Witch Fever say that they have been left “broke” after two months of playing arenas in the UK and Europe.
The Manchester doom-punk band supported Danish metal band Volbeat on their headline arena tour at the end of 2025. However, despite playing regularly at big venues during that time and getting their due performance fees, they found themselves out of pocket due to taxes linked to Brexit.
They opened up about the financial struggles on a new episode of the 101 Part Time Jobs podcast, and explained how it is getting more common for artists to struggle to make ends meet.
Explaining how they had to quit their jobs to go on the tour, bassist Alex Thompson said: “We did two months in arenas and stadiums. We played Wembley [Arena]. Then we got to the end of it… and found that the pot of money which was going to be our profit is all stuck in withholding taxes across Europe.”
“It’s a Brexit issue,” Thompson added. “We’re basically paying double tax. We pay tax in the UK and we’ve had to pay tax on all of the fees [internationally]”.
Singer Amy Walpole continued, revealing that she is having to use inheritance money from her late mother to make ends meet as they turned over such little profit from the tour.
“We’re broke – and we just did two months in arenas,” she said. “And we also can’t get a job because we’re back on tour in March, so nowhere will hire us.
“I’m just really laying it all bare here. We’re signed to a major [label, but] this is what the music industry is like at the moment. I’m currently living off £4,000 from my late mother’s pension that I got at the end of last year. That is rapidly running out. So it’s quite a depressing landscape at the moment. We’ve done a fair few years of touring and the fees are low, but the costs are getting higher and higher.”
Witch Fever are currently signed to Music for Nations, which is a subsidiary of Sony Music.
The band are far from the first act to speak out about the rising costs and increasing strain facing artists in the UK. Last year, Wolf Alice‘s Joff Oddie joined industry leaders at a government hearing, and warned that while some progress is being made, it is still feeling near impossible for artists to make a living from playing live.
“The big thing that I’d like to get into your heads is that when my band were doing the grassroots touring scene 12 years ago, it was unbelievably tight,” he said. “So 12 years ago the numbers didn’t stack up, and now it’s unbelievable… I can honestly say, I’m not sure how Wolf Alice would make it work today.”
Back in November, it was revealed that the UK music industry contributed a record-breaking £8billion to the economy in 2024. Despite these figures though, there are still severe warnings about the impact of AI on the music industry, the ongoing threat to grassroots music venues, the issues with touring as a UK act post-Brexit, and a slowing rate of economic growth in the industry.
The dire consequences of Brexit on touring artists were also highlighted back in 2022, when industry leaders shared that the complications of leaving the European Union were “strangling the next generation of UK talent in the cradle”.
“Coming off the back of COVID, we suddenly found ourselves in a situation where it’s harder for in-demand UK artists and our world-class technicians, haulage companies and everything that’s built up around our live music scene to get out there, play and delight crowds across Europe,” said Jon Collins, CEO of the music body LIVE, at the time.
“We do find a way, as the live music industry are experts at overcoming obstacles – but a particular concern is the damage that is being done at the moment; particularly with those younger emerging bands who don’t have the same or any of the resources of your more established artists.”
The bleak struggle facing artists and grassroots venues is likely to continue into 2026 too, with the Music Venue Trust sharing their annual report earlier this week, and revealing that over half of UK grassroots venues made no profit in 2025.
It outlined that Employer National Insurance increases led to many jobs in the industry being lost, and added that the increase in business rates has also proven devastating.
Among those pushing for concrete change are the organisers at the Royal Albert Hall in London, who last year made the historic venue the first arena to commit to a LIVE ticket levy to help support grassroots venues.
That sees £1 from every ticket sold invested back into the UK’s live music scene and helps smaller venues keep their doors open and for grassroots artists. Artists who have also shown support for the levy include Coldplay, Sam Fender and Katy Perry too, with each of them donating a portion of their tour revenues to help support grassroots spaces and artists.
