UK Archives

TIDAL to support HiRes FLAC

15/04/2023

TIDAL to support HiRes FLAC was the surprise announcement from Jesse Dorogusker, CEO of TIDAL in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on reddit at the beginning of the week. When asked about MQA he gave the following reply: “So many questions about MQA and hi-resolution audio. I hope we don’t spend all of our time on audio format details, but it’s an AMA and you’re asking. TIDAL has cared about high quality and even […]

Streaming is benefitting more artists

08/04/2023

Streaming is benefitting more artists with streaming success spread across many more artists compared to the CD era according to recent research by the BPI. Based on Official Charts data, the findings show that the 10 leading streaming artists made up just 4.9% of the audio streaming market in the UK last year. This compares to the top 10 artists in 2007, when CD was the leading format, making up 10.9% of that year’s artist […]

MQA goes into administration

08/04/2023

MQA goes into administration, the UK’s equivalent to Chapter 11 in the US but is continuing to trade as usual. Recently the company announced the creation of a new HiRes wireless codec originally called MQAir which was recently renamed to SCL6. However, this does not seem to have set the audio world alight with many industry pundits sceptical about another lossy wireless codec to join the likes of aptX, LDAC, and LHDC – none of […]

Draft media bill promises more British content

04/04/2023

A draft media bill promising more British content on UK media has been published by the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The principal aims of the bill are: To bring Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ under new Ofcom rules and ensure public service broadcasters’ on-demand services are easy to discover on smart TVs and streaming sticks New reforms to guarantee access to UK radio on smart speakers and cut red tape […]

UK’s National Album Day returns in October

21/03/2023

UK’s National Album Day returns in October on Saturday the 14th and this year it will be themed around The 90s, following previous celebrations that included The 80s, Women in Music, and, just last year, Debut Albums. It will also help to honour 75 years of the album LP format. Now in its sixth edition, this year’s National Album Day will look to shine a light on a decade that skipped between Britpop, Trip Hop and Hip Hop; gave […]

BBC Radio to stop Shoutcast streaming

11/03/2023

BBC Radio to stop Shoutcast streaming from mid-2023 and will focus on HLS and DASH as its preferred audio streaming technologies. According to the broadcaster ‘This will allow us to understand more about how and where our content is consumed and will help us improve the services we offer to our listeners.’ It continues ‘Shoutcast is an older streaming technology and many connected radio devices in the UK no longer use it for BBC streams. […]

UK recorded music revenues up 4.7% in 2022

10/03/2023

UK recorded music revenues up 4.7% in 2022 reaching £1.32 Bn according to a recent report by the BPI. This marked the sector’s eighth consecutive year of revenue growth, led by streaming. However, when adjusted for inflation, the figure falls hundreds of millions of pounds below the total reported in 2006. Growth in 2022 was again fuelled by climbing streaming revenues, which rose 6.3% year-on-year to £885 million and which now account for 67.2% of industry revenue – up from […]