Crypto News: Supply Lines: UK bands boo Brexit

From the Beatles to Blur, British bands have for decades been one of the nation's most welcomed exports. But these days UK-based musicians are struggling to perform for fans across the English Channel.

That's because burdensome post-Brexit trade barriers have made touring in Europe — traditionally the UK music industry's largest market abroad — a real pain.

Workers in UK services industries now face extensive European Union immigration and customs requirements like visas, customs carnets, musical-instrument certificates and the possibility of a goods inspection at the border.

These new cross-border trade rules can be difficult to navigate for young and independent artists, potentially adding countless hours, paperwork and costs for musicians who earned next to nothing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A 'Nightmare'

"It's been an absolute bloody nightmare," said Paul Smith, the CEO of the VOCES8 Foundation, a UK touring group and a music-education program. "You couldn't imagine a more perfect storm for the arts."

Since 2019, the last full year before the UK formally left the EU, the British music sector has lost some 52,000 jobs and the industry's annual gross value added has fallen 31%, according to the most recent data collected by UK Music, which represents the nation's commercial music industry.

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While much of the industry's recent decline was due to government health restrictions imposed during the pandemic, Brexit created a deluge of logistical hurdles for UK bands. "Our industry is on its knees and we have to fight more than ever," Smith said.

Have a look at this complicated flow chart created by the UK Musicians' Union to illustrate the challenges facing touring bands that want to play in Europe.

Among some of the new hurdles:

Bands have to keep track of their social security and tax obligations when moving between the UK and the EU, and if groups sell merchandise on their tours, they have to obtain an export certificate in order to sell them in Europe.
UK touring bands must also pass labyrinthine EU regulations for touring vehicles on cabotage — or the right to operate and transport goods in a particular country — that were described in a parliamentary hearing last year as an "existential threat" by Craig Stanley, the chair of the Live music Industry Venues & Entertainment Touring Group.

"The little island of Britain is becoming ever smaller and has ever larger barriers to exit," Smith said. "As a result, we are becoming poorer and more stressed."

Click here to subscribe to The Readout, a weekday newsletter offering insights from Allegra Stratton and Bloomberg's top reporters on the stories that matter for the UK.

—Bryce Baschuk in Geneva

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