Cross-party group of MPs issue major report urging the Government to remove barriers facing UK musicians touring the EU.

Cross-party group of MPs issue major report urging the Government to remove barriers facing UK musicians touring the EU.

Today the All Party Group On Music, with UK Music published Let The Music Move – A New Deal For Touring report. They call on 10 Downing Street and the DCMS  to now step up and support these recommendations

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music, which numbers more than 100 MPs and Peers, has published its “Let The Music Move: A New Deal for Touring” report, which outlines the urgent action the Government should take to help UK musicians and crew tour Europe more easily.

The move follows the crescendo of calls from across the music industry about the soaring costs and red tape involved in touring the EU post-Brexit and the impact on the sector’s vitally important talent pipeline.

The report reveals that UK music workers are “facing more costs, more complications and getting fewer opportunities” since the UK left the EU.

The report recommends that the UK Government should:

• The UK Government should agree an exemption for music workers supporting cultural performances in the TCA, and work with individual member states to get all states up to the current 90 in 180-day limit for working musicians.
• The UK Government should improve the UK border by expanding the number of points where documents like carnets and Music Instrument Certificates can be checked (including Eurostar) and improve Border Force training.
• The UK Government should secure a return of the on own account exemption and expand the non-commercial use exemption for live cultural road haulage.
• The UK Government should negotiate a general agreement on cultural touring to end the tax on touring, reduce bureaucracy and allow specialist event hauliers to properly support tours.
• The UK Government should appoint a Minister to act as a single point of contact for the touring cultural sector.  The UK Government should develop institutions to support UK music exports, including instituting a Music Export Office, and launching a website for live music exporters.  The UK Government should boost funding for UK music exporters, including creating a Transitional Support Fund to address EU transition costs and expanding existing programmes such as the BPI-administered Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) and the PRS Foundation-administered International Showcase Fund (ISF).

The full report can be read here: APPG-on-Music_Let-the-Music-Move_A-New-Deal-For-Touring