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Last night, European Movement UK held a campaign webinar: Face The Music – We need a new deal for musicians.  

We looked at the post-Brexit issues facing our live music sector, what the campaign is calling for and how we can achieve the change that the live music sector is crying out for.  

We heard first from Matt Cargill (Producer and musician at Sly and the Family Drone) and Jon Collins (Chief Executive of LIVE, the voice of the UK’s contemporary live music sector). 

After Matt Cargill detailed the post-Brexit problems he has faced as a touring musician, Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE, said: 

“The general rule of thumb in the industry is 1 person on stage, and 7 people off it. We’ve had world-class talent in the UK for decades. We have led the world, and this is now in the process of being offshored to Europe. 

“Bigger companies are relocating to the EU. Small companies are finding it harder to cope. This is hitting the smaller acts a lot more. 

“Complexity and cost are now the two biggest obstacles to people trying to perform in Europe. We want touring reform built in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.” 

Maura McKeon (our Local Campaigns Manager) and Yvonne Wancke (Chair of European Movement UK’s Branches Forum) then walked through the details of the Face The Music Action Weekend, which is coming up on 1-3rd March.  

The five ways you can get involved with the Face The Music campaign are: 

• to order materials and get out and about for the Action Weekend;  
• talk to local venues and build relationships with them – we want to get our posters up and in venues across the UK;  
• to organise an event with performers in your area – EM UK is able to provide up to £200 per group to support this (you have to submit a funding form by this for April 30th 2024, but your event can be held after this); 
• Sign and share the Face The Music petition, and; 
• Post about the campaign and what you’re doing for it on social media. 

This was before Mike Edwards (an EM member and activist at EM Sussex) detailed how EM Sussex organised their own music event at the end of 2023.   

You can watch the webinar here. 

Tell the UK government to Face The Music now. 

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The head of the Royal Academy of Music has said terminal damage is being done to the UK's music industry by Brexit, in an interview for the Face The Music campaign by European Movement UK.  

Professor Jonathan Freeman-Attwood is principal of one of the world's most prestigious music schools, which boasts Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Elton John and Annie Lennox among its former students.  

"You've got to have a political will at the heart of understanding the importance to the UK to be open for business, for the very best talent from all over the world. And Brexit has stopped that flow of talent coming in.

"I think there will be terminal damage in an area where we have a world-renowned reputation as educators and as people who make a difference worldwide in the creative industries. It's a colossal waste, in terms of reputation, in terms of capability, in terms of possibility of things that Britain has always done incredibly well.'  

"Brexit goes entirely against the mentality of the way musicians think. UK students don't have the access to European work, both when they’re students, and of course when they graduate, and that is a huge cultural and professional problem. There are no benefits. There is nothing there. There are no winners."  

The Face The Music campaign is urging the government to find address the ongoing damage to UK musicians and artists touring the EU. You can watch the personal stories from people from across the industry, and how they've been affected, here.

Watch full interview here.

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Today marks 75 years since the European Movement UK was formed. 

That's 75 years of upholding European values, advocating for our shared interests, and pushing for friendship and cooperation across borders.  

We were founded in 1949 in the shadow of war. People across the European continent were starting to coalesce around a new vision that such disunity and destruction must never happen again.   

This vision was best illustrated by Winston Churchill himself who proclaimed that “we must create a kind of United States of Europe”. As I discussed in a recent conversation with our chair, Mike Galsworthy, to me, that was the inspirational moment which charted beyond measure the future of our country.   

I know that if Churchill was alive today, he would be overjoyed at the strides Europe has taken in just half a century. From a place of conflict and indifference to one of collaboration and unity. 

But he would recognise that there is a hole in the middle of Europe, a hole that must be filled. As a country, we must reclaim our place at the European table. 

The appetite for unity is there.   

But if we’re ever going to get there then we must uphold this European vision.   

The same vision Churchill had, the same vision of the men and women whose lives were destroyed by the war, the same vision that I believe in today. That we are stronger together and that collaboration is more powerful than isolation.   

We've been upholding this vision for 75 years, and while we may not have won every battle, I believe that we will not lose the war.  By its history, its sense of tolerance, and its politics, the UK belongs inside of the EU. Looking forward to the coming years and decades of this movement, I am proud to know that we will still be here, making the case for our place in Europe. 

The European vision was about administering Europe in a more peaceful, harmonious, profitable and prosperous way. That is how we saw the future back in the 1940s and that is still how I see the future today.   

A future where the United Kingdom is at the centre of one of the greatest power blocks not excluded from it. Together we can make this future a reality.   

Lord Heseltine   

President of European Movement UK  

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We are supporting the Erasmus campaign next week. Please join us.
We will be at Queen Mary College, 329 Mile End Road, E1 on Friday 16th February from 12:30 talking to students and distributing leaflets.
https://www.europeanmovement.co.uk/embrace-erasmus

‘Leaving the EU has destroyed people’s careers.’ That’s the view of one of the classical music world’s brightest young talents, James Henshaw. It’s the view of others working in music, too.  

From bands and instrument makers to backstage staff – the loss of freedom of movement, the ‘work-90-days-in-180’ rule, and the mind-boggling visa and carnet system – all mean one of the UK’s most successful cultural exports is being slowly destroyed. 

It’s why our new campaign is urging the Government to stop the damage being done to the UK music industry. 

Face The Music, led by European Movement UK, is shining a spotlight on the plight of musicians, touring artists and backstage staff, since the UK left the EU on 31st January 2020, and is urging the Government to negotiate a bilateral agreement, one which guarantees visa-free travel for UK artists in the EU, and for EU artists in the UK.  

Our research shows a talent drain on British music, from up-and-coming stars leaving Britain to live in an EU country, to instrument makers who have lost their EU customers due to rising exports costs, to jobbing musicians who face being shut out of freelance work because they no longer hold an EU passport. 

“I was forced to choose between my job and my country,” said James Henshaw, a rising star among conductors on the UK classical music scene, who moved from London to Germany in 2020.  

“I knew that if I wanted to continue working, I couldn’t stay in the UK. In my own country. I felt shut out. Everyone in the classical music world is constantly moving. 8 weeks here, 8 weeks there. About 15% of my work before Brexit was in the UK, and the rest was from around the world – a lot from the EU. But after 2020, I could see that EU work drying up. Because if several candidates go for a job, and you’re the only one who needs a visa and all the paperwork, you don’t stand a chance. So I had to move. I had to, to keep working.” 

Matt Carghill plays in the band Sly and the Family Drone. He used to tour EU countries every year – but that’s now stopped.  

“We’d just get in the van – instruments, merchandise, throw it all in and off you go. It was the merchandise sales that got us through, the money that would pay for the fuel to get to the next gig. Now, because of all the export costs, you can’t do it. It’s over.” 

Rachel Nicholls is a freelance British soprano in opera and concert, currently starring in The Handmaid’s Tale in London. Since leaving the EU, her whole career has changed.  

“I used to do three or four jobs in the EU every year. Since Brexit, I’ve done just one EU job in 7 years. Those jobs are still there, but now they’re going to artists who aren’t from the UK. The 90-day rule, and the visas you need, just mean UK musicians are not considered any more. It’s too difficult to employ them. I know so many people leaving the industry. We are doing severe, irreparable damage to the UK music industry, and it is the younger people I feel so, so sorry for.” 

Chris and Sabina Allen-Kormylo make specialist hand-made instruments, hurdy-gurdys, from a workshop at the back of their house in Wales.  

“We used to have about 30% of our business from EU customers,” Chris tells us, “Now the phone never rings from them, ever. Why would you buy from us, when you might have to pay hundreds of pounds more just to have your instrument shipped to you? EU customers can’t even have instruments shipped to me for repair anymore, because you risk it being stuck in a warehouse at customs somewhere for weeks on end. That business is gone, and we just have to live with it.” 

Watch musicians' stories.

Sign the petition.

Stand with us and tell this government to Face The Music.

Watch Chair of European Movement UK, Dr Mike Galsworthy, debate David Davis and Nigel Farage on GB News on the fourth anniversary of the UK's departure from the EU.

Watch here.

[Image: Shutterstock]