After the failure of the Brexit deal to secure visa-free touring for English musicians in the EU last month, and after Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden’s statement blaming the EU for the failure of negotiations saying, “It was the EU letting down music on both sides of the Channel – not us” was released to the press, a huge uproar had arisen and fans demanded better deals for musicians, leading to a petition that has now been signed over 250,000 times.

To the statements given by ministers, the EU had retorted by stating that their offer of ‘90 days of visa free travel’ was reciprocated by the UK with only ‘30 days of visa free travel’. The government’s failure to reach fruitful negotiations received severe backlash from fans, musicians and billboard artists like Elton John, Liam Gallagher and Ed Sheeran.

EU’s festival bosses are now calling out to the UK government to ‘fix the situation’ as soon as possible. Eric Van Eerdenburg, the director of the Lowlands Festival in the Netherlands, and previously a  tour manager for European and UK acts, in an interview with NME said that the extra costs that the visas, carnets and paperwork would entail post Brexit, would result in being  “horrible and very limiting” for UK artists.

Eerdenburg stated that the UK music industry is important for the Markets all across Europe, he continued, “At Lowlands, we book the most bands from the UK. European artists are getting stronger though, and the percentage of bands from Europe is going up. Maybe this will be an extra impulse for smaller European bands because touring from the UK has become so difficult. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Eerdenburg further stated that at festivals if a band pulled out last minute due to medical concerns, UK bands would be called to replace the act, which would now not be implementable post Brexit. Eerdenburg however said that European festivals and promoters would find solutions to absorb the costs of bringing in UK acts, but that the governments needs to reach a conclusion as soon as possible for a more profitable outcome in the long run, he said “I think the blame here is for the UK politicians and negotiators. They created an unequal playing field, so it’s only fair for the EU to say ‘Eat your own shit’. Still, I hope we can solve this in the next year, or before.”

Everything Everything’s Jeremy Pritchard, a member of the ‘Featured Artists Coalition’, stated that without visa-free musicians’ passports, “the self-imposed sovereignty of British music will no longer be there” and that touring would be extremely difficult. Speaking with NME, he said that, “There are huge markets in Germany and France where British artists have been able to dominate to an extent, especially on the festival circuit, but that’s just not going to happen anymore because the cost associated with getting a British act over to play or headline are just not going to be worth it,”.

He further said that there are UK acts who “thrive more in Europe” and that the current deal being worked up by the government would mean a great deal of loss and difficulties for them.