The prominence of British disco, funk, reggae and soul groups towards the end of the 1970s certainly helped to pave the way for the artists that followed them. Whereas beforehand, some record labels were at a loss as to how to promote and market black music acts, surely it should be the case that they were now much more capable of handling the new artists of the 1980s. Unfortunately this was not always true. Even in what appeared to be a promising new decade of many possibilities, certain artists were still disillusioned by the lack of support and promotion they received from their record company. However, many who had begun their career in the 1970s continued to flourish in the 1980s, along with the new wave of musicians and singer songwriters who had become their peers. The 1980s saw the emergence of much more confident and assured artists, both black and white, and they were also more technically adept at their craft. The technology in the recording studio had become more advanced and electronic, but was still not as accessibly affordable as it would be later on in the decade. This still proved to be no hinderance to composer performers such as Derek Bramble and Paul Hardcastle, who readily grasped the electronic instruments that would allow them to express themselves, and their creativety.

Although the musical trend had made its inevitable shift by the middle of the 1980s, which saw many of the Brit-Funk groups disappear from the public domain, the music was kept alive by the bands that still continued to perform live for their fans. The next generation of artists began to make their presence felt even more on the radio, in the charts, and increasingly on television. And although many of them also became casualties of change later on, they too broke new ground for the next era of black music makers in the 1990s to walk upon. It is now hard to imagine that even half way through the 1980s, there were still only a handful of musical styles to choose from in England. As the 21st century continues, and black music goes on to evolve into the now numerous genres of house, hip hop, rap, garage, ragga, dancehall, techno, deep house and so on, there may even be a possibility that the British funk sound will return…In one form or another.