During a recent interview conducted by Marjorie Hache of France 24, IRON MAIDEN frontman Bruce Dickinson discussed the challenges that emerging hard rock and heavy metal artists encounter while attempting to establish themselves in the contemporary music landscape.
“Well, look, there’s a market for this kind of music. There’s an audience for this kind of music. But the problem, for me, and there are several — one is that this music exists to be played live. The tragedy now is that between government-slash-E.U. [European Union] legislation and taxation and everything else like that — I mean, the big bands, they have accountants and they can deal with tax and all the rest of it, but the smaller bands, a government saying, ‘Ah, yes, we’ll take 20 percent of your money and put it against tax.’
“A band that’s getting paid 500 euros for a show can’t afford to have 100 euros taken away. At the same time, there’s a lack of venues, so now we’ve gone crazy about health and safety and blah blah blah, but bands need venues to play in, and bands need to be paid more for their music. So there needs to be a revolution in the royalties that musicians get paid directly from streaming.”
When asked about the irony of his 2016 Brexit vote despite being a British citizen residing in France, a member state of the European Union, Bruce responded by saying: “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, no, I’m a Brit who lives in France ’cause I’m allowed to, because I married a French girl.
“There was a minority of people in England, I think, who basically kind of don’t like foreigners,” he continued. “So they voted for Brexit because of that. But it was a very, very broad church of people. The weird thing is that the United Kingdom is an island. And that means that we think differently. Like, at the moment, the Corsicans are voting because they want to do something to secede from France, ’cause they’re an island. People think differently in an island. And if you don’t respect that, there’s pushback. And the problem with the European Union was, they decided that one size has to fit everything. And so, okay, we quit. Should Great Britain re-engage with the European Union? Yes, absolutely. But it should be based on pragmatism, not dogmatism.”
Back in 2021, Dickinson slammed the British government regarding the impact Brexit has had on British artists’ international touring plans.
“Don’t get me started on the Government’s attitude to the entertainment industry,” Dickinson said on Sky News at the time. “We are probably one of the UK’s major exports. I mean … come on. And yet we’re sitting here, we can’t do anything.
“It’s very well known that I voted for Brexit. But you know the idea is after you’ve done it you then go in and be sensible about the relationship you have with people. So at the moment all this guff about not being able to play in Europe, and the Europeans not being able to play over here and work permits and all the rest of the rubbish – come on! You know, get your act together.”
In 2018, Bruce defended his decision to vote for Brexit, saying: “If musicians were running Europe, Europe would run a lot better because we’d all get on with each other.”
“IRON MAIDEN music is global music; we have fans everywhere. I don’t see any problem with touring Australia; that’s not part of the EU. There’s no problem with touring in Japan; that’s not part of the EU. I don’t see any problem with touring America; oh, let me see — that’s not part of the EU. Now, do those musicians have problems coming to Europe? No.”
