“It’s a lot more difficult now than it would have been for me five years ago to get my foot in the same door,” she told BBC Newsbeat.
“It’s terrible, and it’s a really important market to crack, especially if, like me, you’re an Irish person doing country music; it’s probably the most important.”
“There are so many legendary venues and festivals—all these late-night TV shows that have music as part of them,” she continues.
“And the music business has evolved significantly over the last few decades. Gone are the days when musicians could support themselves by selling recordings.
Therefore, traveling is incredibly vital. It enables an artist to pursue a profession.”
The Last Dinner Party, the BBC Radio 1 Sound of 2024 winners, is one of the acts attempting to carry over their UK popularity to the United States.
The London group’s North American tour will come to an end later this month with a performance at Coachella.
However, according to bassist Georgia Davies, it’s “becoming increasingly impossible for independent and indie label artists to get out to America, which is an absolute travesty.”.
“There should be more funding for the arts in this country to enable artists to be able to do that.”
backlog of visas
Both of the visas cost $460 prior to the revisions. The increased rates can exceed $1,000 and depend on other criteria, such as the artists’ collaborations upon arrival in the US.
The US embassy reports that in addition to increased expenses for rent, personnel, and technology, it has been dealing with a backlog of applications following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Because of that backlog, applications are being processed more slowly, and some artists have resorted to paying up to $2,805 in additional fees to expedite the process.