Music Studios Business Rates

SW1A 2AA

Dear Chancellor,

7 December 2025

As you are doubtless aware, the United Kingdom is famous for its music industry, and part of that is being home to the finest recording studios in the world.

British studios have a reputation for world-class facilities, and excellence in production, recording, mixing, and mastering. Iconic locations such as Abbey Road, Realworld Studios, and Rockfield have not only given birth to some of popular music’s most celebrated albums, creating the soundtracks to many people’s lives. But they continue to employ scores of producers and engineers whose talent and expertise are sought worldwide.

Meanwhile, hundreds of studios across the UK provide a huge boost to local economies and much- needed opportunities for young, aspiring music professionals. This not only attracts UK talent but artists from all over the world, including the USA.

Recording studios are one of the few parts in the music industry that offer paid training positions, which means more people from low-income backgrounds can enter the industry. How long they can continue to develop this talent pipeline though is questionable.

Having somehow battled through the ravages of covid, and shouldered soaring energy prices, at least 500 recording studios across the UK are facing incredible hardship due to the demands of business rates. This means more and more positions are being offered to those who can afford to work for free.

Studios do not have their own business rates classification and are currently classified as office space (the most expensive bracket). This means they do not receive targeted relief, despite their significant cultural and economic contributions. Recording studios cannot pass on increases in costs to clients.

The result of this has been nothing short of catastrophic. A recent survey conducted by the Music Producers Guild (MPG) revealed that 50% of respondents were considering closing their doors for good over the next year due to the punitive level of business rates. This risks putting UK at a competitive disadvantage.

In recent years, dozens of the UK’s most famous studios have closed their doors as a result of spiralling costs, including Monnow Valley and Sawmills (where Oasis recorded their first two album), Parr Street Studios (where Coldplay recorded) - a cultural tragedy as much as an economic one.

To maintain and grow this world-class talent pipeline, studios need the ability to invest. But market pressures and business rates demands are stifling this.

Simply giving recording studios their own classification within the business rates framework so that the demands are fair and proportionate would address all these issues within existing legislation, at a very limited cost to the Treasury.

Doing so will not only protect jobs but also create them and maintain the world-class reputation of recording facilities that the UK is famous for.

Along with this letter, we present to you today a petition organised by the MPG, which has attracted nearly 2,000 signatures demanding a fairer deal for studios on business rates.

Without action, British music will no longer be made in Britain. We are already seeing British Artists, British producers and British recording engineers forced to go abroad because British studios are closing.

Despite your government’s manifesto pledge to draw up a fairer deal on business rates, your recent budget made no such commitment to recording studios. We urge you to reconsider.

Yours sincerely,

Recording Studios:
Abbey Road Studios, London.
AIR Studios, London
The Motor Museum, Liverpool
Metropolis Studios, London
Rockfield, Wales.
RAK Studios, London
Strongroom Studios, London
Kensal Town Studios, London
Baltic Place, London
Echotown Studios, Devon.
British Grove Studio, London.
HoxaHQ, London
Noatune Studios, London
Kempston Street Studios, Liverpool
Landen Park Studios, Horley.
Dean Street Studios, London
Three Six Zero Studios, London.
Catalyst Studios, St. Helens.
Willow Lake Studios, Preston
Dsoundz Media, Bristol
Silk Mill Studios, Newcastle-under-Lyme ARC Studios, Oxford.
Snap Studios, London
The Green Room, Leeds
The Lounge Recording Studio, Wigan.
What Studio, Liverpool
Real World Studios, Box.
The Church Studios, London.
Beckview Studio, Scarborough
JBJ Studios, London.
Studio 13, London & Devon
Audio Barn Studios, Winchester
Black Bay Studios, Outer Hebrides (Scotland) Start Together Studios, Northern Ireland

Artists & Producers:
Peter Gabriel
Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits)
Pete Townshend (The Who)
Robert Smith (The Cure)
Jason Cooper (The Cure)
Felix White (The Macabees)
Michael Joseph Nelson (Banners)
Tom Walker
JP Cooper
Giles Martin (The Beatles)
Mark "Spike" Stent (Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen)
Frazer T Smith (Stromzy, Dave, Kae Tempest)
Paul Epworth (Adele, Rihanna, Mumford & Sons)
Tom Allom (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest)
Oli Jacobs (The 1975, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter)
Martin Terefe (Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall, James Blunt)
Catherine Marks (boygenius, Manchester Orchestra, Wolf Alice)
Dimitri Tikovoi (Placebo, Charli XCX, The Libertines, Marianne Faithfull) Danton Supple (Coldplay, Doves, Suede)
Rich Turvey (Blossoms, Rachel Chinouriri)
Cam Blackwood (George Ezra, Jack Savoretti, Imelda May)
David Kosten (Faultline, Everything Everything, Bat for Lashes)
Jimmy Hograth (Amy Winehouse, KT Tunstall, James Blunt)
Al Groves (Bring Me The Horizon, The Sherlocks)
Rich Costey (Muse, Frank Turner, Sam Fender)
Mark Gillespie (CEO Three Six Zero, manager: Calvin Harris, Will Smith) Stuart Bruce, Yes, The Guitar Trio, Art Garfunkel
Michael Ilbert (Coldplay, Adele, Max Martin)
Craig Silvey (Florence and The Machine, Arcade Fire, The Rolling Stones)
Gareth Nuttal (The K’s, The Lottery Winners)
Jonathan Gilmore (The 1975, Biffy Clyro, Nothing But Thieves)
Cameron Craig (Adele, Tina Turner, Katie Melua)
Matt Taylor (Pale Waves, Frank Turner, KT Tunstall)
Roy Kerr (Paul McCartney, London Grammar, Halsey)
Anu Pillai (Lewis Capaldi, David Byrne, Natalie Imbruglia)
Manon Grandjean (Central Cee, Cat Burns, Olivia Dean)
Amy Sergeant (Bastille, Florence and The Machine, Wolf Alice)
Catherine Anne Davies (The Anchoress)
Isabel Gracefield (Sam Smith, Radiohead, Adele)
Animesh Raval (Fontaines DC, Pulp)
Dave Okumu (Amy Winehouse, Adele, Grace Jones)
Cameron Gower Poole (Dua Lipa, Caroline Polachek, David Guetta w/RAYE) Lorna Blackwood (Dua Lipa, The Last Dinner Party, Tom Walker)
Jim Abbiss (Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, Adele)
Rocky O'Reilly (Ash, Wheatus)
Tom Roach (The Last Dinner Party, The Lathams)