“Maybe 10 or 20 years ago you could have gone to a label and said, ‘It’s going to cost us £30,000 to do this tour’ and they’d have said, ‘That’s a good use of money, we’ll loan you it’,” he said. Speaking of changes in the music industry, Matravers said that there was now much more of an onus with things being “online”.
Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been very lucky, things have been great and we’re a relatively successful band and I wouldn’t play that down for the sake of it, but the bottom line is that we just can’t afford to tour the US.” It’s just not true – this is very much a labour of love. “There’s this perception that if you’re playing Ally Pally then you’re a millionaire, but the reality is so far from that,” he admitted. “Loads of people think we’re fucking ballin’ and that we’re loaded, which is really funny. While admitting that cancellations were “devastating” for their wider road crew, the frontman also spoke of what a “reality check” they were for all artists – from emerging to established acts. This could also lead to an increase in the cost of gigs and tickets for international acts playing in the US. The news was met with widespread uproar from the international music scene – with the new measures proving preventative for both new and established artists – and now more have come forward to call for action. READ MORE: Brexit – UK government warned musicians and crew “could find themselves unemployed en masse”Įarlier this month, it was revealed that the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was planning to raise touring visa fees for foreign acts by more than 250 per cent – laying out that the cost of acts arriving in the US to perform temporarily, would increase from the current rate of $460 (£375.23) to $1,615 (£1,317), with a longer term work visa jumping from $460 (£375.23) to $1,655 (£1,349).
Artists and music industry figures have spoken to NME about the “crippling” damage that will be done to international touring if a 260 per cent price hike for US visas is allowed to go through – and encouraged music fans to have their say and help stop it.
0 kommentar(er)
