W
IND ROSE, AN
Italian black-metal
band that sings about
Tolkien lore, isn’t
exactly poised to become the next
U2. But it did have a music video that
racked up 2.5 million YouTube views,
so when the like-minded Russian
band Arkona invited the group to
open last year’s Pagan Rebellion club
tour in the Midwest, Wind Rose was
thrilled to try to jump to the next level.
Then it ran into a force even more
powerful than Sauron himself: U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The process of acquiring touring
visas, which lets foreign music groups
work in America for a year, costs
roughly $3,000 to $5,000 and has
always been a “pain in the ass,” says
veteran agent Tom Windish. But since
President Donald Trump took office
in 2017, agents, managers and attor-
neys say the process has become more
complicated and costly. In response to
Wind Rose’s application, for example,
USCIS made so many “requests for evi-
dence” — objective metrics of success,
such as awards, chart activity and
sales — that the group finally decided
to give up and stayed home.
“They have no history of touring
here, and they have no significant press
because they have no album distrib-
uted in the U.S.,” says band co-manager
Stephan Mellul. “It’s mind-boggling.”
USCIS officials say the criteria for
allowing foreign working musicians
into the country hasn’t changed. (They
won’t comment on individual cases.)
Spokesman Matthew Bourke says the
agency approved more O visas (for
artists) and P visas (for groups) in 2017,
2018 and 2019 than in the previous year
and that approval rates are generally up
and processing times down for foreign
musicians and other workers who’ve
applied for EB-1 visas for permanent
employment. But the government
data he provides suggests that while
the number of O and P visas granted
has indeed risen under the Trump
administration, the percent of requests
approved has actually declined.
That means immigration attorneys
say they have no choice but to take
on fewer clients. “The types of cases
I would’ve accepted five years ago, I
just don’t entertain anymore,” says Rita
Sostrin, a Los Angeles immigration
attorney who represents many musi-
cians. “I don’t want to give potential
clients false hope.”
“Is it harder these days? Absolutely.
Are things taking longer? Yes, they
are,” adds Jeff Gabel, an attorney for
Traffic Control Group, a New York
service that helps foreign artists obtain
documentation for touring. “I can’t
unequivocally pinpoint that any of this
is related to the current administration,
but immigration seems to be scrutiniz-
ing everything at a much stricter level.”
Some in the international tour-
ing business have noticed that it has
become more difficult for artists to
tour in many countries. Eric Herman,
who manages Bombino, Antibalas and
others, attributes the trend to “this
nationalist xenophobia that’s becoming
epidemic.” But he says the red tape can
be worth it because “the U.S. is so big
and important for an artist’s career that
you just have to jump through their
fiery hoops.” In the end, more musi-
cians are staying home rather than
making the effort to tour or collaborate
stateside. “People who used to tour
here and cut vocals and all those things
— they’re doing that stuff over the in-
ternet instead,” says Peter Coquillard,
Milk and Honey Management’s head
of international. “That’s a shame.”
Wind Rose tried to tour the United
States again in April 2020, only to hear
from its attorneys that another tough
request for evidence might be forth-
coming, so the band canceled its plans
and decided to seek high-paying fes-
tival gigs in other countries. “Instead
of starting another petition, we just
stopped everything then and there,”
says Mellul. “We said, ‘OK, maybe the
band needs to do a second record.’ ”
TRAVIS TRITT SIGNED WITH BIG NOISE MUSIC GROUP, BECOMING THE LABEL’S FIRST COUNTRY ACT. NEON16/INTERSCOPE RECORDS SIGNED COLOMBIAN ARTIST DYLAN FUENTES.
I
F STOCK MARKETS
represent the wisdom
of crowds, such as it is,
the smart money now says that
the global economic slowdown
that the coronavirus set off
will be here for some time.
Unsurprisingly, companies with
businesses that depend on public
gatherings have fared especially
poorly: Since Feb. 24, the stock
price of Live Nation has dropped
16.6% to $42.01 as of March 11,
while that of German promoter
and ticketing company CTS
Eventim has declined 6.9% and
the Madison Square Garden
Company is down 9.5%.
So far, market reaction seems
purely anticipatory: Live Nation
has twice said publicly that the
coronavirus hasn’t affected ticket
sales, and anecdotal evidence
suggests that Americans are
still going to see concerts and
sports games. The decline is also
happening at a time when many
publicly held music companies
have been thriving: Even with the
recent 16.6% drop in Live Nation’s
stock price, investors who bought
into the company five years ago
have doubled their money.
Declining stock prices will
still affect much of the music
business, however. At bigger
companies, it could complicate
everything from the retention of
employees who are compen-
sated partly with stock options
to planned capital-raising public
offerings. (Live Nation’s October
$950 million bond sale, under-
taken to fund acquisitions, will
help it weather the storm.) The
Market Shock Socks
Rock Stocks
AS WALL STREET REACTS TO THE CORONAVIRUS,
WILL THE MUSIC BUSINESS GET SICK?
U.S. Complicating
Touring For Foreign Acts
The visa process is becoming harder for many artists — to
the point that some are deciding not to play America
BY STEVE KNOPPER
Wind Rose in
Copenhagen
in 2018.
resulting uncertainty could affect
smaller players that depend on
investment from larger firms, and
a substantial pullback in spending
could devastate any number of
businesses downstream — from
sound- and lighting-equipment
rental companies to merchandis-
ers who supply concert T-shirts.
The one bright spot for some
music companies is that digital
entertainment shouldn’t be hurt
by the turmoil — and could even
thrive. From Feb. 24 to March 11,
Spotify shares decreased only
4.8%, compared with the New
York Stock Exchange’s 5.2% drop.
The rest of the industry can only
hope that increased in-home lis-
tening will eventually fuel demand
to see live music once the corona-
virus abates. —GLENN PEOPLES
Live Nation
Madison Square Garden Co.
CTS Eventim -41.2%
-17.9% -15.1%
-20.0% -19.7%
-29.1% -25.2%
-25.2%
-43.4% -41.2%
CHANGE IN STOCK PRICE SINCE FEB. 24 YTD
S&P 500
New York Stock Exchange
WORSE THAN NOSEBLEEDS
- as of March 11
MARCH 14, 2020 • WWW.BILLBOARD.COM 1 5
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