Research & Reports

Let The Music Move – A New Deal For Touring

An influential cross-party group of MPs and peers issued a major report calling on the Government to tear down the barriers facing UK musicians touring the EU.

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The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Music (APPG on Music), which numbers more than 100 MPs and Peers, published the Let the Music Move – A New Deal for Touring report, in association with UK Music, who are the secretariat for the group.

The report outlines the urgent action the Government should take to help UK musicians and crew tour Europe more easily. It warns that UK music workers are “facing more costs, more complications and getting fewer opportunities” since the UK left the EU at the end of January 2020.

The key issues include complex post-Brexit restrictions on short-term working in the EU for UK music workers and the inability to use UK trucks for British musicians touring Europe.

The report’s key recommendations to the Government to help remove the barriers to touring the EU and continue the sector’s recovery include:  

  • The appointment of a “Touring Tsar” to co-ordinate the response of Government and other stakeholders to the issues facing touring cultural workers.
  • The creation of a Transitional Support Fund to help UK music exporters deal with increased costs of trading in Europe post-Brexit.
  • The establishment of a new Music Exports Office and a new ‘one-stop’ website to help British music firms exporting to the EU.
  • The Government should work with EU nations to set up a Cultural Touring Agreement to cut red tape and costs involved in EU touring.
  • The expansion of the BPI-administered Music Export Growth Scheme (MEGS) and the PRS Foundation-administered International Showcase Fund (ISF).
  • An overhaul of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement to exempt music workers supporting cultural performances along with changes to get ensure all EU states allow musicians to work up to 90 day days in each 180-day period.
  • An expansion of the number of border points where documents such as carnets and Music Instrument Certificates can be checked.

Read the full report here.

Evidence 

Written Evidence 

1.  Chris Hodgkins – Secretariat – Jazz Appreciation APPG 

2.  Jodie Underhill – Research Associate – ISM 

3.  Charlotte Faucher – University of Manchester 

4.  Dave Webster –  National Officer – MU 

5.  Julia Lopez – Minister of State for Media, Data, and Digital – UK Government 

 

Oral Evidence

6. Oral Transcript APPG on Music Evidence Session 1 

7. Oral Transcript APPG on Music Evidence Session 2 

 

Survey Evidence

8. Survey evidence from APPG on Music Call for evidence

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