Dave Webster / Dec 2025
Photo: Shutterstock
How leaving the EU was a catalogue of disasters for UK musicians and a classic example of the law of unintended consequences.
In 2019, if you were a UK musician being offered a gig in the EU, or planning a multi-state EU tour it couldn’t be more straightforward: the UK’s nearest and largest market was on your doorstep. So long as you had your passport you could access 27 Member states and 513.5 million potential fans. For many years, UK bands had been able to develop audiences in the EU to play shows, sell merchandise and build their careers. Many top UK bands have said they wouldn’t be where they are now without the unfettered access to Europe they had then.
In June 2016, I was representing the MU at Glastonbury when I woke to the news that the UK had voted to leave the EU. Up to that point, music industry experts had warned that a deal that didn’t protect touring artists would cause serious harm. The Conservative Government, in power at the time, had assured us that they understood our members’ need to work across borders and that any deal would provide that facility.
Visas and/or work permits, ATA carnets and CITES regulations were some of our biggest concerns. Prior to Brexit, none of these had been a problem.
Jump ahead to 2020, and despite our campaigning and lobbying, the deal that was struck did not contain any safeguards for our industry. In the blind panic to ‘get Brexit done’ we got left out.
Then Covid. Brexit or no Brexit, everything ground to a halt. Musicians could not work in the UK, and were left scratching their heads as to how they might be able to work in Europe again, once the gates reopened. Covid gave us a couple of no-touring years to assess the new restrictions introduced by Brexit and start to lobby to negotiate solutions. Meanwhile the fishing industry (worth £0.4Bn to the UK economy in 2020) got a £23million handout to help them continue exporting to the EU after the Pandemic, whereas we (an industry worth £5.8 Billion to the UK economy in 2019) got nothing.
It was certainly a learning curve, as we discovered that you could only remain in the Schengen zone for 90 out of 180 days before having to leave. Many campaigning and lobbying groups sprung up, calling for this to change. Cabotage legislation sabotaged our touring orchestras. The specialised trucks, designed to carry an orchestras’ worth of highly valuable instruments in temperature-controlled safety, were only allowed 3 stops in the EU before having to return home. When orchestras started touring again, they were forced to use EU trucks - adding an additional £30,000 to a tour. Long-standing session musicians hit the 90-day limit and were sent back to the UK to be replaced. Artists were contractually obliged by producers not to holiday in the EU as this ate up their 90/180-day limit.
As we approach 2026, the technical policy issues affecting the creative industries have remained barriers to trade, cultural and economic growth.
So what has changed? The five biggest hauliers in the entertainment industry managed to persuade the Tory Government that Dual Registration (splitting your fleet between the UK and EU) would keep the major tours on the road, but at a significant cost to the few companies who could afford it. Musicians could take their instruments across borders with a small amount of equipment, provided it was accompanied and carried by them. Spain allowed for work permit- / visa-free travel. So, some headway; but not enough to really allow cultural exchange to get off its knees and deliver the economic growth and allow cultural excellence to truly thrive again.
Thankfully, the Labour Government pledged to support touring artists in their 2024 Manifesto. The Creative Industries Sector Plan followed, and at the 2025 UK/EU Summit both sides gave further commitments to supporting touring artists.
All of this has led to organisations in the UK and the EU joining forces to form the Cultural Exchange Coalition (CEC) which launched in December 2025.
If the UK and EU really want to support touring artists, then political will is needed to address the barriers those artists still face. Perhaps the UK showing some flexibility around Youth Mobility, Erasmus+, Creative Europe (or Agora as it’s soon to be known) and the fees for EU students could help to unlock the doors.
Were there unintended consequences? We told the then Government that problems would occur: I don’t think we quite envisaged the extent of those problems at the time. When it came to a Brexit deal which gave no consideration to the intricacies of touring for bands and the fine margins that ensure musicians can actually earn money when they tour, then yes, artists fell victim to unintended and unforeseen consequences. The vast trawl net of regulation, which I don’t believe was ever designed or intended to damage our world-class industry, dragged across the channel ensnaring musicians, actors, dancers, technicians, crews, visual artists, theatre companies and more.
