Elton John
He calls for an aid organization for young musicians
Elton John calls for support for young musicians.
© Shutterstock.com / Denis Makarenko
Superstar Elton John campaigns for the British offspring. He calls for an aid organization that supports musicians while touring.
The British superstar Sir Elton John (73, "Candle in the Wind 1997") is dissatisfied with the conditions under which British musicians have to tour outside the island since Brexit (January 1, 2021). "As a result of Brexit, British artists who want to play in Europe now need a visa, a work permit and a customs document for the equipment for every country they visit. This is an administrative nightmare that increases the cost of a European tour enormously ", he summarizes the current situation in a comment in" The Guardian ".
It doesn't concern himself, he admits. "I'm lucky enough to play in big venues and have a huge administration to support me," said Elton John. His tours could absorb these costs. And yet: He doesn't want to live in a world "in which the only artists who can afford to tour properly are those who have been on the road for decades and have already sold millions of records," is how he explains his motivation to this advance.
Elton John's specific request
But the successful artist, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II (94) and named "Sir", not only criticizes, he also serves up a "short-term" solution.
"We should set up a support organization, partly funded by the music industry, where artists who don't have the kind of infrastructure that I benefit from can get access to lawyers and accountants to help them with the Brexit Cope with touring problems. " Since there is no live music anyway during the corona pandemic, according to Elton John, the current "time window" should be used to set up such an offer of help.
Soon only "great mainstream artists"?
Elton John also paints a horror scenario in his comment: "If Brexit prevents many new musicians from going on tour, the only artists who will have a meaningful live career are great, famous mainstream artists like me." And he doesn't want that either, because "we need a new generation of superstars, not least because a generation of superstars – my generation – is getting older, retiring and dying out".
The current situation is ridiculous, after all, music is one of Great Britain's largest cultural exports. In 2019 it "contributed £ 5.8 billion to the UK economy," he said. In the Brexit trade negotiations, this industry, unlike others, was left out. The Brexit negotiators would have "screwed up".