At #CarryOnTouring we welcome any exposure to the issues facing musicians, crew and the wider creative industries. But it is important to point out that the wording used is correct, the last thing we want to do is to put creatives off from touring the heraldscotland.com/news/23295460.…
EU, we actively encourage it. It is harder than it was, it is doable, but we have to make sure the correct documentation is in place and that we abide by the Schengen area rules. In the article mentioned above it states: "With the loss of free movement, artists must now apply for
visas to work in EU countries and Brexit has made touring on the continent much more difficult."
This is not strictly true, we need to make sure that we have time left in our 90/180 days access to the Schengen area, we then need to make sure that we can work in the countries
that we will be visiting on tour, there are two sides to this bit, we need to ascertain if the country has any work permit free time allowance and also that we are compliant to the country's rules around there policy for third country nationals working in their territory.
Looks like the cost of getting a US visa is going to increase. With the loss of the EU touring and now the extra to tour the US, plus the dismal fees from streaming, is it viable to be a musician anymore?
Last night I went for a beer with an old touring buddy from way back, we discussed tours we’d worked on and the fun they had been, different bands from across the world that would pick up a UK crew and kit and take us with then as they toured the EU and often kept us on for the
tour as it went to other more far flung places, the far east, South America, Aus. If fact the majority of our work was overseas, flying the flag for UK expertise and bringing vast quantities of money for the treasury. We were doing this quietly, just minding our own business,
happily working alongside crews from other parts of the world. 1000s of us. Now that Frosts poorly negotiated TCA has left creative touring personnel high and dry, on purpose, many of us have no work. As freelancers, we are used to periods of downtime, where we get to spend time
Just had a chat with a sound engineer that did a job last week as a house technician looking after the venue system, they had an American artist playing that night and the sound engineer was talking to the Americans tour manager. They had brought a German sound and lighting rig
and German technicians with them to do a 6 date tour around the UK.
The Tour manager said to my friend that even though he struggled with the language issue, and that the German kit and crew were more expensive, he had decided to use them because it was far easier logistically
to get the kit and techs into and out of the UK than it was to take UK kit and techs to the EU which was what he had done many times before, sighting that the red tape surrounding carnets and cabotage and the hassle of checking all the techs Schengen allowance made it unviable to
Brexit. A device to maintain offshore tax havens for the rich, who used the lies about migrants swamping the country to persuade the inner racist in people to come out and vote for something they had no clue about. The billionaire press barons used the far right to push the
agenda through. And what is the result 3 years on?
The rich are considerably richer, the poor are considerably poorer, the NHS is screwed, remember the lie about £350m on the bus, business is screwed, remember Johnson’s mantra “ fuck business”.
It’s a complete disaster and people
still think it was a good idea. Is it? Is it a good idea to add hours of delays at ports and airports, trucks having to wait days, artists deciding not to tour because it’s not viable, professional qualifications not recognised anymore, inflation in double figures, staff shortage
1/ #CarryOnTouring is the UK’s umbrella campaign which all those who rely on touring can support and sit under. It brings together voices from across the touring, cultural and creative industries sector to secure political and public support for UK EU touring.
2/ The strength of our campaign is that it is inclusive reaching across the sector, industry and political parties; focusing on the real people, real lives and real jobs affected.
3/ We have vast parliamentary support from across both Houses and all parties. We are not a political campaign, Brexit has happened, as much as I personally believe it was a mistake, it isn’t going to change soon, so we must make the most of a bad job and find solutions to the
Red Tape the Creative industries now have to deal with to work in the EU.
1/. Having to obtain a Carnet if you want to take anything other than your personal portable instruments, i.e., amplifiers, guitar pedals, lighting, sound equipment, laptops, cameras, etc etc etc.
2/. Being limited to 90 days access to the Schengen area in any 180 days.
3/. Having to determine what the work permit / visa requirements for each of the 27 EU states that you may be visiting during your work / tour.