John Robb fights for musician's rights

John Robb, music journalist and frontman of Goldblade And The Membranes, has teamed up with Labour MP Kerry McCarthy to lobby the UK Government for fair access to the USA for British musicians.

The pair are set to meet with Culture Minister Ed Vaizey this Tuesday June 14 in a bid to enlist the support of the Government as they attempt to amend the US visa system, which they believe is seriously hampering the efforts of UK musicians to travel and work in the USA.

Robb was one the panelists at last year's Hot Press Music Show in the RDS and he believes the current method of gaining entry to the USA is "unworkable and expensive".

“The special relationship between the UK and the USA has been the backbone of international post-war pop culture", he said. "The shared influences, pool of creativity and flow of ideas have been crucial to what is one of the biggest industries in the world.

“That flow is currently being hampered by the expensive and unworkable US visa situation for British bands. It’s a situation that is getting worse.”

He went on to outline the problems facing British musicians who wish to travel to the USA in order to share their music with an American audience.

“In the past few years the American visa situation has tightened up and become far more expensive till we have a situation where getting a British group into America can cost up to £2700", he explained. "And that's not counting travel and accommodation expenses for bands outside London who have to travel for the 8 o’clock in the morning London American embassy interview."

The campaign is backed by organisations such as the Musicians’ Union, the Association of Independent Music and the Association of British Orchestras. It has also had extensive input from UK Music, UKTI and the Traffic Control Group, as well as individual record labels, management companies and musicians. Currently, the UK music industry generates over £6 billion per annum and provides more than 130,000 UK jobs.

Labour MP McCarthy admitted that she was not expecting the overwhelming support of the British music industry.

She said, "Since I first raised this issue in Parliament in March, I was surprised by the responses from right across the UK music industry. They confirmed that this is a real difficulty for musicians and that it is becoming more and more critical."

Robb argued that it is much easier for an American band to gain entry to and work in the UK, and the heart of the campaign is to address this imbalance and thus create equality for British and American musicians.

“American bands find it far cheaper and easier to travel and work in UK. What we need is a fairer and friendlier system that will break down the barriers, and let us do what we want to do, which is play music”.