Black Music Drove 80% of UK Revenue; Execs Still Scarce
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- UK Music's diversity report found black music generated £24.5bn of the industry's £30bn revenue (80%) over the past 30 years, and identified 138 genres rooted in black musical traditions — including K-pop and techno.
- Eunice Obianagha, UK Music's head of diversity, urged the government to redirect part of its £30m Music Growth Package (announced June 2025) toward homegrown black genres like grime, garage, and lovers rock, and the studios and archives that sustain them.
- BAME workers make up just 22% of the music industry's senior workforce, compared with 46% of London's population, according to the 2024 UK Music Diversity Report.
- Black Lives in Music CEO Charisse Beaumont said the report validates smaller organizations pushing for change, but racial pay gaps and career barriers continue to block black professionals from executive roles despite their outsized influence on genre and sales.
- Zeon Richards, former A&R consultant at Polydor, said executives focused on black music are often the first cut when jobs shrink, eroding the cultural fluency needed to sign and develop talent authentically.
- Mykaell Riley, professor of black music at the University of Westminster and former Steel Pulse member, said the data now backs the case for teaching black music in schools as a recognized subject.
Why it matters: The report quantifies a long-suspected imbalance: black-origin music generated £24.5bn of UK revenue, yet BAME representation at senior levels (22%) trails London's demographics (46%). With the government's £30m Music Growth Package on the table, the report gives diversity advocates hard data to press for investment in black-led studios, archives, and education — and to challenge an executive pipeline that loses cultural decision-makers first.
