BPI says that this A&R spend, which includes artist advances, creating new recordings, video costs and tour support, was 106.6% more in 2021 than the £173.3 million ($225m) spent in 2016. The trade body also noted in its press release that, “A&R, however, is a highly risky and speculative business and only a minority of artists signed to labels become commercially successful”.
Source: UK record labels spent $41m on A&R every month in 2021