Representatives of Britain's music industry and its Department for International Trade visited China recently, seeking new ways for the United Kingdom to benefit from the country's lucrative pop market.

The weeklong trip to Beijing, which concluded on May 1, was part of the UK government's Music Mission, which aims to help its bands and stars break into the Chinese charts. Currently, UK artists account for about 5 percent of the acts in China's top 100.

So far, China's music market is worth about ￡134 million ($173 million; 158 million euros) a year. The Beijing trip pushed for a more thorough mixture of conferences, artist showcases and visits to Chinese music companies.

The Department for International Trade organized the mission in partnership with the Association of Independent Music and the British Phonographic Industry.

Gennaro Castaldo, a BPI spokesman, says, "British music is hugely popular around the world - it has become the UK's international calling card and is arguably more important than ever as the UK looks to form new trading relationships post-Brexit."

Castaldo says the Chinese market offers "huge untapped potential" to musicians from around the world and is "the most exciting opportunity on the horizon", as Chinese consumers increasingly look West and spend more of their disposable income on music and entertainment.

"The mission is making some great contacts," Castaldo says. "It's likely that more UK and global artists will visit China in the years ahead to build their fan bases and help realize China's potential as one of the world's most important music markets."

Emmy Buckingham, membership and international manager at the Association of Independent Music, says, "Since our last mission to China in 2007, AIM has been encouraged by advances in Chinese copyright law that are creating valuable market opportunities."

A dozen UK performers, including singer-songwriter Lucy Rose and Northern Ireland singer Ciaran Lavery, will benefit from the latest round of funding through the Music Exports Growth Scheme that aims to further boost music exports. The government program, which has awarded nearly ￡2 million of investment for UK artists, helps British musicians build on their domestic success to crack overseas markets.

The global success of artists including Adele, Cold play and Ed Sheeran helped music exports rise by almost 10 percent in 2015, while contributing ￡4.1 billion to the UK economy.

[email protected]

(China Daily European Weekly 05/05/2017 page28)