Only Spain Signs Deal for Post-Brexit Music Tours
According to reports, only one of the 27 EU countries has signed a post-Brexit arrangement to prevent UK musicians from needing costly work permits to tour the continent. The government has failed to arrange visa-free travel and Europe-wide work permits for musicians and crew since the UK left the EU in January 2021.
Despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vow to resolve obstacles that may prevent artists from touring Europe owing to rising expenses, only Spain has agreed to enable UK musicians to tour the country without requiring visas. As a result, artists are drowning in costly “mountains of red tape.”
The Incorporated Society of Musicians is now pushing Liz Truss, the new Brexit minister, to reject her predecessor, David Frost’s harsh stance, which failed to achieve “progress.” In a letter to the government, the ISM’s chief executive Deborah Annetts wrote [per the Independent]: “All the problems first identified as facing the creative sector due to the TCA, in the Brexit trade deal, still remain.
Image Courtesy: Getty Images
“The sector is now facing mountains of red tape, which is both costly and time-consuming. The proposed solutions such as bilateral agreements with EU states have not materialised, apart from with Spain, and there are serious issues with cabotage, carnets, and designated ports.”
Annetts added: “All these issues are adversely impacting the UK music industry and the broader creative industries, which is worth £116bn per annum, the same as finance or construction.”
In a tweet sharing an article about the letter on the ISM’s official Twitter account, the organisation said it wants “a visa waiver agreement, progress on Cabotage and Carnets [and] an end to the expensive red tape”. “These steps would make 2022 a better year for musicians,” it said.
According to the November agreement, UK musicians and their crews will no longer need visas to tour Spain for less than 90 days. However, severe concerns with merchandise transportation and cabotage rules remain, with current regulations allowing only trucks travelling from the UK to make only one stop in an EU state before having only seven days to make two more before returning home.
The UK government was accused of further “spin and misinformation” in October as no progress was made over the ongoing touring crisis. It had been announced two months prior that artists and entertainers in 19 European nations would be permitted “short-term” visa-free travel without work permits. Those rules, however, were already in place prior to Brexit.
Music industry insiders have long expressed concern that the new rules and regulations governing touring in Europe will drive up the cost of future live music tours for both musicians and crew. This could have the unintended consequence of creating a glass ceiling, preventing rising and developing talent from touring the continent.
