MP and Music

David Warburton MP Elected Chair of Prestigious All Party Parliamentary Group for Music as Industry report reveals music tourism is worth £414m to the South West's economy

11 July 2017 – David Warburton MP has been elected Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Music, it was announced today, in the same week that UK Music published its annual report on the importance of the live music industry to the UK's economy.
The prestigious APPG for Music provides a discussion forum between the UK's music industry and cross-party parliamentarians. The APPG's secretariat is UK Music (www.ukmusic.org) – the umbrella organisation representing the interests of the UK's commercial music industry from artists, musicians, songwriters and composers to major and independent record labels, managers, music publishers and studio producers.
A classically-trained musician, former music teacher and – in his youth – member of several rock bands, David has a keen interest in music. David graduated from the Royal College of Music with a degree and master's degree in music composition. He then studied towards a PhD in music at King's College London.
David's appointment as Chair of the APPG coincides with the publication of UK Music's annual 'Wish You Were Here' report. The report highlights the importance of live music to the economy, specifically the contribution of music tourism to live music events such as Somerset's Glastonbury Festival.

The Wish You Were Here 2017 reports that music tourism currently generates £4 billion to the economy, revealing that in the South West music tourism contributes £414 million to the local economy, with 1.1 million music tourists visiting the region for gigs and festivals such as Glastonbury. Music tourism also supports 5413 jobs in the South West. Full report available here
David Warburton MP said, "It's a huge privilege to be appointed Chair of the APPG for Music. As the Wish You Were Here report highlights, the UK music industry is an incredibly valuable part of our country's economy and has always been a vibrant, diverse and constantly-evolving business – particularly in the West Country.
"In the South West we have an increasing number of high-profile music events and festivals, including of course the Glastonbury Festival, all of which make a massive contribution to our local economy. As Chair of the APPG for Music I'm keen to get involved and help to promote and support the music and creative industries both here in Somerset and across the UK"

Wish You Were Here 2017 reveals:-
-30.9 million people attended either a UK festival (3.9m) or concert (27m). This is a 12% increase for the live sector from the previous year.
-12.5m of UK live music audiences are music tourists (20% increase).
-Music tourists spent £4bn at live music events (11% increase).
-Music tourism now sustains 47,445 full time jobs (22% increase).
-Overseas music tourism increased by 7% (now 823,000 visitors).
-Local music attendance increased by 7% (18.4m). At smaller venues attendance at live gigs increased by 11% to 6.2m with music tourist visits increasing by 14%. Direct spend at smaller venues has decreased by 13% to £202m. Overseas visitors at smaller venues has also decreased by 21%.

In South West UK Music reports:-
-Music tourism generated £414 million in spend.
-1.1 million music tourists visited South West.
-5413 jobs are sustained by music tourism.

About David Warburton: David Warburton was elected in May 2015 as Member of Parliament for Somerton and Frome with the largest constituency swing in England. In 2017 General Election he was re-elected with an increased majority of 23,000 and 57% of the vote.
He lives in Mendip with his wife and their two children. David trained as a classical composer and taught at an inner-city secondary school before going into a successful business career. To follow David's campaigns in the Somerton and Frome constituency go to www.davidwarburton.org, find him on Facebook and Twitter @DJWarburton.