LONDON — Tens of thousands of music lovers flocking to the outskirts of Paris for the Rock en Seine festival this week will be treated to British headliners including Loyle Carner, Fred Again and Olivia Dean.
But the U.K. star power masks another change — the diminishing number of grassroots U.K. musicians performing at the continent’s festivals this summer.
The reason? An increase in complex and costly paperwork facing British artists as a result of Brexit.
According to research from the Best for Britain think tank, the representation of British artists at Rock En Seine has increased 24 percent compared to pre-Brexit levels. Beneath this headline figure lies a more troubling trend, however: a decline in opportunities for lesser-known U.K. musicians to secure bookings across Europe.
“Festivals will normally book from headliners, down,” Jamie Wade, a music agent at X-Ray Touring, which represents artists including Blur and Robbie Williams, explained. “What we’re seeing now is more domestic [European] artists being booked on the lower end slots.”
“They’re cheaper and a safer bet — and they don’t come with the risk of border delays.”
Those concerns are due to the reams of additional forms, visas, and work permits British artists now need to produce to perform in the European Union since the U.K. left the bloc.
Industry figures say this has made it harder than ever for U.K. artists to make it big on the European stage.
Tempo tantrums
Oli Dewdney, bassist of indie rock band Sports Team, reminisces about the days when the group could jump in a van and drive to a last-minute gig in Brussels, Amsterdam or Hamburg without a second thought.
Now, carnets (a form of passport for instruments), costs, and border delays mean those spontaneous gigs are nearly impossible.
“It’s wild how meticulous that carnet list has to be,” Dewdney told POLITICO. “It’s not just listing a guitar — it’s every snare, every cymbal, every drum stand. And if you want to add anything, it can’t be amended.”
An incident at the Spanish border was particularly frustrating, Dewdney recalled. After opening for The Libertines in Manchester, the band flew to Barcelona for an afternoon gig the following day — only to be stopped by armed guards who insisted on seeing their carnet.
“Our tour manager told [the guard] we didn’t need a carnet for the instruments,” Dewdney recalled, but the official presented Spanish regulation that conflicted with U.K. government guidance. “He laughed in our faces and said, ‘Are you telling me what you can and cannot bring into my country?’”
Following hours of tense negotiations, the official finally asked for a one-off payment of €150, indicating that it would help the guards “forget all about” the disagreement. The band eventually handed over €161.67 — a seemingly arbitrary amount that made Dewdney question whether it was, in fact, a bribe.
“The guard told me ‘maybe if your tour manager was a bit nicer, none of this would have ever happened,’” said Dewdney. “He then sent us on our way.”
Rock ’n rollers
Proving compliance with tax rules, required for U.K. musicians to get paid for European gigs without incurring local taxes, is another post-Brexit quagmire, artists say.
A survey from the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM) found 73 percent of musicians had lost work or had issues being paid due to not receiving so-called A1 certificates on time.
Jack Merrett, lead singer of the band Famous, described the process as “slightly bonkers.” “Musicians don’t conceptualize themselves as self-employed sole traders,” he remarked.
During a short run of dates in France — notorious for its strict enforcement of A1 requirements — one Famous band member did not receive their certificate in time.
As a result, the band couldn’t get paid until the form arrived almost a year later — and only after months of back-and-forth with U.K. tax authorities, Merrett said.
“It was intense because touring isn’t cheap and there are a lot of expenses upfront. When you’re starting out, you either lose money or you just about break even.”
Treble makers
To deal with shifting rules and lengthy procedures, musicians are skirting the law to keep their tours on track.
Ploys include smuggling over merchandise in vans, or band members traveling on multiple passports to overstay their 90-day welcome. (Currently, British musicians can work in the Schengen area for only 90 days in any 180-day period.)
“We’ve had experiences of very intensely towing the line and also completely breaking the law,” admitted Deathcrash bassist Patrick Fitzgerald.
Although Fitzgerald said the band tries to do things by the book, he suspects that many musicians don’t — stretching the limits of an exemption on carnet forms for any gear that can be carried by a person, for example. “What does that mean? You can carry an amp, for example,” he said.
Others, such as London-based saxophonist and DJ Poppy Richler, said they’ve had to rely on VIP contacts to get past hold ups at the border caused by last minute rule changes.
Out of sync
Patchy enforcement only adds to the frustration.
“We’ve only been stopped when we try to follow protocol,” Fitzgerald said, recounting an occasion when the band spent hours at customs before performing at a festival in Brussels. They made it just in time.
“It honestly wasn’t worth it,” he concluded.
Music managers are also feeling the strain. Claire Kilcourse of Big Life Management, an agency which has represented artists including Kate Nash, said complex rules had added anxiety to European tours.
“I get really nervous waiting for my artists to tell me they’ve made it into Europe,” she said. Tour managers increasingly arrive at destinations before their artists to ensure affairs are in order, adding to costs, she noted.
Freelance tour manager Chiara Michieletto added that a lack of reliable information around rule changes had forced artists and their teams to rely on word-of-mouth and online forums instead.
“Everyone’s unsure about what’s going on, including those who are supposed to be advising or penalizing musicians,” Michieletto said.
Singing from the same tune?
Independent Society of Musicians chief Deborah Annetts has been banging the drum to make both current and previous U.K. governments aware of the challenges facing British musicians.
Her recommendations include a visa waiver agreement between the EU and U.K. She claims the previous Tory government rejected this proposal due to concerns that it might be perceived as an immigration issue.
“It’s farcical,” Annetts said. “It’s now easier for European musicians to tour in the U.K. than it is for U.K. musicians to tour in Europe.”
Annetts also backs a “cultural exemption” on carnet requirements when transporting musical equipment across the Channel. According to her, the previous government’s reluctance to provide guidance on carnets stemmed from a fear of legal repercussions.
“They were frightened of being sued if they got the advice wrong, so they didn’t do anything,” she said.
The U.K. Labour government’s manifesto promised to address visa and customs issues for performers traveling to Europe — one of several areas it has identified for rebuilding links with the EU.
The government will be “working closely with international partners and relevant stakeholders to consider how [they] can help create smooth arrangements for touring artists,” the Department for Culture, Media and Sport told POLITICO.
Leading the work on the issue is Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy — helpfully, one of her advisers, Harjeet Sahota, moonlights as DJ Hoops.
Nandy has always been “very open-minded and practical” about these concerns, said Bury North Labour MP James Frith, a former musician who plans to champion the sector’s causes in parliament. Post-Brexit, the government needs to come up with solutions to make touring “frictionless,” he said.
The music industry is hoping that Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s passion for music — he played the flute and piano and attended a prestigious music school until he was 18 — means there’s a sympathetic ear in No. 10 Downing Street.
Frith’s own musical tastes are slightly less classical. He performed for 12 years in the band FINKA — even playing a set at Glastonbury in 2003. “I was the lead singer of the only Manchester band you’ve never heard of,” Frith said.
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