Aus Acts Desperate To Tour The US Are Up Against ‘Frustrating’ Barriers

Almost every aspect of the music industry has been turned upside down due to COVID, and for a lot of Australian artists with a global presence, returning to the US seemed like an almost impossible task.

But then, in April, everything changed.

Coincidently, as the Australian Government completely bungled its roll-out of the vaccine, the US began to make leaps and bounds with its handling of the situation. Now, its live music scene and festival circuit are back up and running, but it’s not all good news for Aussie artists.

“In our planning, we always thought that export was going to be the last piece of this puzzle,” Sounds Australia Executive Producer Millie Millgate told The Music.

“We thought Australia was going to open and people would start here, internationals would try to get in to tour here, and that’s what we know the big promoters were pitching for, but no one was having the conversation of, ‘Well, what’s happening the other way?’

“We’ve been watching [the situation], but up until [early April], you wouldn’t have even considered leaving Australia, so it’s absolutely due to the speed of the US [vaccine] roll-out.

“It’s happened so quickly, and all of sudden those festivals and promoters are onto our acts going, ‘We need confirmation – what’s happening? Are you on it?’

“And so part of the concern is, if they don’t know, there’s a thousand acts that will step in and take their spot. It’s not just as simple as rescheduling.”

Artists and managers are now needing to fast-track their US plans, but three major issues stand in the way:

• THE VACCINE: Managers are hesitant to send Australian artists overseas without having the vaccine, and everyone in the industry The Music spoke with said they were adamant that no one jumps the cue, taking a dose away from someone else in a higher-risk category
• THE EXEMPTION: Australia’s current international travel exemption system is not viable for bands looking to travel to the US, with Government approval only granted three months out from the travel date when most acts, managers and bookers need at least six months in advance to plan and book
• THE FINANCES: The time and money spent navigating the system and potentially paying several thousand dollars for hotel quarantine upon return to the country is not viable for smaller-medium sized bands and is not sustainable for the industry as a whole

THE VACCINE

The common consensus among Australian artists and managers is that no one wants to be ‘skipping the line’ and taking a vaccine away from someone who is vulnerable or at risk.

“Obviously, we wouldn’t want any of our artists to travel without being vaccinated first but we don’t want to skip the line at all either,” Look Out Kid Co-owner & Director Nick O'Byrne told The Music.

Most of the artists on his roster, which includes Middle Kids, Courtney Barnett and more, have a bigger presence overseas than they do at home.

“It now seems easier for them to fly to LA or New York and get a vaccine there than it is to get one here in Australia,” O'Byrne said.

“As an exercise, we tried to book one of our artists an appointment in the USA, just to see if we could do it. We were able to get an appointment really easily. We cancelled it, but we just wanted to see.

“If you’re in America with a visa, you can get vaccinated, and any artist that’s over there on an artist visa will fit that criteria.”

"There is a lot at stake.”

Millgate highlighted that the vaccine given in such a situation would need to be the one-shot Johnson & Johnson jab, otherwise you’re then needing to factor in a lot more time in the US while awaiting the second dose if you have AstraZeneca or Pfizer.

“None of the artists want to jump the queue; they want those who are vulnerable and at risk to be serviced first, but I guess similarly to the [Australian] Olympic team, we would like that same consideration,” Millgate said.

“We’re certainly not talking the same number – their numbers [around 1,400] between the team and officials, and I think at a guestimate we’re probably looking at 80 – 100 Australians that would look to go this year.

“A lot of the acts don’t want to get on a flight without the vaccine, and that’s totally fair. I have to stress, none of these acts are taking their decisions lightly, it’s just that for many of them, there is a lot at stake.”

For Middle Kids, who have recently appeared on CBS This Morning and The Late Late Show With James Corden (via Sydney) off the back of the success of their second album, Today We're The Greatest, time is of the essence when it comes to heading back over to the US to capitalise on the hype.

Sydney rapper Masked Wolf, who recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform his hit single Astronaut In The Ocean, is also missing big opportunities for career growth due to the bungled vaccine roll-out in Australia, especially given his track is currently sitting at #7 on the US Billboard chart.

“If Masked Wolf had the vaccine, he’d probably be overseas right now doing shows,” Masked Wolf’s manager Jae Butt of Lucky Ent said.

“It’s pretty annoying, because you’re missing out on opportunities, especially for Wolf, who is having a real moment right now where he’s got a track that’s one of the biggest in the world.

“It’s frustrating to not be able to go overseas, and you know, it’s not even a show thing, he could be overseas just doing promo, which is something he’s having to do from home in Sydney now instead.

“We’re hoping to have him overseas by August, but who knows, we need some concrete information on the vaccine.”

THE EXEMPTION

The vaccine is just one frustrating blockade in Aussie artists’ quest to get back to the US. What’s really a hindrance is the current exemption process.

Currently, Australians are unable to apply for an exemption until three months before their desired departure date, but many local acts need to map things out well in advance, with some already planning 2022 and beyond.

“Three months is not a long time to plan an international tour and a lot of these people involved at the other end want confirmation, and if you’re waiting to confirm that you’ve got your exemption, then you’re in a little bit of a holding pattern,” Millgate said.

O'Byrne added: “There’s no indication that musicians wouldn’t get an exception, it’s just that they can’t get it until they’re three months out.

“We’re going to have to announce a tour or be part of festival announcements long before we know 100% that we’ll be able to get our way through the red tape to get artists there.

“We need an assurance about whether or not you can get the exemption and we need it a long way out.

“We can show the show contacts; we can show that it’s work – why do we have to wait?”

"They’re not making our life easy, that’s for sure."

Australian Live Music Business Council (ALMBC) Executive General Manager Craig Spann told The Music that “it’s such a volatile, risky proposition" and “the processes here are incredible difficult”.

“One of the issues that we’ve seen over the past 12 months is Governments fundamentally don’t understand how our industry works, they don’t understand some of the priority areas for us,” he said.

“They’re certainly not making it easy, and that comes back to some of the issues we’re facing around venue capacities and border issues domestically; they’re not listening, they’re not making our life easy, that’s for sure.

“The music industry is complex and I think we’ve got to get better at explaining our pressure points and our priorities, but at the same time, the rigmarole to try and get overseas right now, you completely understand any manager going, ‘Look, this isn’t worth the time or energy'.

“And what’s going to happen on the way back? Are you going to get refused entry?”

"We’re one of the few [industries] wanting to send people out.”

With that in mind, Millgate said that there is a willingness from Government to assist, it’s just a very complex process.

“The message from Canberra and the people I’ve spoken with [at Office of the Arts] is that there’s definitely an appetite to try and help these artists… they’re definitely listening to us and they agree that there’s a compelling case, they’re just sort of working with us to navigate that,” she said.

“There’s no immediate answer and there’s no immediate person that [artists] can go to because there’s so many portfolios involved; you’ve got the Department of Health, you’ve got Border Force, you’ve got [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade], there’s multiple agencies involved.

“The unique thing is, we’re probably one of the first that’s having a conversation the other way; most people that are hitting them up are about getting people in, so that’s tourism, that’s education, film and television – that’s all about exemptions into the country. We’re one of the few wanting to send people out.”

When applying for an exemption, there are multiple reasons one could choose and, as Millgate pointed out, “with everyone potentially applying to one or another, there’s no kind of theme coming through.”

“So anyone who's assessing can’t see, ‘Oh, there’s a lot of genuine artists here looking to travel for this compelling reason.’ So they’re not being considered collectively, which is what we're trying to.

“That’s what Sounds Australia is attempting to achieve – what could we ask of Government to kind of look at these in isolation, understand why they’re so valuable, why it’s important that they go, and how do we streamline those processes.

“So much of this is just about certainty, and you’re not going to want to book flights or accommodation or tech people or lighting or everything else you need and spend that money if you don’t have a guarantee you can go.”

THE FINANCES

Artists who are needing to venture overseas for career development are needing to take a huge risk in travelling to the US, especially when there are so many uncertainties at play.

“What I’m seeing is most people are putting it in the too-hard basket,” Spann said.

“I just think it’s really getting to the point where it’s too hard, and there’s a lot of financial risks.

“What we’ve seen in the past 12 months is a lot of people have had reductions of 75% to 100% in revenue, so there’s not that money that people would normally have that you could maybe spare after a summer touring season to look at to go overseas.

“Flights are expensive now – even just getting to New Zealand, the flights are quite prohibitive. I know it has been discussed a lot, but I think most managers and agents have really just gone with, ‘We’ll just look at 2022 at best.’”

Millgate said that quarantining would be the hardest part, for multiple reasons.

“There’s a couple of Australian artists who have got US shows that also have Australian shows, and the Australian shows may or may not land within 14 days of them getting back from the US,” she said.

“So you’re assuming they all get on their scheduled flights… even if you have a flight booked, people are getting bumped and there’s no rhyme or reason as to who or when or how, so it’s a pretty risky practice to assume you’re definitely going to get on the flight you’ve planned to get you back home.

“What does that mean for your return shows? If you keep getting bumped constantly, which we’ve heard from thousands of Australians trying to get home, can you afford to be left in the US? Can you afford to get sick over there? This is the world’s biggest Rubik's Cube puzzle.”

"They have to be able to do what they do globally to actually make it into a reasonable business.”

O'Byrne noted that returning hotel quarantine costs for a mid-sized band at the end of a US tour could be “crippling”.

“You’re getting charged $3,000 per touring member coming back, then that’s $15,000 - $20,000 for a band and their crew,” he said.

“We all have perspective and we all know there are bigger problems in the world, but we all want to do our job and literally every artist we work with is either a one-person business or a family business.

“A band like Middle Kids are a family business trying to create art, but also earn a living, and one of the best ways for them to earn a living is to play shows outside of Australia. They’re cut-off from that.

“Just because you might get a few summer festival shows this year, that’s not enough to sustain most bands; they have to be able to do what they do globally to actually make it into a reasonable business.”

The struggles highlighted above point to much larger issues, with both individual artists looking at serious career setbacks, while Australia’s reputation as a whole is on the line.

READ MORE: Part two of The Music’s special report on Australian artists trying to get to the US looks at those consequences in details.