LONDON (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The British record industry is calling on the Government to extend its research and development tax-credit scheme to music companies, to try to help it keep the UK at the forefront of the global music scene.
In its response to the Government's Creative Economy Programme, the BPI – the record industry's trade body – argues that the music sector spends a bigger proportion of its annual turnover on R&D than the aerospace, motoring and defence sectors put together. Yet it does not qualify for any of the financial support which these industries receive from the Government.
The BPI's executive chairman, Peter Jamieson, says the music industry spends some £200m a year – equivalent to 17 per cent of its annual revenues – on developing new talent, such as Corinne Bailey Rae, one of the biggest new British acts to emerge this year.
