Professional organizations and unions representing UK musicians have expressed frustration at a government announcement on EU work visas which they say changes nothing.

Musicians and artists continue to accuse the government of ignoring their plight by failing to negotiate any Brexit deal that would restore previous visa-free labor agreements.

The Ministry of Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) released a statement this week entitled: “Short-term visa-free tours allowed in 19 member states”. no visa or work permit required for short trips to 19 countries.

This has been interpreted by some as a step forward. But David Martin, the CEO of the Featured Artists Coalition, said that hadn’t changed anything. “We knew all this in January. The idea that the government has done something fantastic or that it has obtained concessions is not correct. The announcement is not new information for the music industry.

Touring difficulties remained, he said, with different rules in each of those 19 countries. Also, he said, visas and work permits were just an issue causing huge problems because of Brexit.

“I feel frustrated and really, really concerned about the future of our industry and the ability to shoot in Europe. It’s by far our biggest market… it’s four times the size of the US market for UK artists – it’s huge.

Horace Trubridge, general secretary of the Musicians’ Union, expressed bemusement at the announcement, “because we were at a meeting with DCMS yesterday where they made no mention of it and we spoke at some length. visa waiver agreements It seems a little strange.

“It appears to be a political move rather than a solid new development.”

He said it seemed like the government was just confirming arrangements that already existed. “I would like to be more generous but it’s difficult.

Live, the federation representing the live music industry, said the statement only clarified the current position of a number of member states.

Greg Parmley, chief executive of the organization, said: “While we are grateful to the government for clarifying pre-existing arrangements regarding travel to a number of EU countries – something that we, as a ‘industry, have been solving it on our own for a while now – there is nothing new in their latest announcement and we are still a long way from visa-free travel to the EU. “

Parmley said there are no new “frictionless chords” and that in reality “it’s just a tiny piece of a much bigger touring puzzle”.

Paul W Fleming, general secretary of the Equity union, called the announcement a “late but welcome first step”.

He said he was still awaiting a country-by-country breakdown of the different work permit regimes as well as “appropriate definitions of short-term tours and the implications on diaries and cabotage for small-scale productions.”

The lack of agreement in the Brexit negotiations for the creative industries has sparked considerable anger. Elton John called the government “philistines” for having no understanding of the enormous income generated by British artists working abroad.

This week’s DCMS statement said that visas or work permits for short trips were not required in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, in Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.

He said the government was actively engaging with the remaining eight countries that did not allow tours without visas and permits.