45% DROP IN BRITISH ACTS BOOKED FOR EUROPEAN FESTIVALS POST-BREXIT

I am not defending what is currently happening however there are some questions unanswered:

I would be interested to know what specific equipment is been delayed i.e is it musical intruments and props?

or equipment such as amps and speakers and even lighting? - can't that sort of equipment be used locally in the country of performance?

Some lost EU demand is could that be made up from extra UK work?

Are the officials mentioned EU or UK or both?

Why is equipment delayed i.e. is it due to taxes/duties? or technical standards?

The article has the feel of some customs jobsworths causing problems connected with paperwork and as implied its smaller short notice bands affected. Larger groups from the UK tour the world not just the EU and International bands like the Killers come to the UK.
 
I am not defending what is currently happening however there are some questions unanswered:

I would be interested to know what specific equipment is been delayed i.e is it musical intruments and props?

or equipment such as amps and speakers and even lighting? - can't that sort of equipment be used locally in the country of performance?

Some lost EU demand is could that be made up from extra UK work?

Are the officials mentioned EU or UK or both?

Why is equipment delayed i.e. is it due to taxes/duties? or technical standards?

The article has the feel of some customs jobsworths causing problems connected with paperwork and as implied its smaller short notice bands affected. Larger groups from the UK tour the world not just the EU and International bands like the Killers come to the UK.
Look at item 10
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...easons-brexit-has-been-disastrous-for-britain
Ten reasons why Brexit has been disastrous for Britain
 
'“The Beatles famously made their name in Europe '

The EU didn't exist then, and the UK wasn't in the Common Market.
This as a grade brexitist deflection. The cult thanks you.

Of course it's a tragedy that this is affecting yet another industry. And yes it's a tragedy the usual suspects don't care about this and would rather just defend their unicorn
 
I am not defending what is currently happening however there are some questions unanswered:

I would be interested to know what specific equipment is been delayed i.e is it musical intruments and props?

or equipment such as amps and speakers and even lighting? - can't that sort of equipment be used locally in the country of performance?

Some lost EU demand is could that be made up from extra UK work?

Are the officials mentioned EU or UK or both?

Why is equipment delayed i.e. is it due to taxes/duties? or technical standards?

The article has the feel of some customs jobsworths causing problems connected with paperwork and as implied its smaller short notice bands affected. Larger groups from the UK tour the world not just the EU and International bands like the Killers come to the UK.

"Bands have to get carnets to literally list every single instrument, pack of strings, battery packs and more, with the make and with the serial numbers," she said.

"We had to pay a professional company to do that and that cost us just under £1,000.

"And the carnets only last a year, as well as only covering a certain amount of crossings, so if we go over that, we have to buy a whole new one."

"When bands head out, they have to join the queues with the truckers so, even when it isn't the chaos we've recently seen at Dover, we can be waiting hours," says Ms Jones.

"Obviously these people have got lorries of goods, say for Ikea or something, and we've only got a little van's worth of gear. But we still have to wait in the queue with them and they have to literally go through every single item we have."

 
I am not defending what is currently happening however there are some questions unanswered:

There is only one question that really needs to be answered. That is.
Why when the EU offered to allow visa, work permit free entry for all artists and technicians, on a reciprocal basis, don’t forget this affects Theatre companies and various other performers.
Why.Did.The Government.Say. No.
 
What Leave voters didn't understand (and blocked their ears from hearing) was that the EU was all about solving problems and removing barriers and bureaucracy, not adding to it.

When you have joined an organisation that has worked really hard for decades, using very smart people, to solve many many problems and you leave it, you abandon those solutions so the problems come back. It's not rocket science, but people, used to actually a lot of stuff having always run quite problem free for decades, thought everything just magically always runs smoothly. These warnings were obviously 'project fear'. Yes, that's right, they listened to people like Boris Johnson, that hard working, truth telling, details man, who they also trusted to have a plan to solve it. :ROFLMAO:
 
It's fair enough to recognise that the bigger bands will be able to adapt but they will still likely play fewer dates and in fewer groups of dates; so a band like Killers will play a limited number of gigs one after the other in the UK instead of touring around different venues across the continent, having dates through the year in different locations.

The larger bands usually have big production companies looking after them who have themselves had to adapt to maintain the business on EU Tours. I used to deal with Creative Technology, who as part of NEP are one of the largest companies in that sector. They've bought themselves out of it by acquiring companies in Ireland and continental Europe to service those tours. They'll be big enough to pick up additional work on the UK parts of tours and are experienced in cross-border work, but it isn't feasible for them to run their EU operations from the UK any more.
 
There is only one question that really needs to be answered. That is.
Why when the EU offered to allow visa, work permit free entry for all artists and technicians, on a reciprocal basis, don’t forget this affects Theatre companies and various other performers.
Why.Did.The Government.Say. No.

Because Brexit was about shutting down free movement of Labour?

No, no, can't be that.
 
'“The Beatles famously made their name in Europe '

The EU didn't exist then, and the UK wasn't in the Common Market.

Which is what we've gone back to.

The EU Single Market solved so many issues. Freedom of movement of goods, capital, services and labour.

It's only been six years to understand these things.
 
Why.Did.The Government.Say. No.
Oh we know the answer to that one. Because once they made a "special exemption" for one industry...

It is also affecting those working within the industry as sound engineers, lighting techs, etc. When a big US band came over they would usually take UK techs with them on the European dates, they can't do that now (or at least they can but it isn't as easy)

It is an unmitigated clustefukk. Still blue passports eh...
 
I played gigs in Europe pre and post borders and carnets. The difference was immense. That big carnet document listing all your items down to guitar strings you had was countersigned at every border crossing point in Europe. Then a few years later you just motored through, no border checks, no borders in fact.
We celebrated being the first band to play in East Berlin without a visa the crazy thing is we would now need visa documentation to play in Berlin or Amsterdam or anywhere. The irony. It seemed like progress to us going through Checkpoint Charlie, this seems like stepping back into the Cold War.
 
Because Brexit was about shutting down free movement of Labour?

No, no, can't be that.

Yep, exactly that apparently. Although this was a ring fenced offer.
The big bands will make ‘financial adjustments’ and continue to tour.
The really big bands will absorb the costs.
A friend worked on a Stones tour some years ago, on merchandising …T.shirts. In one place.
they had an enclosure surrounded by razor wire at the back with armed cops..with machine guns.
Two armoured trucks with armed guards ferrying the money to the bank in rotation.
He said they were taking so much money they just threw it into containers which they pushed into the trucks and it was counted there.
 
Cheers Lefty

I assume the carnets are purely for financial reasons (taxes/duties).

An obvious solution would be to significantly raise the £600 threshold for touring bands. Who set £600 for bands? It feels like a figure that is set for individual tourists but has been applied to effectively a business (band).

It appears from the article £1000 cost of paperwork needs to be completed on equipment that might be even worth less than the cost of the paperwork which is crazy. In theory it could be cheaper to buy new and sell or rent equipment in the country of performance. Or do musicians feel their equipment is irreplaceable i.e. I can only perform with my own personal equipment?

On £600 of equipment there is only about £120 worth of tax? (20%).
In the past people people used to bring a van of booze that costs the UK Government more than £120 or a party of 4 could bring 800 cigs between them without paying any UK tax (over £240 lost in tax)?

Its good that this is highlighted. It is something that needs tweaking or if not there is a potential business opportunity for equipment loaners.

I guess big bands just pay the £1000 every year and add to their high touring costs.

Just a thought, but if there was festival in a freeport area would there not be a problem with carnets?
 
I played gigs in Europe pre and post borders and carnets. The difference was immense. That big carnet document listing all your items down to guitar strings you had was countersigned at every border crossing point in Europe afterwards you just motored through. We celebrated being the first band to play in East Berlin without a visa the crazy thing is we would now need documentation to play in Berlin or Amsterdam or anywhere. The irony. It seemed like progress to us going through Checkpoint Charlie, this seems like stepping back into the Cold War.

Same friend, who toured for years, said going through the checkpoint to go down the ‘corridor’ to West Berlin was hilarious. The trucks were pulled in first and the back opened and the ‘swarm’ stood waiting for instructions from the Eric-in-Chief. He stood between the Trucks and the crew bus and sent a minion on board. There was items places on a front seat including and envelope (always US dollars) some bottles of good scotch, several catering size packs of Marlborough and some swag, t shirts and albums.
Big Eric would give the nod…truck doors closed, passports checked and off you go.
 
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