There's no doubting that this Brexit situation has been confusing. It's taken a referendum, three elections in four years and three UK leaders to get to this point.
Current UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to "Get Brexit Done" as per his campaign slogan this Friday 31 January at 11pm (midnight Brussels time), with the UK officially leaving the European Union (EU) at midnight. But was does it all mean and how is it going to affect Australian touring artists?
How is the system currently working?
According to Sophie Kirov of Badlands Group, who works across everything from entertainment visas to tour management and consulting, the current system allows touring artists to move freely between the UK and the rest of Europe without visas for each country.
"At the moment we have UK and the EU - obviously UK is part of the EU - and so that whole area, particularly for the case of the movement of goods, is treated as the EU," she explained. "What it means is that if you are doing performances in the UK and Europe, you can arrive at Heathrow and you do your Carnet process and you do the temporary import [of goods] into the UK.
"Then when you then go over to France for shows, what you currently would do with the UK being part of the EU is that those goods don't have to be exported out of the UK and then imported into France or into the EU, the goods just go all the way through.
Hold up, what the hell is a Carnet and do I need one?
Chances are if you've already toured throughout the EU, you already have one. Kirov describes it as "essentially a passport for your goods" which registers that your goods have left Australia and will return.
What could then happen with my goods aka instruments when Brexit passes?
"That would then mean is you actually would need to... do the export process," said Kirov. "And then when you arrive in France, you then temporarily import the goods into France. And then your Carnet exists for the EU so you can go France, Germany and onwards from there."
Wait, does that mean a big hit to my tour budget?
Kirov believes that the cost of this is likely to be "pretty nominal" in the overall scale of international tours, likely sitting within a few hundred dollars.
Is it going to become really, really hard for me to tour and work in the UK?
Sounds Australia's Executive Producer Millie Millgate doesn't think you need to stress too much.
"We know categorically, UK, Europe is so much easier than North America and the visas into the US is a whole other conversation that is in a really bad way at the moment..." Millgate told The Music. "So anything right now in the EU and UK is far more of, you know, a favourable scenario. So I think just to preface that, we're not going to be as immediately affected in the same way.
"That said, you've got a bunch of Australian artists that are working with UK agents and EU promoters and with everything else a little bit uncertain and up in turmoil, that will impact in terms of what kind of attention and focus they've got in terms of bringing in new artists or potentially working with those they already have while things settle. I think overall, while it was looking like a 'No Deal' Brexit, there were a lot of uncertainties and there were pretty inefficient guidelines with regards to both the mobility of movement of people and the trade side of things, so whether that was merchandise and taking goods in and out and what might be required in terms of Carnets in and out to each country."
Maybe this could be good news for a touring artist like me then?
Millgate thinks the impending result could offer some new opportunities for Australian acts.
"I think the UK industry, you know, politics aside and whatever they think of the leader, they certainly are embracing that they are sort of out of an impasse," she explained. "So the fact that at the end of this month, there will be some kind of Brexit deal, I think they at least can see the horizon. And the real emphasis now from all of, I guess, the top associations or the bigger music associations within the UK is supporting the government in really making sure that the creative sectors and industries are really highly prioritised in those trade agreements.
"So they are really pushing for a reciprocal arrangements within the EU, so visa free travel for work, ensuring all those collaborations between UK and EU artists can still be in place and make sure that they're front and centre of any of the trade deals that have been put in play.
"And I wonder - and I guess this is probably again speculating - could that mean then, given the Australia will be negotiating our Free Trade Agreement with the UK, what opportunities there are for us to have, again, in turn benefits? So, for example, if the UK is negotiating with the EU - a whole lot of provisos and arrangements for the touring of UK artists out - could we, in terms of what we then negotiate with the Brits, incorporate that we then become beneficiaries of that by default as well?
"I think the UK and Australia are absolutely natural partners and we are going to be renegotiating a pretty ambitious Free Trade Agreement as soon as the UK has departed. And so the 'Pollyanna' in me truly believes there are probably going to be more opportunities for Australia within the UK. What that means for the wider EU remains to be seen, but I also think there will be a considerable investment by both governments - the UK and the Australian government - to build even further relationships between our nations, certainly on a trade front, but I think culture is going to have a huge role within that."
I'm still not sure about what Brexit is, what should I do?
Check out this handy little video explainer and stay tuned for updates throughout the year while the UK government and European United work out their Brexit deal.
