Elton John said that Brexit negotiators in the UK have “spoiled” an agreement for British musicians and the music industry in general, and is asking the government to restart negotiations.
Writing in the Guardian, John said: “Either Brexit negotiators didn’t care about musicians, or they didn’t think about them, or they weren’t sufficiently prepared. They got it wrong. Ultimately, it is up to the British government to solve the problem: they need to go back and renegotiate.
“The situation we are in today is ridiculous. Music is one of Britain’s biggest cultural exports. It is a £ 5.8 billion industry that has been left out of Brexit trade negotiations when others have not. ”
His comments come as pressure on the government increases to negotiate visa-free work deals for artists and professionals in all British creative industries. Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage is expected to face questions while parliamentarians debate the issue on Monday, after a public petition signed by 280,000 people entitled “Seek visa-free work permits across Europe for touring professionals and artists”.
Musicians are currently unable to tour Europe due to the coronavirus pandemic, but as soon as they can, they will face new paperwork and costs. Previously, a musician could tour the EU freely, but now he must obtain a visa or work permit for each country in which he wishes to perform, depending on the rules established by each country. Another cost is a “booklet”, a list of goods, such as musical instruments, that can cross borders.
The transport rules known as “cabotage” dictate that UK freight companies can only make two stops in the EU before returning home, making tours of various cities impossible with UK companies; the deal is likely to be lost to European freight companies, which can travel freely between countries.
John described the new rules as “an administrative nightmare that greatly increases the cost of a European tour … I don’t want to live in a world where only artists who have been around for decades, who have already sold millions, can take a tour properly. “
In addition to a long-term solution via renegotiation, he called for the creation of “a support organization where artists who don’t have the kind of infrastructure that I have around me can have access to lawyers and accountants, who can help them navigate in the current situation. The music industry needs to contribute to this financially. ”The current government advice is for musicians to research and comply with the visa requirements of each country.
John also lamented the potential loss of cultural exchange. “Taking your music to crowds from a different culture than yours, who don’t necessarily speak the same language as you, just makes you a better musician,” he writes. “As I discovered in the 1960s, you can spend months in a rehearsal room painstakingly perfecting your craft and you won’t learn as much about live performances as in half an hour trying to win over an unknown audience … you write better songs as a result.”
John has always been a staunch opponent of Brexit. In 2018, he told the British public “something was promised that was completely ridiculous and was not economically viable”, and he doubled the criticism a year later, saying to a crowd at a Verona show: “I am a European. I am not a stupid, colonial and imperialist English idiot ”. Back on British soil, a few months later, he softened his posture, saying during a show in Hove: “We voted to leave, so we must leave … we need to heal [and] talk to each other. “
His criticisms of the Brexit deal for musicians follow an open letter he signed in January alongside artists like Sting, Bob Geldof and pro-Brexit Roger Daltrey, who said the government “shamefully failed” the musicians with the Brexit deal .
In an article to be published in the Guardian on Monday, Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood also criticizes the changes to the rules. “Travel and accommodation costs are already high, and the extra paperwork and expenses would quickly increase for a touring orchestra,” he writes. “All the incredible UK stage, sound and lighting companies that run many European festivals may find it much more difficult to compete with EU alternatives. And the Dutch, German and French technicians we have used for decades may feel that it is not worth working here. “
He imagines the case of a solo cellist, “who is going to play in Berlin for a few hundred euros and sees her book will cost more than the fee – will the prosecutor in Berlin think twice about the costs and complications of hiring her in instead of an EU artist? “
He adds: “It is time for the UK government to admit that it did not do enough for the creative industries during the Brexit negotiations and seek to renegotiate the provision for tours in Europe.”
In January, Dinenage said that “the door is open” to further negotiations with the EU, after numerous exchanges in which both the UK and the EU claimed to have made offers on the movement of musicians that were rejected by the other. She said that any solution “would not be about a [visa] renounce”.