The UK has long been a hub for musical talent, creativity and cultural expression, with UK music holding significant influence over the global music landscape. This is why an important part of Amazon’s investment in the creative industries is our ongoing support of the UK music industry through Amazon Music.
We are working to open up access to the industry through grants and apprenticeships for UK music talent. Through our investment, Amazon Music hopes to continue to support a diverse, creative and vibrant UK music industry that is sustainable and allows artists to flourish over the long-term.
Support for more than 100 new apprenticeships
Earlier this year, Amazon announced support for more than 100 new apprenticeships in organisations across the creative industries, doubling its creative industries apprenticeship levy funding to £2m. This funds apprenticeships across the music sector including the BRIT Trust apprenticeship scheme and the Association for Independent Music and Women in CTRL on a new Amplify apprenticeships scheme.
Aimed at improving access to music industry careers for women and non-binary people, Amplify will allow independent record labels to attract high quality talent and diversify their workforce. The scheme will benefit from a contribution from Amazon's apprenticeship fund to enable six independent labels to hire a label assistant apprentice for 15 months from 1 August 2023.
“I’m honoured that Women in CTRL, Amazon Music and AIM are uniting to break down barriers to entry in the music industry,” said Nadia Khan, AIM chair and the founder of Women in CRTL. “It’s something I’m very passionate about and thanks to the generosity of Amazon Music, this scheme will provide paid roles to future talent, taking a step towards equitable access to music industry careers.”
Empowering artists to fulfil their creative expectations
Amazon Music has also shown commitment to developing the UK music industry through sponsorship of the Ivor Novello Awards and working with the Featured Artist Coalition (FAC) to launch the FAC Step Up Fund in 2021 to provide financial support and a broader package of benefits for artists.
VUKOVI, a rock band from Kilwinning in North Ayrshire, Scotland, was awarded a grant in 2022.
“Receiving this grant from the Featured Artists Coalition and Amazon Music has given us the opportunity to fulfil the creative expectations we have for ourselves,” said Janine Shilstone, VUKOVI’s vocals. “The funding helps us to reflect a true representation of who we are as artists and working with some of the best like-minded creatives in the industry is extremely exciting for us.”
Driving growth for creative and independent studios
Untold Studios work with Amazon Music producing music projects for Sam Smith, Mabel and Popcaan. They also provide Amazon Music with VFX (visual effects) for upcoming film and episodic projects, and their entire studio (one of the first cloud-based studios for high fidelity imagery) is supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS). Rochelle Palmer, the managing director of Untold Studios, believes there has never been a more exciting time to be a creator or maker in the UK.
“The creative sector is vital to the UK – the talent, infrastructure and technology that powers this industry is simply world-class. The sector is one of the great engines of the UK economy and especially given the current economic challenges it has the potential to lift the prospects for so many people.” As a business, Amazon Music also supports the growth and development of the industry through creating the best possible customer experience for UK music fans. Our view is that streaming should be for everyone, not just fans of critically acclaimed artists, but all music fans regardless of how broad or niche their listening.
Read more about how Amazon supports artists from across the UK creative industry.
