Touring

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Music will hold a cross-party inquiry into the barriers and delays facing musicians touring in the European Union.

The announcement follows a letter to Boris Johnson, signed by APPG on Music Chair David Warbuton, demanding "urgent action" to address ongoing barriers.

The letter highlights the "lack of clarity" musicians looking to tour the EU are facing in the wake of recent DCMS annoucements.

"We need the Government to ramp up negotiations with nations like Spain where costly visas are still in place and to look for swift solutions to both the visa and transport issues facing musicians and crew," Conservative MP Warbuton said.

The APPG on Music will kick off its inqury with a first evidence session later this month.

The inquiry will focus on visas and work permits, carnets and instrument manufacturing materials, transport issues, the effect on the UK music industry, the effect on emerging artists and potential solutions. 

"This is a hugely welcome move by MPs from across the political divide," UK Music Chief Executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin said.

British musicians touring the EU can now travel in the same vehicle as their equipment.

The Department of Transport has confirmed that so-called 'splitter vans' do not fall under the post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), meaning individual EU states make their own rules.

The Musicians' Union (MU) and Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), which have been lobbying for this arrangement, are delighted.

The TCA said people and equipment could not be transported in the same vehicle - "a disaster for touring musicians, particularly at grassroots level", the MU says.

National Organiser for Live Performance Dave Webster, said this is a relief and "a major step forward".

“A ban on splitter vans would have made European touring almost impossible for small to medium scale bands, especially given the costs of carnets, visas, work permits and Covid testing they are already bearing."

ISM Chief Executive Deborah Annetts said a visa waiver agreement is needed to remove the red tape.

"It’s great that on this occasion the industries’ campaigning work has paid off, but there is much more the Government should be doing."

Scottish Culture Secretary Angus Robertson has urged the UK Government to negotiate visa-free travel for the creative industry by the end of the year.

In a letter addressed to Oliver Dowden, Robertson calls for cooperation between the two Governments to “minimise barriers to recovery”.

He adds that touring visas and work permits are creating “insurmountable obstacles” for artists.

“Ultimately this could jeopardise the ability of some to continue working in the sector altogether”.

The letter follows a UK Government announcement that 19 EU countries have agreed to short term visa-free tours, an update condemned by music industry leaders as “nothing new”.