010, BPI Statement on Awareness of Online Music Services

Consumer Focus are putting out a piece of research this weekend that suggests that “most consumers do not know where they can buy music online” and arguing that this is a reason not to proceed with ac ..read

Friday, February 19, 2010, BRITs Duo On Track To Reach Dizzee-ing Heights in UK Charts

The BRIT Awards with MasterCard 2010 could be on the way to making chart history this weekend as Tuesday night's show-stopping rendition of "You Got The Dirtee Love" by Award winners for Best Album, F ..read

Thursday, February 18, 2010, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award At The Classical BRIT Awards 2010 With NS&I

ANDRÉ RIEU - FROM WALTZING UP THE POP CHARTS TO PERFORMING AT THE AWARDS MYLEENE KLASS HOSTS FOR A THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR LONDON CHAMBER ORCHESTRA RETURN The UK’s recorded music association, ..read

Wednesday, February 17, 2010, BRIT Awards 2010 Winners

Earls Court, London: The BRITs Awards 2010 proves yet again that it is the biggest and best Awards show in Europe. Hosted by comedian Peter Kay, this year’s ceremony celebrated the very best in Britis ..read

Friday, February 12, 2010, Florence & The Machine And Dizzee Rascal Release ‘You Got The Dirtee Love'

FOR THE FIRST TIME BRITs PERFORMANCE TO BE AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD ON iTUNES As the most thrilling night in music looms, UK record labels’ body, the BPI can reveal that Dizzee Rascal and Florence & T ..read

Thursday, February 11, 2010, MasterCard Renews Sponsorship of The BRIT Awards

New Three-Year Deal Takes one of UK’s Longest-Running Music Sponsorships into its 15th Year   London, UK, Thursday 11 February 2010 - MasterCard today pledged its continuing support for the British ..read

Wednesday, January 20, 2010, Get Your Act Together!

Search starts for the UK’s top school band And the winning Class Act will pick up the best prize in British music – a BRIT Award!    Prime Minister Gordon Brown: “The judges will have a tough decis ..read

Thursday, January 07, 2010, 2009 music sales show decline but digital retail market starts to deliver

- Combined albums market down 3.5% overall in volume to 128.9m. - 16.1m digital albums sold in 2009, 12.5% of albums market - Singles market records best year – 152.7m singles sold, up 32.7% on 200 ..read

Friday, December 18, 2009, Growing Threat From Illegal Web Downloads

Survey Shows Peer-to-peer use remains level, but other methods of illegal downloading on the rise •    Levels of illegal filesharing are not declining, despite significant media coverage on the iss ..read

Friday, October 23, 2009, 2009 Is Record Year For UK Singles Sales

 2009 has already become the biggest ever year for UK singles with more than 117m sold to date, recorded music body the BPI today announced.   Driven by a strong release schedule and a burgeoning ra ..read

Friday, October 23, 2009, Robbie Williams to be honoured with the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music’ Award at The BRIT Awards 2010

ROBBIE WILLIAMS TRIUMPHANTLY RETURNS TO THE BRITs TO PICK UP THE ‘OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO MUSIC’ AWARD AT THE 30th BRIT AWARDS   The UK’s recorded music association, The BPI, today ..read

Thursday, October 08, 2009, Lyric-writing Competition

UK Music in conjuntion with Music Hub and Pure Solo are offering the chance to win a Gibson Les Paul guitar.   Download the entry form here ..read

Thursday, September 24, 2009, BRIT School & Leona Lewis Play Host To Lord Mandelson & Ben Bradshaw

The importance of supporting the next generation of creative talent was highlighted today during a visit to the BRIT School in Croydon by Lord Mandelson, Business Secretary, and Ben Bradshaw, ..read

Tuesday, September 15, 2009, BPI Annual Conference for Members 2009 Video

This year’s BPI Annual Conference for members (ACM) looked at the digital market for music with contributions from Paul Brindley of Music Ally and Paul Brown of Spotify UK. In addition a panel consist ..read

Tuesday, August 25, 2009, Certified Awards search engine now back online

The facility to search the BPI’s Certified Awards database is now back online, with an improved set of search options.   Users can now look up awards by keyword as well as artist and title, and can ..read

Monday, August 17, 2009, The BRIT Awards Celebrate 30 Shows

Date Unveiled For The Biggest Night In British Music Brits Nominations Launch Moves To Indigo2 On Monday 18 January   www.brits.co.uk   UK recorded music industry association, th ..read

Friday, July 10, 2009, New Online Directory for Music Industry Education and Training | BPI Press Release

People considering a career in the music industry can now access a comprehensive, online reference directory of academic and vocational opportunities for 2009/10 launched today - the Music Education D ..read

Tuesday, July 07, 2009, Adapting to the Future in a Rapidly Changing Environment | BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor AGM Speech

Thank you very much.  Now Tony, I know you're something of a Renaissance man - well Mike Batt tells me you're that old - so you will know that this year is the 150th anniversary of the publication of ..read

Tuesday, July 07, 2009, Reinventing the Record Label for the Digital World | BPI Chairman Tony Wadsworth AGM Speech

Ladies and gentlemen, may I warmly welcome you to the BPI’s 2009 Annual General Meeting.  Thank you to all of you who have taken the time out of your busy working days to be with us this afternoon.  A ..read

Tuesday, July 07, 2009, Innovation boosts record label income as licensing and rights deals generate £195m in 2008 | BPI Press Release

-    New business models help grow revenues from non-unit sales of music by 7% to £195m -    Record labels now generate 18% of income from outside physical format and digital retail sales -    B ..read

Friday, June 26, 2009, Ten years of Napster | Geoff Taylor BBC comment piece

Napster was the Rosetta Stone of digital music. Until its release in 1999, few people understood the long term significance of turning sound waves into ones and noughts. Yes, the CD had introduced g ..read

Tuesday, June 23, 2009, Album sales rise by a fifth in run-up to Father's Day | BPI press release

Strong May sales see digital albums break 15% market share milestone for first time   UK album sales recorded a 21.9% increase on the previous week as an attractive line-up of Dad-themed compilation ..read

Monday, June 22, 2009, Geoff Taylor Commentary on Digital Britain

Amongst all the viewpoints on Digital Britain, it would be easy to miss that our industry has won a huge battle of principle.  Government has accepted our case that ISPs are the natural control point ..read

Monday, June 22, 2009, Jonthan Ross Honoured With The 2009 Music Industry Trusts’ Award

    Broadcaster and presenter, Jonathan Ross OBE, five times Sony Radio Academy Award gold winner and holder of three BAFTAs, is to be honoured with the prestigious Music Industry Trusts’ Award. ..read

Monday, June 22, 2009, Man arrested as part of pre-release music uploading investigation | BPI press release

A 33 year-old man believed to have links with a group leaking pre-release music on to file-sharing networks was arrested in Portsmouth on Tuesday, June 16, following a joint enquiry by BPI and IFPI, r ..read

Tuesday, June 16, 2009, Digital dithering throttles new filesharing measures say BPI | BPI press release

BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor embraced the confirmation of new legislation requiring Ofcom and ISPs (internet service providers) to significantly reduce illegal filesharing, but described the failu ..read

Tuesday, June 16, 2009, Universal Music and Virgin Media announce unlimited download service | BPI statement

Commenting on the Universal Music Virgin Media deal announced today, Geoff Taylor, BPI Chief Executive said:   “It is very encouraging to see an ISP and a record label working together as creative p ..read

Thursday, May 28, 2009, BPI’s BRIT Trust funds studio for West Brom’s stars of the future | BPI press release

As part of the BRIT Trust’s partnership with the Football Foundation’s Kickz scheme, young people in the West Midlands will be mixing music at West Bromwich Albion’s Community programme. £9,800.00 of ..read

Monday, May 18, 2009, New BPI Stats show strength of digital music | BPI press release

The 30th edition of the BPI Statistical handbook, published today, reveals that the UK’s digital music market is developing at breakneck pace, with new business models delivering impressive improvemen ..read

Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 'Britain in danger of creative crunch' says BPI | BPI press release

Speaking at a joint meeting of the Federation of Entertainment Unions, UK Film Council and BAFTA on the future of the creative industries, BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor outlined how the music busin ..read

Tuesday, April 14, 2009, UK artists’ share of US market grows to 10% | BPI press release

A new BPI report published today shows UK artists’ share of US and Canadian music markets has risen significantly - and for the fourth year in a row. More than one in ten albums sold in North America ..read

Wednesday, April 08, 2009, "UK must not fall behind in dealing with P2P problem" says BPI | BPI press release

Following the approval by the French National Assembly of the government’s “Creation and Internet Law” to promote and protect the distribution of works on the internet, the BPI has urged Ministers to ..read

Wednesday, April 08, 2009, Adam Liversage appointed as new BPI Director of Communications | BPI announcement

BPI is pleased to announced the appointment of Adam Liversage to the role of Director of Communications at the BPI.  Adam is currently Head of Corporate Media Relations for BT, and will bring to the B ..read

Friday, March 27, 2009, BPI, MU, PPL & AIM statement on Term Directive | BPI press release

Commenting on the lack of agreement on the proposed Term Directive at the European Union Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) in Brussels this morning, the leaders of the Musicians Union, ..read

Tuesday, February 24, 2009, ACM and BPI celebrate young musical talent in the House of Commons | BPI press release

Tonight, 24th February 2009, the BPI and the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) celebrate young people making music, accompanied by the ACM’s Gospel Choir in the House of Commons.   In a month that ..read

Wednesday, January 07, 2009, UK reports resilient music sales in 2008 | BPI press release

New figures released today by UK record labels association the BPI show that, despite challenging trading conditions, 2008’s strong release schedule and expanding digital retail sector helped the musi ..read

Wednesday, November 19, 2008, Music business meets its future – the next generation of entrepreneurs – at Backstage Pass 2008 | BPI press release

Today, 19th November 2008, forty music business professionals meet, advise and inspire forty young people looking to break into the business and shape its future, at Backstage Pass 2008.   Young mus ..read

Tuesday, October 14, 2008, The Music Producers Guild UK announces a collaboration with the BPI’s BRIT Awards | BRIT Awards press release

The Music Producers Guild (UK) and the UK’s recorded music industry trade association, The BPI, are coordinating their respective Awards events to recognise the enormous contribution that recording pr ..read

Friday, September 26, 2008, UK Music, a new umbrella organisation representing the collective interest of the UK's commercial music industry, is created | Industry press release

Today marks the birth of UKMusic – a new umbrella organisation representing the collective interest of the UK’s commercial music industry, from artists, musicians, songwriters and composers, to major ..read

Tuesday, September 23, 2008, Music subscription services get official chart | OCC press release

    The Official Charts Company (OCC) is taking the first steps towards tracking new areas of music consumption, with the launch of what is believed to be the world's first music subscription chart. ..read

Thursday, September 11, 2008, Jail sentence for counterfeiter who made up to £850,000 | Lewisham Council press release

  A counterfeiter of luxury goods, music and movie DVDs in south east London has been sent to prison for three years following a hearing at Blackfriars Crown Court on 8 September.   Officers from L ..read

Tuesday, August 05, 2008, What would online music look like in an ideal world? Geoff Taylor, BPI Chief Executive, is guest blogger on Telegraph Blog | BPI comment

Like most music fans of my age, I spent my teens and early twenties building a massive music collection, because the ownership of records, and later CDs, was important to me. I wanted to enjoy my musi ..read

Tuesday, July 29, 2008, Commercial music piracy in the UK | BPI interview

This interview, with David Wood, Director of Anti Piracy, BPI, appears in the forthcoming summer edition of the IFPI’s Right Track magazine. David runs the BPI’s anti-piracy team of 12: comprising ..read

Thursday, July 24, 2008, Government-brokered deal on P2P represents significant step forward in tackling illegal filesharing | BPI press release

UK record labels’ association BPI today reached a groundbreaking agreement with major internet service providers (ISPs) and government on measures to help significantly reduce illegal filesharing. ..read

Thursday, July 24, 2008, MOU between ISPs and rights holders

Joint memorandum of understanding on an approach to reduce unlawful file-sharing This voluntary MOU between key stakeholders from the ISP industry, the content industries, OFCOM and the Government la ..read

Tuesday, July 22, 2008, UK record labels praise Mercury Prize for championing new home-grown musical talent | BPI & AIM press release

The UK recorded music industry's association the BPI and independent labels body the Association of Independent Music (AIM) today praised the role the Nationwide Mercury Prize plays in showcasing new ..read

Wednesday, July 16, 2008, BPI backs bid for fair copyright | BPI press release

UK record companies association the BPI today welcomed the European Commission’s proposal decision to extend the term of copyright on sound recordings to 95 years. Creative works are protected by c ..read

Wednesday, July 09, 2008, The role of the BPI in promoting the value of music | BPI speech

Geoff Taylor, BPI Chief Executive Speech to BPI AGM, 9th July 2008       Introduction Ladies and Gentlemen, members, friends; thank you very much indeed for joining us at our Annual General ..read

Wednesday, July 09, 2008, The role of record labels in the digital age | BPI Speech

BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor delivered a speech on the role of record labels in the digital age to an audience at London Calling 2008 today [Friday 20 June 2008]. He then answered questions from M ..read

Wednesday, July 09, 2008, Music Affects | BPI speech

Tony Wadsworth, BPI Chairman Speech to BPI AGM, 9th July 2008 Music Affects It’s a good thing now and again to review the way you work, the way you spend your time on certain things as oppose ..read

Monday, July 07, 2008, BPI announces discount chart data deals for UK indies | BPI press release

UK record labels’ trade body the BPI today announced a deal to provide independent record labels with discounted access to chart data. The Official Charts Company, co-owned by the BPI and retailers ..read

Monday, June 30, 2008, New business models boost income for British record labels: licensing and multiple rights deals net £122m in 2007 | BPI press release

- New types of artist deal help grow additional income by 13.8% to £121.6m as new business models generate higher returns for British music companies   - Record labels now generate 11.4% of income ..read

Friday, June 13, 2008, Virgin Media’s downloading education campaign represents a turning point in digital music | BPI comment

Education through partnership is the first stage to creating an internet where music’s value is recognised and rewarded, says BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor. Bill Thompson’s critique of the new e ..read

Friday, June 06, 2008, Virgin Media launches downloading education campaign with BPI | BPI & Virgin Media press release

Virgin Media and the BPI today announced a new education campaign to help Virgin Media’s broadband customers safely download music from the internet and avoid the risk of legal action.   As part of ..read

Wednesday, April 30, 2008, BPI backs safe and legal music downloading campaign | BPI press release

UK record labels’ body the BPI has given its backing to a global campaign that was launched today by children’s internet charity Childnet, with support from the international music industry.  The camp ..read

Tuesday, April 08, 2008, Music Business Group unveils collective submission on private copying and format shifting | MBG press release

On April 8th, the UK music industry, as represented by the Music Business Group [MBG], delivered its collective response to the proposed changes to copyright exceptions as recommended by Andrew Gowers ..read

Tuesday, April 01, 2008, Football and music team up to invest in talent for Kickz | BPI & Premier League press release

The Premier League and British music companies have teamed up to invest in young talent in football and music.  The BRIT Trust – the charitable arm of the BPI, which represents UK record labels – has ..read