ambient

Do you seriously believe that things will improve for workers? The cheap Eastern European worker is a myth. How many British born people do you know would work in a field in the pouring rain and cold picking whatever seasonal crop, for the minimum wage? The crops will and are going unpicked. Bottoms will go unwiped in nursing and care homes. They’re on average better qualified and better trained that UK workers, their qualifications and training obtained abroad, so not at our expense. What they’re actually doing, if you look properly, is making it harder for you and I to go abroad to work. They’ve also lowered the salary cap for workers from abroad, and lowered the minimum qualification from a degree to the equivalent of an A level. Bearing in mind that most Europeans have a fantastic grasp of English, then the requirement to speak English won’t be much of a hindrance. This thread though, is meant to be about musicians and other creatives coming here, and us going there. Everyone I know from both sides of the channel who has performed abroad, in whatever capacity is saying the new rules will prevent them from doing so in the future. The only people who aren’t, have probably never performed abroad, and probably have never had any intention of doing so. Therefore I would rather listen to those who have, than those who’re talking without any experience. As an artist and an academic, it will cause massive disruption, and negatively impact what I do.

The music business has changed massively since the 1960s. The additional costs will prohibit travelling to play; both us going to Europe, and them coming here.

That’s exactly it. I’m already hearing about airlines hiring people with passports from the remaining 27 EU countries, over UK passport holders. With regard to artists coming here, both WOMAD and the Edinburgh literature festival have had problems with people invited to perform having their visa applications turned down. Academics coming over to conference have suffered too.

I didn’t realise that Thomas, though I guess it’s because most organisers aren’t officially licensed, which they need to be to issue sponsorship certificates?

It’s going to have an affect all across the arts. Imagine the cost for an orchestra or a ballet company. It’s going to affect academia too, which really relies on people travelling about, sharing ideas and their work. We will become a backwater.

The website is very contradictory. If you click on the certificate of sponsorship on that website, it takes you to the tier 5 visa, for which there’s a £244 fee. I agree £5 a week isn’t a lot, but most people travel to the UK just for a week or so, to do a few gigs. This will be on top of all the other new costs; VAT payable upfront on merchandise, health insurance, the cost of a carnet. What will be the real disaster is the requirement for the organiser to be licensed.

This is something a friend of mine just posted. I organised an event last year that he played at in Birmingham. He lives in Amsterdam.

Cultural enrichment can’t be replaced by Spotify. It’s regression, not moving with the times.

Yes, it’s £240 each, plus they need sponsors.

Bands that did then tended to have backing. See my post above about the other requirements, a sponsor is required, the event needs to be organised by an officially licensed promoter.

Also, if it’s like it currently is for artists from non-EU countries, then the artist will need to provide a certificate of sponsorship from the organiser; who must be a certified and recognised organiser. It can’t just be a privately run event. How many organisers are going to go to the hassle and expense of getting official recognition?

Then you really have no idea. I don't mean to be rude, but many artists play over here quite independently, they have no financial backing from anyone, and are lucky to draw even. They jump on Eurostar, travel to London, stay at friend's homes. They invariably don't make their living from it, so it wouldn't be tax deductible, merely an expense that will deter them. I've played several times in Europe as a solo artist. I also did a talk at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm before Christmas. In future I will require a visa for those, which will make the cost prohibitive.

This person does some really nice effects pedal demos, she also creates some beautiful music. https://m.youtube.com/user/buildingcastlegirl

That’s my point. The Steven Wilson gig was amazing, and only £30. My friend paid £58 for a three hour King Crimson show.

Stuff gets buried. Most people live safely in their own bubble of an existence. This kind of thing helps to say what’s still going on. That’s one of the purposes of art, to encourage discourse and grab people’s attention.

That’s an awful lot of money. How do they justify that? Their overheads aren’t going to be the same as a band playing the royal Albert hall for instance, which was the venue for the last big gig I attended when I saw Steven Wilson there two years ago. I think I paid about £30 for that. A friend of mine saw King Crimson at Birmingham symphony hall, that was £50 for a three hour show.

The Yamaha have a more natural sound, I’ve found the Rocket to be more suited to dance music or beats. The Adams are excellent.

I’m guessing the daily heil will be leading the way in condemning him.

Email Bass Direct, they might be able to order a set for you. They’ve managed to get various 6 string sets in for me over the years.

If you do manage to find it, please be sure to let me know.

Thé guitar sounds out of tune too.

Tell them to do one.

Don’t the scratch plates have holes drilled in them?

I went to the Hard Rock Cafe once. I don’t usually go to that kind of place, they’re too busy and noisy, but I was talked into it by my brother, and my nephew wanted to go, ‘it's full of guitars, you’ll love it’ they said. It was but I didn’t. I hadn’t heard of most of the bands or musicians, I think in most cases the link to them was pretty tenuous. I can see the social history side of it, with the other exhibits. Particularly if you were around then, it’s nostalgic I guess.