UK government says “change is going to come” to solve post-Brexit touring issues
"We need to make it a more seamless process and more similar to how it was back in the day," says Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy.
By Nick Reilly
The UK’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has vowed that “change is going to come” in order for British musicians to enjoy a more seamless experience of touring in Europe post-Brexit.
READ MORE: Lisa Nandy – Time’s up for ticket touts’
Emerging acts have repeatedly spoken of the challenges and extensive red tape they have faced when heading out on the continent after the UK’s departure from the bloc in 2020. They include extensive networks of visas, work permits and carnets — a sort of instrument passport that musicians must have for every piece of apparatus they’re taking on the road.
Touring before Brexit was considered to be a far-more straightforward process, but a 2023 UK music survey revealed that eight out of 10 musicians had experienced a significant drop in earnings since the UK’s departure.
The likes of Elton John have also spoken of the “logistical nightmare” faced by upcoming bands touring Europe, and now Nandy has pledged a reset in UK-EU relations to make it a far more straight forward process.
“That change is going to come. We need to make it a more seamless process and more similar to how it was back in the day,” she told Rolling Stone UK last week.
“This is the top issue that most artists have raised with me and with all of my colleagues in government and even did in opposition ever since that Brexit deal was struck. I think it’s a bad deal for us. I also think it’s a bad deal for the EU. I think we would all benefit from much closer cooperation so that our artists can tour freely across Europe and their artists can come and tour freely here in the UK as well.”
Opening up on the work done so far, Nandy said: “My colleague Nick Thomas-Symonds is leading the negotiations with the EU and this is obviously part of the agenda, and I’ve been talking to counterparts in other European countries and trade unions as well. We work very closely with the Musicians Union and they have counterparts in lots of EU countries who are desperate for a much closer relationship between us and the EU to make sure that their artists can reach the UK market, which is huge and is incredibly influential for them.
“We’re seeking a much closer relationship and we’re confident that we can achieve it because in the end it’s in both of our interests to do it.”
In addition, Chancellor Rachel Reeves also explored the possibility of a touring visa last year to aid acts.
Nandy was speaking to Rolling Stone UK as Labour launched a 12 week consultation to set out a range of measures in the ticket resale market with the aim of ensuring that fans aren’t getting ripped off anymore. They include a cap of 30 per cent on resold tickets and limiting the number of tickets that resellers can flog to prevent industrial scale touting.
“Gone are the days when ticket touting was a guy standing outside a stadium with a handful of tickets,” Nandy explained.
“This is a really sophisticated operation that is now leeching millions of pounds, not just out of the pockets of fans, but the music industry as a whole, and we’re determined that that’s going to stop. We made a commitment at the election that it would stop if we were elected and so we’re kicking off a consultation for 12 weeks. It’s not about whether we take action, but about how we take action to stop ticket touts ripping off fans, buying up tickets on a mass scale and acting as parasites on an industry that needs investment, while stopping fans from seeing the bands that they love.”