A Day Without Music

On the website - undiasinmusica.com - there is a thing to click on and play. So I did, and out of the speakers came the unmistakable orchestral introduction to The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony". It wasn't the video, but had it been it would have shown Richard Ashcroft stomping along that street in Hackney with his determined and angry face, brushing everyone aside.

The choice seemed somewhat apt. For the music industry in Spain and Mallorca, these are times which are both bitter and sweet. Popular music has never been more popular, the opportunities to make it, thanks to technology, have never been so readily available, yet there are obstacles, and one of them is tax. This is why the musicians have their angry faces and are making gestures of placing their hands over their mouths. Tomorrow is "Un día sin música", a day without music. (Just out of curiosity, I'll check the website and see if there is anything to click on.)

The complaint that musicians and promoters have is against the 21% rate of IVA (VAT) that is applied to live performance. This is one of many areas of cultural activity which used to benefit from a reduced level of tax. When the Spanish Government, under firm instruction from Brussels, eyed up IVA as a means of making inroads into the national debt, it did so dramatically: live performance was one of various activities, not all of them cultural, which was clobbered by an IVA increase of 13%.

The anger that the IVA rises caused has been spread across all sorts of sectors. The tourist industry, which still has a reduced rate for many of its activities (hotels, restaurants, for example), had been under the impression that not only would it have escaped a rise in IVA but would have been granted a "super-reduced" rate. The Partido Popular had more or less promised this before the last election. Instead, the tourist rate went up from 8% to 10%, not down to the 4% super-reduced level. Though the hotel sector is generally supportive of the PP, it has felt let down and consistently refers to a broken promise and consistently demands that the super-reduced rate is applied. The Rajoy administration won't budge; it has ruled out any reduction.

The government has, pretty much since it introduced IVA increases in September 2012, dropped hints about possible reductions, but for the most part it has equivocated. One area of activity which has benefited has been the buying and selling of works of art: the rate was cut from 21% to 10%. As has been pointed out, however, the two principal "collectors" of art are banks and ... the government. To the disgust of many, the government has also been looking at giving preferential tax treatment to bullfighting (it also wants to make bullfighting something in the national interest and so protect it). As with other activities branded as "entertainment" by the finance ministry, IVA on bullfighting went up to 21% in 2012.

The day without music has been organised by nineteen associations which represent more than 800 businesses involved in Spain's music industry, and tomorrow a petition with over 500,000 signatures will be handed into Congress. The demand is for live music events to be treated in the same way as, for example, newspapers: to have a 4% super-reduced rate applied. Without such a reduction, it is claimed, there will be destruction or at least a less than bright future for live music performance. The slogan for the day is "reasonable and fair IVA for music", the organisers adding that the current rate is affecting international artists: they are holding fewer concerts in Spain or none at all on account of the increased cost of tickets.

One further cause of anger and annoyance is that clubs where live music is offered are obliged to charge the higher 21% rate of IVA on drinks than the 10% rate which applies to a bar where the entertainment might stretch to no more than a television being on in the corner. (I have to say that I wasn't aware that this was the case; I wonder how widely it is in fact applied.) But as the organisers of the day without music say, it is absurd to pay double (the IVA) for having a beer while listening to, say, a jazz group.

So, will there be any music tomorrow in Mallorca? Well, yes, of course there will be, but some of the major theatres will be quiet or not presenting live music. The Es Gremi centre in Palma, for example, has cancelled a Wednesday "night of legends" and will be showing a documentary instead. Trui won't he holding anything at its theatre and it has been prominent in lending its support to the campaign, as have some leading names in the Mallorcan music world, such as the rock singer Jaume Anglada.