News story – The Guardian:

Britain’s recorded music market surpasses £1.5bn, driven by rising stars including Olivia Dean and Sienna Spiro alongside renewed success for established acts such as Oasis and Charli XCX. 

In 2025, Britain produced a whole host of rising talents who took the industry by storm. Alongside help from the resurgence of music icons such as Oasis and Blur, BPI (British Phonographic Institution) announced a record-breaking year, with the total revenue in the U.K.’s recorded music market surpassing £1.5 billion for the first time in history.  

The report highlighted the strength of Britain’s emerging artists. Olivia Dean’s “The Art of Loving” sold more than 606,124 units by January 2025, while Sam Fender’s “People Watching” recorded 100,000 sales in its opening week. 

The streaming market accounted for £1.07 billion of the revenue with BPI stating that streaming made up 67.7% of all recorded music revenue. Another example of a huge success from an emerging British artist was Alex Warrens “Ordinary”, which was the most streamed song in the UK, amassing 268.1 million streams whilst spending 13 weeks at No.1.  

Resurgences from music icons such as Oasis aided Britan’s successful year in music. Alongside their record-breaking tour, Oasis amassed over one million album sales in the UK in 2025, with their albums “Time Flies” and “What’s The Story Morning Glory” both charting in the top 10 best-selling albums of the year. 

The iconic Manchester bands resurgence also had an impact on the vinyl industry, with their being a 13.3% increase in vinyl purchases in the UK, making it the 18^th consecutive year of growth. Limited addition vinyl is grabbing fans attention, with Taylor Swifts “Life of A Showgirl” sold 47,000 vinyl copies in just 74 hours as part of a limited addition release. 

Dr Jo Twist, CEO of the BPI, said “The UK is still the second largest exporter of music globally, which is amazing… we have a brilliant ecosystem in the UK which helps those artists reach global success” but still urges the government to increase their support towards the music sector.

Opinon Piece – The Guardian:

A record-breaking year, Britan’s recorded music revenue has surged past 1.5 billion in 2025. With streaming revenues reaching a record breaking high, a new generation of UK artists taking over the charts as well as iconic acts making much anticipated returns; the music scene appears stronger than ever. Beneath these statistics, I believe lies a desperate attempt to hide the truth around the fragility and hardship the next generation of UK music artists are going through.  

Streaming makes up 67.7% of all recorded music revenue, accounting for £1.07 billion. The UK’s music scene has thrived thanks to help from upcoming artists like Olivia Dean and Sam Fender releasing much anticipated albums, Alex Warrens huge hit “Ordinary” spending 13 weeks as number one, as well as iconic artists making comebacks alongside record breaking tours.  

Despite the success of these artists being key to Britan’s music boom in 2025, musicians are still waiting to seek their rewards for having their music streamed. Artists receive a belittling £0.002 – £0.004 per stream, meaning for artists to make £3–£4 they’d need 1000 streams. To put this into perspective, for an artist to make minimum wage for the year, they would need an incredible 7,407,333 stream per year. 

Being an independent upcoming artist is becoming an almost impossible career path, which could lead to problems for the future of UK music. If artists are unable to afford to make, perform, and record music, how can companies like BPI expect a constant stream of new music from independent artists? 

Streaming has allowed the public to easily access music in the click of a few buttons, meaning that artists can reach larger audiences globally, leading to a higher likelihood of being able to sell tickets to gigs thanks to the resulting exposure of streaming. Despite this, touring has become so expensive due to travel costs, venue and equipment costs as well as the results of Brexit and Visas. 

This means the positives of streaming are not outweighing the negatives of not being paid adequately. Despite this, BPI report these figures to share their success, and to show off how strong the British music industry seems at current. However, instead of boasting about record breaking revenue, they should be supporting these upcoming artists financially to help guarantee they can afford to release music.  

By doing this, instead of reminiscing success, they are ensuring long-term sustainability is going forward. This is not to say that streaming hasn’t revitalized and reshaped our accessibility to music, But the current model raises difficult questions about who truly benefits from ‘music booms’. Until the gap between industry success and artist income is addressed, the longevity of Britain’s music boom will remain vulnerable. 

Interview Piece – NME

“We’ve got a **** tonne of music that we need to get out” – Acetate talk new music and festival slots. 

Upcoming Leeds stars Acetate give us a fresh insight into the music world as they give us exclusive news on new music and festival slots as we discover what’s in store for the four piece indie band.  

By James Spencer – 27th April 2026

The Leeds music scene has blown up over the past few years, providing some of the most exciting upcoming indie/rock acts who are starting to get the attention they deserve. Yard Act, The North and Gravy are fine examples of Leeds bands who are having major success across the UK. 

With a “Furious blast of indie punk power”, Acetate appears to be no different, with surely a matter of time until the four pieces hit the next level of stardom. With influences ranging from the gritty Britpop culture of the ’90s to the anthemic indie rock of the 2000s, Acetate’s music is a passionate mix of driving rhythms, soaring guitars, and introspective lyrics. 

“I think it was a drunk message… I’m trying to start a band; I’m going to take over the world” Acetate’s Oscar Biggar tells NME, as he takes us back to where it all began. “It started with my ex-misses, so she knew Ryan… He said I’m starting a band as well. And we need a guitarist and obviously that was my trade”  

After 5 months of writing songs, jamming together and playing some covers, Acetate took the first big step, with their debut gig at The Key Club. Oscar reminisces on the gig saying, “I’ll never forget. It was on the day after my dad’s birthday, so I was absolutely hanging”. Acetate supported Gravy, who has had big success in recent years, supporting both The Pigeon Detectives and The North.  

“It was literally a sellout. Everyone from Leeds, all your mates come down and we were like, F****ng hell, if this is what it’s going to be like every week, I’m doing this for my entire life”. Acetate kicked off their careers with a bang, filled with music lovers and the anticipation at an all-time high for the band’s friends and families. Oscar joked about the sell out, “it’s obviously been a decline since then.”  

The work of promoters in Leeds has helped Acetate when it comes to live show opportunities; Oscar spoke a bit about one of their first support shows. “Yeah, that was a while. That was about a year and a bit ago. That was at the wardrobe, that was a nice little gig”. Acetate have moved on to work predominantly with This Feeling, having the huge honor of being a part of their Big In 2026 Album. 

“They put you on like a showcase… whoever shifts the most tickets can headline”. Oscar speaks about their first shows with The Feeling, as they went on to headline Lending Room. “We managed to headline it, so we were buzzing with that… you’d start off supporting someone at, let’s say, Royal Park, which is 100 cap, and then you go and headline Royal Park, and then you go to support someone somewhere else, and it’s more like a ladder.” 

Acetate has built great relationships with some top indie bands through this feeling, and the ladder system well put by Oscar. “The Cases, they did a gig in Leeds, and they literally messaged me saying, Like, obviously, now you part of this feeling. Can we stay at your house?” “We went on a little night out, had a couple of beers with them, they’re lovely lads and that, and then they come back to mine and stay at the house” 

Despite the backlash promoters who have received over the past few years, This Feeling seems to be one of the few who really have the artists first. “I feel like you don’t really get that with other promoters. You get a proper sense of community at this feeling. They look after you” 

When asked about their dreams and future with This Feeling, Oscar gave some exclusive news about a festival slot in the summer. “I don’t know if I can even tell you. We’ve got the offer through for Isle Of White”. This puts them in the footsteps of huge acts such as The K’s and Catfish And The Bottlemen. 

“We’ve got a **** tonne of music that we need to get out… then we’re doing Chronicles of the Weekend, which is going to be another EP and then another EP after that.” Acetate looks ahead for what seems is going to be a huge year for the lads, with new music and huge festival slots.  

They are a band you need to make sure you look for in 2026, there newest single “Back Of The Line” is out now on all streaming platforms.  

Transcription and Interview:

Review Piece – NME

Bruno Mars – ‘The Romantic Review’ – A 10-year wait to hear melodies and sound stolen from better songs

A clear change of direction and growth from the global megastar – Bruno Mars’ first album in over 10 years leaves some wondering where the good old days have gone?

Despite a decade since his last solo single, Bruno Mars is still undoubtably a megastar in the pop music scene.  Bruno Mars has spent the his last 10 years collaborating with artists from around the world, giving us Grammy and Brit award winning group ‘Silk Sonic’ in 2022.

A collaboration with Lady Gaga saw “Die with a Smile” become the most streamed song that year, winning Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. That year he bridged a gap between K-Pop and Western Pop, with a collaboration with Rose. “APT” became a huge hit, winning three Grammy nominations as well as international song of the year at the Brit Awards. 

After years of success, his album ‘The Romantic’ comes with a lot of high expectations, and his lead single ‘I Just Might’ didn’t fail to disappoint. Nostalgic, recognisable and catchy. the sound of trumpets and claps take you back to Bruno Mars’ early 2010 albums, pulling you towards the dancefloor; a single that can only be described as truly Mars-Esque. 

With the lead single being so authentic to himself with such a recognizable sound, surely this can only lead to another unforgettable Bruno Mars Album?

As you weave between the sounds of Latin and disco, there is a sense of familiarity with the sounds of some of the songs. It wasn’t until the sixth song on the album, and Curtis Mayfield’s 1970s hit ‘Move on Up’ snare hit into intro melody being a clear influence on the sound you realize why the album feels familiar.

‘God Was Showing off’ sounds like a well-oiled TV advert song, or that could possibly be because of its similarities to ‘Soulful Strut’ by Young-Holt Unlimited.

‘I Just Might’ and its dancefloor filler sound feels like a big deception in listening to the album, as the Latin songs feel like an attempt to reach a wider audience whilst getting as many BV’s, Adlibs and trumpets in, so recognizable to his sound. The opener does nothing but confirm Bruno Mars is an incredible vocalist, unfortunately that is the only true highlight of his album opener ‘Risk It All’.

A nice enough album, but not to the heights of what has made Bruno Mars the megastar he is today. Even Bruno Mars’ incredible vocals with nostalgic sprinkles of adlibs and horns can’t save the album from not reaching its expectations, made even higher by the Lead Single being such a different feel to the rest of the album.