Culture secretary John Whittingdale believes that a UK exit from the European Union wouldn’t adversely affect the international success of British artists
At the launch of the trade body’s Wish You Were Here music tourism study, the UK’s culture secretary John Whittingdale – a prominent leave campaigner – told the House Of Commons that he believes a UK exit from the EU would not hurt the success of British artists overseas.
“Once again, British music is conquering the world,” The Conservative MP said. “Once again, we had a British artist at the top of album sales [charts] across the globe, and it’s British artists who are conquering countries across the world. It’s because we are the most extraordinarily creative nation on the planet – and that has nothing to do with whether or not we are in the European Union. This is probably the last event taking place in the House Of Commons before what happens in a week’s time and the world may or may not be different,” he added. “But the one thing which I’m absolutely certain about is that British music will go on continuing to thrive.”
Whittingdale’s comments do not appear to factor in the expense of travelling that many artists expressed might become an issue in Pitchfork‘s recent think piece which tackled the potential impact of Brexit on UK music.