British Musicians Fear End to a Golden Age for European Touring

(Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit, sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, and tell us your Brexit story. 

No deal or Boris Johnson’s deal? For one group of people, the future looks uncertain whichever path Britain takes out of the European Union.

The 1992 EU Maastricht treaty was a ticket to friction-free travel that’s allowed Britain’s musicians to criss-cross the continent unhindered in search of an audience. Some 85% of them toured the EU at least once last year, according to a survey conducted in May by the U.K.’s Incorporated Society of Musicians.

While the latest Brexit deal addresses the risk of disruption to industrial supply chains, it offers no long-term guarantees on freedom of movement, which the British prime minister has pledged to scrap. Johnson wants to restrict entry for EU citizens from the end of next year, and it’s likely that the bloc would follow with its own entry controls for U.K. nationals.

“Freedom of movement is just a golden ticket,” said British soprano singer Anna Patalong. “But now that that’s disappearing, or it looks like it will, we don’t even know if that option will be available to us.”

Patalong travels to EU countries around 10 times a year for concerts and has campaigned against Brexit. She said opera companies in the region may be more reluctant to hire U.K. artists because of the potential visa costs and the time spent on paperwork if freedom of movement comes to a halt.

She and her husband, baritone Benedict Nelson, have been looking into moving to Germany, home to some of the world’s most famous opera houses. “The opportunity to work there is greater,” she said.

Europe is a vital destination for concert musicians, partly because continental orchestras often benefit from generous state subsidies. Laurent Bayle, president of the Philharmonie de Paris concert venue, estimated that concert halls in the city receive U.K. orchestras around 10 times a year, whereas French orchestras go to London twice a year.

“Most musicians do tour to the EU because there’s not enough work for them in the U.K.,” said Deborah Annetts, the ISM’s chief executive.

For classical players, rock bands and session musicians, travel is already a big expense that can eat into meager incomes. Britain’s Musicians’ Union says a “bad deal” could threaten its members’ ability to make a sustainable living.

“We know because many of our members recall gigging and touring in the days before the European Union,” the group said on its website.

Back then, bands were accustomed to long waits at border crossings while customs officers checked their gear and travel permits. The union has asked the EU to introduce a post-Brexit touring visa that’s “affordable, multi-entry and admin-light.”

At stake is a music industry worth 5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) to the British economy, according to the ISM, a professional association with 10,000 members that was set up in 1882 by British composer Edward Elgar. The body is urging the government to establish a fund for two years after Brexit to support the sector.

Britain’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said it was working closely with the music industry to ensure the needs of classical musicians are part of preparations for leaving the EU. In a statement, it said EU citizens may continue to travel to the U.K. for a temporary period after a no-deal Brexit.

‘Papers, Please’

If Parliament blocks Johnson’s deal and the U.K. drifts into a no-deal Brexit in nine days, musicians will face a barrage of new obstacles including a return of the carnet -- the old customs document that was once required of travelling bands and orchestras to avoid paying import taxes on their instruments.

A carnet would be needed for each shipment and typically costs as much as 700 pounds a year, according to the Association of British Orchestras. Security bonds would also be needed to insure part of the goods sent across the border.

“If you’ve got a 1 million-pound Stradivarius on the truck, you’re lodging a 300,000- to 400,000-pound bond that you will get back, but you will need to find that money temporarily,” ABO director Mark Pemberton said by phone.

Musicians would even have to prove their instruments don’t contain endangered species like rosewood and ivory, which are sometimes found in classical instruments. A certificate showing that such items respect the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species would be a requirement if there’s no deal.

“A no-deal Brexit increases exponentially the level of red tape and costs for musicians who aren’t well paid anyway,” Annetts said.

--With assistance from Thomas Seal.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angelina Rascouet in London at arascouet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rebecca Penty at rpenty@bloomberg.net, Thomas Pfeiffer, Anne Pollak

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.