Ask your MP to put pressure on the Government to support investment in music education and arts funding using our template letter. Photo: Shuttertock.
The MU has made a submission to the UK Government’s Spending Review consultation calling for urgent investment in music education and arts funding.
The consultation is part of a process the government uses to set department budgets, including the Department for Education and for Culture, Media and Sport.
Headline statistics mask a growing crisis
The UK music sector was worth £7.6 billion to the economy and £4.6 billion in exports in 2023.
Yet UK musicians’ average annual income from music work is £20,700, and nearly half earn under £14,000. This compares to the average median income in the UK of £33,280 (Office of National Statistics), and the average salary for a working-age person with a degree in the UK of £38,500 (gov.uk)
Nearly half of musicians (44%) report a lack of sustainable income is a barrier to their music career, and over half (53%) have to sustain their career by sourcing other forms of income outside of music.
This is due to a combination of factors including a 46% real-terms cut to arts funding since 2005, Brexit, the cost-of-living crisis, low/no pay from music streaming and the growing impact of artificial intelligence (AI).
At the same time, insufficient and inconsistent music education funding, lack of instrumental music provision in schools and changes to higher education funding, are affecting music teachers’ jobs and cutting off the UK’s talent pipeline.
The whole UK music sector is seeing signs of decline
The impact of cuts and patchy provision are borne out in stark reports from Demos, Ofsted and The Sutton Trust, that demonstrate it is children and young people from low socio-economic and marginalised backgrounds who are impacted most.
With music and the arts being cut at every step, the whole UK music sector is seeing signs of decline. Recent BPI figures showed that 2024 was the first year, since records began in 1970, that none of the year’s top 10 best selling songs were by an artist from the UK.
Increased investment in countries like Canada is yielding great results for their music industries, threatening the UK’s historic dominance.
Make your voice heard
Ask your MP to put pressure on the Government to support investment in music education and arts funding using our template letter below.
It includes space to explain the impact of music education and/or arts funding cuts on you and your community. Your stories make a big difference, showing MPs that these issues are urgent and need their attention.
You can find your MP’s email address on the Parliament website. You can also still write to your MP if you’re a British citizen living abroad, or if you have no fixed address.
Dear [your MP name]
I am writing to you as a musician and one of your constituents living at [your address goes here]
Music education and arts funding need urgent investment to protect jobs and the future of UK music.
[Do you teach music? Use this space to share your experiences as a music teacher, how low pay impacts you, and how reduced access to music education impacts the children and young people you work with]
[Do you work for a publicly funded arts organisation? Use this space to share your experiences of low/no pay in the sector, and how real-world funding cuts have impacted your work and wellbeing, outreach programmes and audiences]
Therefore as my MP, will you urge the Treasury to:
- Invest in Music Hubs so that the National Plan for Music Education in England can be properly funded
- Increase investment in the arts in order to grow the economy in this sector and improve the wellbeing of society
- Consider an uplift in arts funding to cover the hugely increased costs of touring for arts organisations
- Continue funding level 3 vocational qualifications for music and arts subjects after 2026
- Extend the applicability of Orchestra Tax Relief (OTR) to amateur and professional choirs by amending legislation and including 'voice' as one of the eligible acoustic instruments for groups of 12+.
You can read a full briefing of these issues, including statistics and analysis, at theMU.org/SpendingReview.
Read our briefing for MPs on music education and arts funding, ahead of the UK Government Spending Review in spring 2025, below.