Musicians in the United Kingdom have expressed concern about Brexit’s impact on touring musicians, specifically regarding potential costly fees surrounding a visa or work permit required to tour the European Union. On Wednesday, August 4, the United Kingdom Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced that visa-free short-term touring will be allowed in 19 European Union countries, up from 17 earlier this summer. But questions remain over prohibitive costs relating to gear and vehicle transport across borders, as well as other tax and duty issues—all of which present the main roadblocks to post-Brexit touring, according to UK musician bodies.
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden have all confirmed participation in the policy. The UK government added that formal approaches have been made to Spain, Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, and Cyprus to also waive the visa requirement.
Read more about the recent state of touring for UK artists in Pitchfork’s breakdown, “The Brexit Touring Crisis: What’s Happened and What’s Next for UK Musicians.”
This article was originally published on Wednesday, August 4 at 11: 41 p.m. Eastern. It was last updated on Thursday, August 5 at 9: 23 a.m. Eastern.
