How Will Britain Leaving The EU Affect The Music Industry?

Today, in an historic move, the UK voted to leave the European Union. We've already seen some of the effects—​the Pound dropped 30% within hours of the results, the UK dropped from the fifth largest economy in the world to sixth place, and the Prime Minister has resigned—but there are still a lot of question marks around what this means for the music industry. We broke down what this means for the UK's musicians, artists, MCs, producers, DJs, promoters and the like.

The first—and most immediate—​effect will be that we will no longer be able to move freely within Europe. From now on, when a UK artist wants to play a show in Europe, it's no longer a question of hopping on a plane with a passport. UK artists will now need to fork out for a working visa. Then, assuming the application is approved, someone will have to foot the bill. Will a European promoter want to cover the extra cost when they can book an EU artist instead? Time will tell.

Secondly, there's the question of the British currency. Once the result was announced, the British Pound nose-dived (and may continue to do so over the coming days and weeks). In other words, things are going to get a lot more expensive next time you travel to Europe. What this means for musicians is that, yet again, they may struggle to get European bookings. For example, as Foreign currency experts Caxton FX explained to us, "if a European music festival agreed to pay an artist €10,000 for gig in April, but only settled the payment in June, the artist could stand to lose nearly £300, purely due to the change in exchange rate." However, and this is a minute silver lining, "if the amount was initially agreed in pounds, the performer would end up making more money than they would have originally. As the markets continue to fluctuate, it is possible that venues and festivals may be hesitant to secure international artists in advance—or it is possible that these performers will not accept payments in foreign currency."

Ultimately, the key message here is that we are stepping into the unknown. These are the most immediate effects so far but as our status in the global economy fluctuates without any sign of stability, we will all suffer financially, both artists and fans alike.