<\/p>\n
If you still think touring arenas equals financial security, this story might ruin your day.<\/p>\n
UK doom-punk outfit Witch Fever have revealed they\u2019re effectively broke after spending two months opening on a major arena tour across the UK and Europe \u2013 including a show at the iconic Wembley Arena \u2013 supporting Danish rock heavyweights Volbeat<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking on the latest episode of the 101 Part Time Jobs<\/em> podcast, bassist Alex Thompson explained that while the band were paid fees that should<\/em> have covered their costs, their actual profits are now stuck in withholding taxes across multiple European countries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got to the end of it\u2026 and our profit is all stuck in withholding taxes across Europe,\u201d Thompson said.<\/p>\n Singer Amy Hope Walpole didn\u2019t sugarcoat it, adding: \u201cSo we\u2019re broke as f*** \u2013 and we just did two months in arenas,\u201d she said, adding that the band can\u2019t even pick up casual work because they\u2019re due back on tour again in March. \u201cNowhere will hire us.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite being signed to Music For Nations, a subsidiary of Sony Music, Walpole said the situation highlights just how cooked the current touring landscape has become.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is just crazy that this is what the music industry is like at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Walpole also shared that she\u2019s currently surviving on \u00a34,000 (about AUD $7900) from her late mother\u2019s pension, which she received late last year \u2013 money she says is \u201crapidly running out\u201d.<\/p>\n Zooming out, Witch Fever\u2019s situation isn\u2019t an outlier. According to the UK Musicians\u2019 Census, 43% of UK musicians earn less than \u00a314,000 (about AUD $27,650) a year from music. Post-Brexit touring has only made things worse, with artists now facing expensive permits, carnets, additional crew paperwork and lengthy admin just to cross borders.<\/p>\n Industry body UK Music has reported that while the UK music industry generated a record \u00a38 billion (AUD $15.8 billion) in 2024, growth has slowed dramatically \u2013 and touring earnings have dropped for many artists.<\/p>\n In 2024, even the UK\u2019s creative industries minister admitted EU touring has become \u201csimply not economically viable\u201d for many artists.<\/p>\n Sound familiar?<\/p>\n While this is a UK story, the themes hit especially close to home for Australian bands, who already deal with massive geographic distances, eye-watering travel costs, freight, visas, and the brutal reality that even domestic<\/em> touring can involve thousands of kilometres between shows. Overseas runs \u2013 often essential for growth \u2013 can be financially catastrophic if anything goes wrong.<\/p>\n As Help Musicians CEO Sarah Woods put it, the modern music career is increasingly \u201cfinancially precarious\u201d, with rising costs and red tape pushing more artists to the brink.<\/p>\n Arena stages. Major label backing. International tours. And still\u2026 broke.<\/p>\n Witch Fever\u2019s story is a sobering reminder that in 2026, visibility does not equal sustainability \u2013 and for many bands, touring isn\u2019t a path to stability, but a gamble that can leave them worse off than when they started.<\/p>\n Aussie Festival Prices Are Rising Twice As Fast As Inflation, New Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n NEWS FLASHBACK: Volbeat Withdraw From Soundwave 2014<\/a><\/p>\n Most Music Fans Prefer Live Concerts Over Sex, Study Finds<\/a><\/p>\n The post UK Band Witch Fever Reveal They\u2019re \u201cBroke AF\u201d After Touring Arenas<\/a> appeared first on Music Feeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you still think touring arenas equals financial security, this story might ruin your day. UK doom-punk outfit Witch Fever have revealed they\u2019re effectively broke after spending two months opening on a major arena tour across the UK and Europe \u2013 including a show at the iconic Wembley Arena \u2013 supporting Danish rock heavyweights Volbeat. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2250658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[377076,26934,435701],"class_list":["post-2250657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-alex-thompson","tag-uk","tag-witch"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/UK-Band-Witch-Fever-Reveal-Theyre-Broke-AF-After-Touring.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2250657"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2250659,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2250657\/revisions\/2250659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2250658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2250657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2250657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2250657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cWe\u2019re broke as f***\u201d<\/em><\/h2>\n
Further Reading<\/h3>\n