A shared direction for a stronger, fairer and more sustainable Scottish music industry.
The Scottish Music Industry Roadmap 2026–30 sets out eight connected national priorities for the development of Scotland’s music industry.
Developed by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), drawing on sector engagement and research, it provides a framework for coordinating policy, investment and practical action from October 2026 to December 2030.
It gives people, businesses, organisations and public bodies a shared basis for strengthening existing activity, addressing gaps and working together on the changes Scotland’s music industry needs.
Read the Evidence Base and Methodology→
Become a member of the SMIA (for free!)→
Why has the Roadmap been developed?
Scotland’s music industry creates extraordinary artistic, cultural, social and economic value. People working across the sector develop talent, reach audiences, support communities and create opportunities to learn, work and participate in music.
The challenges
These achievements often sit alongside difficult working conditions. Low pay, irregular income, uncertain funding, gaps in infrastructure and unequal access to opportunities can make it difficult to sustain activity or plan for the future.
For too many people, businesses and organisations, the immediate demands of keeping activity going leave limited time and resources for development.
A shared response
The Roadmap brings these connected challenges into a shared framework for action. It builds on existing strengths, expertise and successful approaches, while identifying where further support, investment or changes to policy are needed.
Decisions across culture, enterprise, education, skills, planning, transport and other areas affect music’s development. Responsibility sits across Scottish, UK and local institutions, alongside businesses and sector organisations. Progress depends on connecting their work and agreeing who can contribute to the changes required.
What are we working towards?
The Roadmap’s vision is a stronger, fairer and more sustainable Scottish music industry in which:
- Talent can develop.
- Careers and businesses can thrive.
- More of the value created by music is retained and reinvested in Scotland.
- Music is recognised as a national cultural, social and economic asset.
Five change ambitions describe the broad changes sought:
Build the conditions in which music can thrive.
Make music careers and businesses more sustainable.
Secure greater and more strategic investment in music.
Connect Scottish music more effectively with audiences and the world.
Give music greater national weight.
The eight national priorities organise the work needed to advance these ambitions.
Who is the Roadmap for?
The Roadmap is for people working in music and for those whose decisions affect its development.
This includes:
Music makers and the wider workforce:
People creating, performing, producing, teaching, promoting and supporting music, including employed, self-employed and freelance workers.
Music businesses and organisations:
Those working across live music, recorded music, publishing, management, distribution, retail, technology, specialist services, education and community activity.
Government, funders and support bodies:
Public institutions, enterprise and skills agencies, education providers, trade bodies, unions and other organisations supporting music in Scotland.
It covers all genres and Scotland’s cities, towns, rural areas and islands. Commercial, publicly funded, charitable, educational, community, voluntary and informal activity are all part of its scope, including work delivered without public funding.
“Scottish music” is used inclusively to encompass music made by people from or based in Scotland, across genres, languages and traditions.
Eight Connected National Priorities
Each priority identifies an ambition, explains why it matters and sets out goals, illustrative opportunities for action and what success could look like by 2030.
All eight priorities remain active throughout the Roadmap period. Their numbering does not indicate a ranking, and activity can contribute to several priorities.
Protect and develop the spaces, businesses, services, expertise and institutions that music depends on.
This includes strengthening existing provision, addressing significant gaps and clarifying who can take responsibility for action across physical, commercial, professional and institutional infrastructure.
Increase and better direct investment in music, improve funding arrangements and strengthen the financial resilience of businesses and organisations.
This includes greater certainty for planning, funding that better reflects staffing and operating costs, access to suitable finance and support with managing income and financial commitments.
Improve the conditions in which people enter, develop and sustain careers in music.
Priorities include fair pay, clear contracts, timely payment, safer working cultures, access to paid opportunities and relevant professional development. Support should reflect different roles, career stages and the freelance and portfolio nature of much music work.
Strengthen local music activity and the people, places and networks supporting it.
Action should be shaped by communities and their circumstances, recognising differences in provision, transport, affordability and accessibility across Scotland’s cities, towns, rural areas and islands.
Help music businesses develop through better enterprise support, specialist expertise and suitable investment opportunities.
This includes strengthening commercial services, supporting innovation and enabling more of the income, intellectual property and expertise generated by music to be retained and reinvested in Scotland.
Strengthen access to international audiences, income, professional relationships and cultural exchange.
Support should help people and businesses pursue first international opportunities and build on established activity, including through touring, showcasing, business connections, inward and outward visits and continuing partnerships.
Improve opportunities to discover, listen to, attend and participate in music.
This includes addressing barriers to engagement and recognising the roles of media, music retail, venues, festivals, education and community activity. Participation has cultural and social value in its own right, alongside its contribution to audiences and income.
Strengthen recognition of music’s cultural, social and economic contribution in policy, investment and public decisions.
Music’s artistic and cultural value should be recognised alongside its contribution to livelihoods, education, tourism, communities and international relationships.
You can read about all eight priorities in detail in the Roadmap.
How can you use the Roadmap?
You can use the Roadmap to consider where your work connects with wider priorities for Scotland’s music industry.
If you work in music, explore the priorities relevant to your role, working conditions and professional development. Your experience can also help identify where support is effective and where barriers remain.
If you run a business or organisation, use the priorities to inform your plans, identify shared challenges and develop partnerships. Existing activity may already contribute to several priorities.
If you work in government, funding or sector support, use the evidence and priorities to inform policy, investment and programme decisions. Organisations with a UK-wide remit can also use the Roadmap to strengthen their partnerships and support for people working in Scotland.
A practical starting point is to:
- Identify the priorities most relevant to your work.
- Consider what you are already contributing.
- Identify changes you could make or opportunities you could develop.
- Discuss shared needs and possible partnerships with others.
- Share relevant experience, evidence and learning.
How will action happen?
There are two connected ways to contribute.
1. Action through your own work
People, businesses and organisations can use the priorities to guide their own plans, develop partnerships and initiate activity.
You do not need approval from the SMIA or the Roadmap Advisory Group to contribute through your own work. Your activity does not need to be included in the shared implementation programme.
Those undertaking and resourcing independent activity retain responsibility for their decisions and delivery.
2. A shared implementation programme
Alongside independent activity, the SMIA will coordinate a shared programme with participating organisations.
Annual implementation plans will set out agreed work, intended results, responsibilities, resources and timescales. Delivery will remain with the organisations and partnerships that agree to lead it.
Significant new interventions will proceed when:
- The evidence supports the work: the need is understood and the proposed response has a clear purpose.
- Leadership is agreed: an appropriate organisation or partnership has accepted responsibility.
- Resources are available: sufficient funding, people, expertise and practical capacity are in place.
Where these conditions are not yet met, the immediate work may involve developing partnerships, gathering evidence, preparing proposals or securing resources.
What will the SMIA and Roadmap Advisory Group do?
The SMIA will coordinate shared planning and progress reporting, bring partners together, maintain and share evidence, and work with government, public bodies and funders on the policy and investment changes identified through the Roadmap.
An independent Roadmap Advisory Group will be recruited in late 2026. It will bring sector experience and perspectives from across Scotland to:
- Review evidence and advise on priorities for the shared programme.
- Examine proposed activity, responsibilities and resource requirements.
- Review progress and unresolved barriers.
- Recommend improvements and further action.
- Consider who is benefiting and whose perspectives may be missing.
The Group will advise and scrutinise. Funding, delivery and organisational decisions will remain with the bodies responsible.
The SMIA’s coordinating role does not make it responsible for delivering every priority or give it authority over independent organisations.
What principles will guide the work?
Equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility, Fair Work and environmental sustainability should shape action across every priority.
This means considering barriers to participation from the outset, supporting fair working conditions and addressing environmental impacts in how activity is planned and delivered.
Action should also:
- Reflect local circumstances and be shaped with people and communities.
- Use evidence and experience to inform decisions.
- Build on existing expertise and effective provision.
- Establish clear responsibilities, resources and ways of working.
- Involve the Scottish, UK and local institutions responsible for relevant decisions.
- Make progress, learning and unresolved challenges visible.
The Roadmap should be read alongside the Scottish Music EDIA Manifesto and Action Framework. These publications set out shared values and practical actions to advance equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility across Scotland’s music industry.
Read the Scottish Music EDIA Manifesto and Action Framework→
What happens next?
The Roadmap runs from October 2026 to December 2030.
- In late 2026, the initial work will include recruiting the Advisory Group, agreeing responsibilities, preparing the first implementation plan and progressing immediate opportunities.
- Throughout the Roadmap period, participating organisations will develop and deliver agreed activity, pursue policy and investment changes, and adapt plans in response to evidence, experience and available resources.
- In March 2031, a final evaluation will be published to inform future policy, investment and the next Scottish Music Industry Roadmap.
How will progress be reviewed?
The SMIA will publish annual progress reports with contributions from participating partners.
These will explain:
- What work has taken place and what results have been achieved.
- Who has benefited and where progress remains uneven.
- What has been delayed or remains unresolved, and why.
- What action, decisions or resources are needed next.
The SMIA Summit: reviewing progress and shaping what comes next
The SMIA Summit will provide an annual opportunity to review progress against the Roadmap, discuss what needs to improve, share experience and help shape priorities for the following year.
These discussions will inform future implementation plans and evaluation. The SMIA will explain through its planning and reporting how contributions have influenced the work.
The Summit is open to SMIA members, and membership is free. Join to stay updated on the Roadmap, hear about future Summits and opportunities to contribute, and connect with others working across Scotland’s music industry.
How was the Roadmap developed?
The Roadmap brings together two years of development, informed by:
- The SMIA’s work with members, including surveys and ongoing engagement.
- Evidence gathered through structured discussions at the SMIA Summit in 2024 and 2025.
- Stakeholder feedback on the draft framework and national priorities.
- Wider research, official statistics, policy information and sector studies.
The evidence does not provide a complete picture of Scotland’s music industry. Sources differ in their coverage, and gaps and differences of view remain.
The Roadmap provides a basis for action that can be strengthened through further engagement, research and learning from implementation.
The accompanying Evidence Base and Methodology publication explains the sources, development process, stakeholder feedback and limitations in more detail.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Do I need to be an SMIA member to use the Roadmap?
No. People, businesses and organisations can read and use the Roadmap regardless of membership.
Joining the SMIA is free and provides a way to stay connected as implementation develops.
Do I need to register or seek permission before contributing?
You do not need SMIA or Advisory Group approval to use the priorities in your own work or partnerships.
Participation in the shared implementation programme involves agreeing activity, responsibilities and resources with the relevant organisations.
Are the activities described in the Roadmap already funded?
The Roadmap includes illustrative opportunities that organisations and partnerships could develop. These are not a list of confirmed or fully funded programmes.
Significant new interventions in the shared programme will require supporting evidence, agreed leadership and sufficient resources.
Do I need to report independently initiated activity to the SMIA?
Shared programme reporting requirements do not automatically apply to independent activity.
We welcome examples, evidence and learning that can improve understanding of progress across the sector, including what has worked and what remains difficult.
Will the Roadmap change over time?
The eight national priorities provide the direction through to 2030. Annual plans will adapt as evidence, circumstances and resources change.
Where significant changes to the wider framework are needed, the SMIA will review them with the Roadmap Advisory Group and relevant partners and explain the reasons for agreed changes.
Share your experience and stay connected
The Roadmap will develop through the experience and contributions of people across Scotland’s music industry.
We welcome feedback, relevant evidence and examples of work connected to the priorities. This includes successes, barriers and perspectives that may be missing.
To share your thoughts or ask a question, email info@smia.org.uk with “Roadmap” in the subject line.
Read the Roadmap, consider where your work connects with its priorities, and join the SMIA for free to receive updates and hear about opportunities to take part – including the annual SMIA Summit.
Read the Evidence Base and Methodology →
Development of the Roadmap was supported by Creative Scotland through the SMIA’s Multi-Year Funding, with UK Music contributing partnership support.