With the Welsh Senedd elections set for May 7, 2026, UK Music has unveiled a bold Manifesto for Music in Wales. The strategic document outlines a five-point plan designed to safeguard the nation’s rich musical heritage while driving unprecedented economic growth and tourism.
In 2024, the music sector contributed £384 million to the Welsh economy, supporting over 3,650 jobs and drawing 834,000 music tourists. However, despite the global success of icons like Sir Tom Jones, Stereophonics, and Cate Le Bon, the industry faces significant headwinds, from the financial pressures on the Welsh National Opera to the post-Brexit barriers stifling international touring.
The Five-Point Plan for Growth
UK Music is calling on all Senedd candidates to back a manifesto built on these core pillars:
Strategic Public Investment: Safeguarding vital infrastructure and institutions like the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama to boost workforce opportunities.
Tear Down Export Barriers: Finding practical solutions to the bureaucratic hurdles that have made EU touring unviable for emerging Welsh talent.
Universal Music Education: Ensuring that a high-quality music education is accessible to all, regardless of background.
Human-Centric AI Policy: Protecting homegrown creators by ensuring tech firms cannot use human work to train AI without permission, payment, and transparency.
Music as a Tourism Engine: Leveraging world-class events like the Green Man Festival and Cardiff’s Principality Stadium to increase Wales’s appeal as a global music destination.
A Vision for the Future
"This manifesto will harness the power of Wales's incredible music sector to turbocharge economic growth," says Tom Kiehl, Chief Executive of UK Music. "It produces practical solutions to big challenges, from protecting human creations against AI theft to tearing down barriers to Welsh musical exports."
By treating music as a primary economic driver rather than a secondary cultural asset, the manifesto aims to ensure that the "Land of Song" remains a global powerhouse of creativity and commerce well into the next decade.
