El Reino Unido sigue dividido en un interminable debate acerca del Brexit, y muchos artistas han decidido dar un paso adelante para mostrar su opinión ante una cuestión tan importante para el futuro de su país. Bob Geldof, tantas veces líder de este tipo de iniciativas, puso en circulación una carta en protesta por el Brexit dirigida a la primera ministra Theresa May, y ahora son numerosos los artistas que se han sumado. Entre ellos, podemos encontrar nombres tan importantes como Damon Albarn, Ed Sheeran, Jarvis Cocker, Rita Ora, Brian Eno, Bobby Gillespie, Johnny Marr, Nick Mason, Alan McGee, William Orbit, Neil Tennant, Roger Taylor, Paul Simon y Sting.
Entre los argumentos incluidos en la carta, se advierte del riesgo de que la industria musical del Reino Unido podría ver silenciada su voz, y que el país se convirtiese en una especie de cárcel cultural ya que el Brexit que se está negociando en estos momentos cambiaría todos los fundamentos de la industria musical británica, tanto en el aspecto de las giras, las ventas, la legislación del copyright y la recolección de los royalties.
Al quedarse fuera de la unión europea, será más difícil para los músicos y los trabajadores de la industria musical británica moverse por Europa y, al mismo tiempo, que ocurra lo contrario y que la industria musical británica pueda enriquecerse con talento extranjero.
De este modo, los artistas se suman a unas protestas que ya hizo la British Phonographic Industry el pasado mes, ya que este organismo advirtió que se necesita un fuerte acuerdo con la Unión Europea para asegurarse de que la industria musical británica no se vea seriamente afectada en sus exportaciones.
Podéis consultar la carta entera a continuación, tal y como ha sido publicada en The Guardian:
To Theresa May:
Imagine Britain without its music. If it’s hard for us, then it’s impossible for the rest of the world. In this one area, if nowhere else, Britain does still rule the waves. The airwaves. The cyberwaves. The soundwaves. It is of us. It is our culture.
We dominate the market and our bands, singers, musicians, writers, producers and engineers work all over Europe and the world. In turn, Europe and the world come to us. Why? Because we are brilliant at it. No one quite knows why this should be but everyone understands it to be so. The sound and the words seem universal. It reaches out, all inclusive, and embraces anyone and everyone. And that truly is what Britain IS! That is proper Global Britain.
But Brexit threatens, as it does so much else, this vast voice. This huge global cultural influencer. We are about to make a very serious mistake regarding our giant industry and the vast pool of yet undiscovered genius that lives on this little island.
Why are we closing down these possibilities for ourselves and for those as yet unknown to us? Brexit will impact every aspect of the music industry. From touring, sales, copyright legislation, to royalty collation. Indeed it already has. As a result of the referendum vote, the fall in the pound has meant hugely increased equipment costs, studio hire, and touring costs all now materially higher than before – and not forgetting that squeezed household incomes means less money to go to clubs and buy tracks, T-shirts, gigs and generate the vast income necessary to keep the up and comers on the road and musically viable.
A massive 60% of all royalty revenue paid to the UK comes from within the EU. And at home, ANY increase in import duty will mean that ANYTHING that comes to us from outside will cost significantly more. We have decided to put ourselves inside a self-built cultural jail! The very opposite of wall-destroying, prejudice-denying, ideas-generating that is the very essence of contemporary music. And yet it is the much-mocked freedom of movement that so effortlessly allows our troubadours, our cultural warriors, to wander Europe and speak of us to a world that cannot get enough of [them], and which generates countless billions for our threatened institutions.
This is all a serious madness. We must take back our future.We must reform and restructure the EU. When Europe is in a mess, the Brits get stuck in. They don’t withdraw, they double down. They get in close and messy. Make Europe the continent that we and the people of Europe want. Not the one dreamt up in another time by the ideologues, or by the undemocratic fiat of mediocre politicians or the dull exhortations of a pallid bureaucracy. A new one. A different one. An exciting one. A rock’n’roll one.
Let’s rock Europe and let’s save our music, our musicians, our music jobs and our songs. Let’s save our voice.
Yours, Bob Geldof and friends.