UK music industry 'bucked downward trend'

Image caption, Take That had a lucrative live tour during 2009

The UK music industry grew by 5% in 2009 thanks to an upturn in revenue from concerts, according to a report.

Live music events raked in an estimated 拢1.5bn last year - an increase of more than 9% on 2008 - the Performing Rights Society (PRS) for Music said.

UK Music sales "stabilised" against a global slide in CD revenues, it added, outperforming DVDs and computer games.

"2009 was simply not a bad year," the report said, given the poor state of the global economy.

It acknowledged that huge record sales by Susan Boyle and Michael Jackson may have bucked the downward trend, along with major live events including Take That's Circus tour.

PRS for Music's findings also revealed that live music revenues continue to be concentrated in London, but the city's share is diminishing.

The UK continued to be one of only three countries in the world whose music exports financially outweigh imported music, the others being the US and Sweden, it added.

Meanwhile, British live music overseas generated an extra 拢4m during 2009 to make a total of 拢18m.

Earlier this year, the British Phonographic Institute (BPI) reported that the music industry had registered its first growth in sales for six years.