With the shadow of Brexit looming, the cost for UK bands to tour the rest of Europe is about to get substantially more expensive—enough so that it has the potential to drastically alter the live music landscape throughout Europe, and not for the better.
The expected deluge of taxes and visas and the cost of moving gear/merch could add up to the point that touring is too cost prohibitive for emerging acts still finding their footing, not to mention financing.
The UK’s Musicians’ Union has launched a Change.org petition asking for a new passport that would allow bands and their crews to move between EU countries without having to incur the wave of fees that will come with Brexit.
“The problem is that at a grassroots music level, we don’t form a huge part of the conversation when it comes to considering what’s happening to musicians,” explained Mark Davyd, CEO of the UK’s Music Venue Trust, to NME. “You get Roger Daltrey going on television saying, ‘Everything will be fine after Brexit’ because he used to play in Europe in the 1960s. Then you’ve got James Blunt saying it doesn’t matter and won’t affect him—and you know what? He’s right. With the amount of money he makes from touring, he won’t even notice. This is basically a tax on new and emerging musicians.”
While the Musicians’ Union petition is on pace to blow well past the goal of seventy-five thousand signatures, musicians like Chris McCrory of Scottish indie band Catholic Action aren’t exactly hopeful: “Essentially, just like we’re all going to lose our ability to live, work and travel visa-free in twenty-seven countries for the sake of right-wing political careers and bank balances,” he told NME, “Musicians too are going to lose an entire continent in which to perform and effectively promote their records.”
It’s something Boomtown Rats singer and activist Bob Geldolf was already warning against back in 2018. Watch the interview clips below to hear his thoughts.
