FINK

In 2022 we are looking at a substantial UK and European tour for the recording artist Fink. Fink is an independent artist signed to an independent label – Ninja Tune Records. He is based in Berlin, Germany, but his band, crew, and equipment are based in the UK.

In this case we will need to fly the band, crew, and equipment into Europe at considerable expense, source a German tour bus, undertake the tour, and then fly band, crew, equipment back home (rather than source a UK vehicle to pick up, tour, and drop home). We will need to source alternative transport in the UK due to the cabotage rules, which prevents us from benefiting from long length booking discounts that we would normally apply. We do not, at this stage, know precisely what other obstacles lay ahead of us, but are anticipating new work permit costs in Portugal, Spain, Italy and Sweden, increased merchandise costs through having to manufacture and ship separate supplies within the UK and the EU, and additional social security and VAT expenses and/or complications.

In Fink’s case, the increase in costs for compliance will have a severely detrimental impact on the tour’s profit margin. We expect this will be in the tens of thousands of pounds. Government funding would allow us to offset the increase in costs caused by various new restrictions and guidelines.