UK music-tech funding fell to £68.8M in 2025, a new MTUK report warns

The money behind UK music-tech is drying up, and a new report puts a number on it. Trade association Music Technology UK (MTUK) says funding peaked at £183m in 2021 and fell to just £68.8m in 2025.

The drop stands out because the wider market held up. Over the same period, overall UK tech funding fell only 4.4%. Music-tech fell far harder than the sector around it.

The gap is at growth stage

The report does not show founders giving up on music-tech. Seed-stage investment grew from £8.4m in 2020 to £22.1m in 2025.

The problem comes after the seed round. Growth-stage funding, the larger checks that turn a working product into a real business, is where the money pulled back. Startups can get started and then stall.

MTUK released the figures as SXSW London opened, a week built around music and tech in the capital.

Why this reaches working artists

Tools do not appear from nowhere. The mixing assistants, stem splitters, and AI co-writers that artists lean on come from small companies that need capital to ship and survive.

When growth funding dries up, fewer of those tools reach maturity. The ones that do tend to be the products with a major backer or a big-tech parent. That narrows what independent musicians get to use, and who controls it.