An influential cross-party group of over 100 MPs and peers has issued a major report calling on the government to tear down the barriers facing UK musicians touring the EU.
The move follows mounting concern across the music industry about the soaring costs and red tape involved in touring the EU post-Brexit, and the devastating impact on the sector’s vital talent pipeline.
In the Let the Music Move - A New Deal for Touring report, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music (APPG on Music) calls on the Government to take urgent action to help UK acts tour the EU more easily. The report outlines key recommendations, including the appointment of a ‘Touring Tsar’ to co-ordinate the response of Government and other stakeholders to the issues facing touring cultural workers, and the expansion of the BPI-administered Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) and the PRS Foundation-administered International Showcase Fund (ISF). It also warns that UK music workers face more costs and more complications since the UK left the EU at the end of January 2020.
Key issues laid out in the report include complex post-Brexit restrictions on short-term working in the EU for UK music workers, and the inability to use UK trucks for British musicians touring Europe. Among those who gave evidence to MPs and Peers at the inquiry were Harvey Goldsmith (Promoter), Mark Pemberton (Association of British Orchestra Chief Executive), Jeremy Pritchard (Everything Everything bassist), Anita Debaere (Director, PEARLE* - Live Performance Europe), Silke Lalvani (Head of Public Affairs, PEARLE*), Fiona McDonnell (Head of Concerts and Planning, the Academy of Ancient Music), Paul Crockford (Manager) and Craig Stanley (Chair of the LIVE Touring Group).
In a statement to the APPG on Music inquiry, undertaken for the report, Sir Elton John said: ‘The Government has had a golden opportunity to fix the problem while COVID was closing down touring.
‘While some progress has been made that opportunity has been allowed to slip…
‘The heartbeat and future of our vibrant industry face finding themselves stranded in Dover through no fault of their own.’
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin, chief executive, UK Music, says: ‘This excellent report from a cross-party group of MPs and peers spells out with crystal clarity the challenges many musicians and crew still face when they set out to tour and work in the EU.’
‘The influence of British music right across the world is one of the greatest examples of the UK’s soft power. Touring musicians are ambassadors for Britain and Government should be doing everything it can to help remove the barriers they face.’
‘The UK is a global music superpower - if we want to keep it that way, then it's mission critical we remove the barriers facing touring musicians and Let The Music Move.’
Andrea Czapary Martin, chief executive, PRS for Music, says: ‘Touring is vital income for our members and as the EU is our largest single market, we fully support the #APPGonMusic strategy outlined in the new report #LetTheMusicMove: A New Deal for Touring. The industry needs solutions and we call on the government to take urgent action to break down barriers to touring in the EU.’
The full report is available here.
