The UK audio production industry has launched a new trade association. The Radio Independent Group has rebranded and relaunched itself as AudioUK. The RIGtrain branch for training and skills development is now called Audiotrain. Phil Critchlow, CEO of TBI Media, will be the chair of the group, which has received support from other parties in the audio sector such as the BBC, Audible UK, and Panoply.
“Working closely with the BBC, we achieved a big step forward for radio production in the 2016 BBC Charter Review, with a minimum of 60% of non-news BBC Radio content to be open for competition by the end of 2022,” Critchlow said. “The next challenge is to maximise creative and commercial opportunities for the audio production sector across all its other markets, in the UK and internationally. Many audiobook and podcast producers are already among our nearly 100 member companies, spread across the UK. Reflecting that wider industry in our brand will help us put audio production at the heart of the UK’s successful creative industries.”
“A growing audio production sector is essential for providing innovative and entertaining content for UK radio, and meeting increasing demand for podcasts, audio books and more, both nationally and internationally,” said Margot James, minister for digital and the creative industries within the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. “I welcome the new expanded role for the Radio Independents Group as AudioUK, and look forward to working closely together in the future.”