{"id":295834,"date":"2025-07-27T12:19:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T12:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295834\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T12:19:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T12:19:38","slug":"number-of-british-acts-at-european-music-festivals-plummets-since-brexit-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295834\/","title":{"rendered":"Number of British acts at European music festivals plummets since Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of Europe\u2019s top music festivals<\/a> will feature half as many British acts as they did before Brexit <\/a>this summer, as red tape continues to hammer the music industry. <\/a><\/p>\n

Elton John<\/a> is among those who have warned that the UK\u2019s departure from the EU has caused a \u201clogistical nightmare\u201d <\/a>and placed \u201cleg irons\u201d on travelling musicians.<\/p>\n

Last year he warned the issue risks jeopardising artists\u2019 futures and the UK\u2019s status as a cultural force, saying he was \u201chorrified\u201d.<\/p>\n

Now new figures show fans in France, Spain, Germany and Denmark will miss out as the number of British acts on the bill in some of Europe\u2019s biggest festivals plummets.<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Sir Elton John is among the world famous British artists who have warned about the impact of Brexit on the industry (Yui Mok\/PA) (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

The analysis found that, on average, the number of British musicians who have played, or are scheduled to play, European festivals this summer has fallen by a quarter, compared to 2017-2019.<\/p>\n

The study looked at four major music festivals<\/a> \u2013 Benicassim in Valencia, Lollapalooza<\/a> in Berlin, Rock en Seine in Paris and Roskilde Festival in Denmark.<\/p>\n

Overall Benicassim saw the biggest drop, with 58 per cent fewer British acts taking to the stage in Spain, the analysis by Best for Britain found.<\/p>\n

Industry leaders and musicians have highlighted that increased paperwork and costs <\/a>are still damaging opportunities, particularly to take up last-minute slots.<\/p>\n

At the same time, British venue operators have warned of their struggle to attract EU-based artists.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year hundreds of music industry professionals signed an open letter to Sir Keir Starmer and the EU\u2019s Ursula von der Leyen calling for action.<\/p>\n

Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, which campaigns for closer UK-EU ties, said: \u201cFrom legends like the Beatles, Queen and David Bowie, via Britpop stars Oasis and Blur, to modern icons like Amy Winehouse, Adele and Raye, Britain is world-famous for our incredible musical legacy \u2013 with live performances the lifeblood of the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBarriers for touring artists are bad news: for acts, audiences, and ultimately hurt the UK\u2019s vibrant \u00a37.6bn music industry, meaning a further hit to our squeezed economy, not to mention the dimming effect on our soft power around the world. The government must urgently examine what scope there is to address these challenges – and work with our partners in Europe to implement solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deborah Annetts, the chief executive of the Independent Society of Musicians, said: \u201cBrexit<\/a> is bad for UK musicians, European events and live music lovers across Europe. As this research shows, opportunities for emerging as well as much-loved acts are disappearing, which is a situation that cannot continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabour\u2019s election manifesto committed to sorting out the issues for touring musicians following Brexit.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK Music chief executive Tom Kiehl said: \u201cThe rising costs and extra red tape involved in touring the EU post-Brexit is a huge challenge for the whole UK music eco-system, ranging from musicians and artists to technicians, engineers and crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year the Independent also revealed that Brexit had created a \u201cmind blowing\u201d 2bn extra pieces of paperwork – enough to wrap around world 15 times.<\/a><\/p>\n

Brexit<\/a> is also on course to cut UK trade<\/a> by 15 per cent, the government\u2019s independent financial watchdog has warned.<\/p>\n

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some of Europe\u2019s top music festivals will feature half as many British acts as they did before Brexit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295835,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,109750,2708,2866,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,64543,109751,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-295834","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-british-acts","11":"tag-british-musicians","12":"tag-elton-john","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-european","16":"tag-european-union","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-music-festivals","19":"tag-music-industry","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114925166323409710","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}