#The Brexit Touring Crisis: What’s Happened and What’s Next for UK Musicians?

Even before the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, the music industry was sounding alarms about Brexit’s impact on musicians. Five years on, as talks reach an impasse, the visa debate has reached crisis point. Despite industry lobbying, the government remains obstinate: Acts hoping to tour Europe will face prohibitive costs, convoluted paperwork, and restrictions on movement across borders. Government sources say that certain freedoms must be lost. Musicians say the government has left their livelihoods in the balance.

In recent months, music industry groups have lobbied Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government to create a visa waiver or musicians’ passport permitting artists to tour Europe. The government initially said that the EU had not put such an offer on the table. In fact, the EU suggested exactly that, but the government refused. When the EU proposed a standard range of travel exemptions, “the UK refused to engage in our discussions at all,” an EU official told The Guardian in January. EU sources added in June that the UK had still made no approach to remove travel barriers for creative workers.

For UK artists on the rise, the European tour—a vital rung on the ladder to sustainability, often carried out at a loss or on the tightest of margins—may no longer be viable. Without a visa waiver, performers, crew, and staff would all be subject to costly fees; many would simply lose the business. Some vehicles and gear would require onerous goods passports, as Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood has outlined. For instance, current rules prohibit UK-based touring vehicles from making more than three stops on the continent. Visas in each country can also take several months to be approved, necessitating costly fast-tracking. In many cases, simply completing the paperwork will incur extra costs, because hiring professional agents is the only sure way to prevent problematic delays down the line.

European artists coming to the United Kingdom face similar constraints. The trickle-down effect means grassroots venues that have survived the pandemic could suffer, too.

Given the economic incentive, popular support, and a degree of pressure from the opposition Labour Party, why is the UK dragging its heels? Sources within government have suggested that flexible working visas would compromise a more important objective: “taking back control” of British borders. In the years after the vote, the question of whether the UK would pursue a “hard” or “soft” Brexit dominated British politics. Johnson’s victory at the 2019 general election scuppered hopes for the soft option, which would have kept close ties to Europe. Hard borders took precedence over trade opportunities and cultural exchange.

With the government fixated on isolationism, the creative sector is running out of lifelines. While the fishing industry received £23 million ($32 million) to adjust to red tape, the music industry, which is six times larger, has been treated as an “afterthought,” according to Conservative lawmaker Julian Knight.

Lobbying efforts have received massive support from musicians, including a hundreds-strong coalition dubbed #LetTheMusicMove, which includes members of Radiohead, Portishead, and the Chemical Brothers. Elton John spoke of a “looming crisis” that would be “crucifying” to young artists.

In response, chief Brexit negotiator David Frost said John’s earliest hits pre-dated the European Union. Solving the touring crisis, Frost added, isn’t even his job. On Twitter, Thom Yorke raised an eyebrow: “oh yeah pal? you think?” Even Iron Maiden’s Brexiteer frontman, Bruce Dickinson, called the government’s approach “guff.”

Of course, when Elton John started touring, the music industry looked very different. Record sales were booming; festivals were few and far between, rather than vital money-spinners for mid-size acts and their crews. All in all, the proportion of income generated on the road was relatively small. And, even then, superstars like Elton John were hardly the lifeblood of the music ecosystem.

Frost has argued that musicians can work without visas in 17 of 27 EU countries. But critics say he is skirting the question of work permits, paperwork, and travel costs, particularly in Spain, the UK’s second-biggest touring market, where bureaucracy abounds. In February, 81 percent of respondents to a petition for visa-free touring said they were now likely to stop touring Europe. In June, Kelly Lee Owens cancelled a European stint, with one factor being the stress and cost of “dealing with individual countries in a post Brexit touring world.” Without a government U-turn, it looks increasingly likely that red tape will cordon off a generation of artists from the continent.