According to a new BPI study, Britain’s tech industry is benefiting more from music than the actual music industry.

Although this shouldn’t come as a surprise – no matter how much we hear about the vinyl revival, it’s still no iPod – the figures make for interesting reading. In the five years charted by the study, (2008-2012) tech companies made £11 billion simply on the basis of having music available on their products, while the recorded music sector only brought in £4.2 billion.

More specifically, for every 1% increase in demand for music, there’s a 1.4% correlating increase in smartphone purchasing, and a 2.2% increase for tablets.

The study also found that UK consumers spend approximately 23% on music than other G7 countries.

As pointed out by CMU, the report’s well-timed: October has seen a change in UK copyright law that allows people to legally rip tracks from CDs to their computers, and then put them on their mp3 players (we know – 20 years too late).

According to BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor, “It is well-known that recorded music is one of the UK’s most successful exports, but this study demonstrates that Britain’s love of it also boosts our economy by generating billions of pounds a year in additional consumer technology sales.”

“The relationship between music and tech is symbiotic. Record labels work hand in hand with technology companies every day to create fantastic digital music experiences for fans. The spirit of innovation that drives technology forward also lies at the heart of the authentic and unique global appeal of British music – and the fast-growing tech sector stands to benefit from the wonderful creativity of our musicians”.