DOUBLE BLOW FOR MUSICIANS
Pandemic and Brexit causing concern for artists’ livelihoods
ALMOST exactly a year ago, they were driving through the early hours along the winding roads from North to South Wales. Exhausted after a performance in Denbigh, they had sent a 300-strong audience home with their music ringing in their ears.
“It was cold, and it was taking hours”, said Laura Benjamin, one half of country rock duo Hawthorn Avenue.
“We’d been really well received up there, almost treated like celebrities, but the journey home was taking ages.
“But I wouldn’t change it, and I would do it again in a flash”.
What they didn’t realise then was it would be quite some time before they got, or will get, the chance to do it again.
A few weeks later, following weeks of warnings about a virus apparently making its way across the globe, lockdown was officially declared.
Almost a year later, stages across the country remain empty, PA systems unplugged. With pandemic still raging, there is no sign of things changing anytime soon.
When circumstances do finally allow, those who travel overseas to perform also face further challenges.
Since leaving the EU, British musicians are no longer guaranteed visafree travel and may need additional work permits to play in some countries.
One of the promises of Brexit, to remove unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, has instead created more.
Andy Warnock, regional organiser for the Musicians Union in Wales, said: “It has been really difficult. Lockdown means a lot of musicians have not been working, and some members have had to move across to do other work just to make ends meet.
“Most members do some live work, and a substantial part of the income comes from that, and that has been wiped out. There’s also been disruption to recording.
“Some have adapted, by live streaming gigs, but it is difficult to sustain.
“And the problems posed by leaving the EU are going to be significant. Obviously, people are not touring right now and it is early days, but it looks like it is going to be difficult.
“Where before we could just travel to Europe, now they have a lot more paperwork. There will be permits to apply for, different ones for different countries, and if you are in an orchestra, there will be a lot of people which means a lot of paperwork.
“It might also prevent people from being able to take up last-minute offers of work. And there will be significant extra costs, which will make it particularly difficult for those starting out. It is one reason we did advocate to remain.”
A cautious sense of optimism that existed last year over when live music might return has evaporated, according to Aidan Lang, general director of the Welsh National Opera.
“Before Christmas there was some optimism that venues would be expecting us to turn up this year but that has fallen away.
“We have to be cautious about when we can gather again. Perhaps we will be able to do some outside work in the summer – we are hoping we might be able to do something by autumn.
“But because of the way this virus is, we have to be mindful of our wind players, people who rely on their lungs for their livelihood.
“With Europe, we are looking at more red tape and more administration.
“There is a danger European opera houses might say is it worth the bother bringing high value British artists over? They may question whether it is worth it.
“For freelancers who make their livelihood from touring Europe it is going to affect their touring and how they can perform”.
According to the Musicians Union, 47% of their members have been forced to look for work outside the music industry, 70% are unable to undertake more than a quarter of their usual work, and 36% of musicians do not have any work at all.
The stark reality was recently laid out before a meeting of the Welsh
Government’s Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee in November.
John Rostron, chairman of the Association of Independent Promoters, and co-founder of the Welsh Music Prize, told members: “Music promoters were first to close, and probably will be the last to reopen.
“Most of them haven’t been able to do any kind of activity for the entire time. All of their work, all of their income, comes from ticket income.
“They have no other income, so they’ve had nothing. They’ve been wholly reliant on trying to access funding and other financial support.
“I think it’s unhelpful to talk about going back to normal because there won’t be a sense of normal for such a long, long time”.
Dave Cottle is a freelance musician and promoter, the man behind Swansea International Jazz Festival.
“When lockdown first began in March, I had a busy weekend. On the Monday I had a gig, and then I saw Boris Johnson announce it on the television and everything was cancelled. And that was it. Everything ceased.”
For people his age it is really tough. Not just the loss of income, but the years of experience.
“I promote the Swansea Jazz Festival, and when the lockdown began, I immediately started to move things I’d booked back to July, August, September. As time went on and lockdown continued, I started looking to moving things on again to this year.
“I do not know how things will come back. There’s no point making bookings for May or June because we just don’t know how it will be.
“Perhaps in three months we may have some vision about how it will pan out, but it’s just so uncertain.”
The uncertainty has resulted in artists, like Hawthorn Avenue’s Laura Benjamin, pining for even the most unglamorous parts of the job – such as long drives home in the small hours.
“Marcus and I were both gigging musicians, doing weddings and parties. We both loved country music and Wildfire was our first song together, and it was our first hit – it went really well.
“We decided to carry on the gigging we were already doing to enable us to record with Hawthorn Avenue. The ultimate ambition was for us to do Hawthorn Avenue rather than the cover gigs”.
For a while, everything was going to plan. While the musical couple continued to earn money providing entertainment for parties, Hawthorn Avenue would gig about once a month – the performances were about quality, rather than quantity.
“It didn’t make us money, but it was what we wanted to do. As long as we don’t make a loss and we cover our costs we are happy. If we make any profit we would put it behind the bar for the band.
“When the first lockdown began, I think like a lot of people we thought it would be over in a few months, and we will be back playing catch up, doing the weddings again.
“But then when Boris Johnson announced the tightening of lockdown, and closing the pubs one Friday, that was a big deal.
“At first, we thought about how we would produce a ‘coming back’ gig. I was thinking about how we would market it, but lockdown kept going on.”
Live streaming and podcasting could only sustain them for so long.
“As time went on we thought eventually we have to take a step back, we have to pause.
“I’ve always had a marketing head on, so by July or August last year, I thought I need to get my act together and do something else. I launched a marketing company, Accent Digital, and I’ve been working with that.”
It’s not only the way to earn a living that’s changed.
“My father is a maths tutor and so had set up a classroom in his garage, and Marcus and I would write in there; we’d use the white board to write lyrics and ideas while we wrote.
“But we can’t do that now. We can’t go there, as dad is vulnerable. So instead we’ve started sending voicemails to each other. Either Marcus or I’ll have an idea at a random time of day, and we’ll record it and send it to the other, and then we’ll do something with it and send the ideas back and forth.
“We have a single ready to go, but we don’t want to release it now, as it will probably get lost. We want to release it when we can get back out there and play it live and we can do more with it.
“We can’t wait to get back in front of an audience.”