The government is proposing that small venues such as pubs and wine bars be free to put on live music without a licence, in response to criticism that heavy-handed bureaucracy is damaging the live music scene.
For the first time since the Licensing Act came into power in 2003, venues with a 100-person capacity or under will be able to put on live music without a licence if the proposal successfully navigates a 12-week public consultation.
Under the act every venue that puts on live music, from large concert halls to restaurants employing a pianist, must go through a licensing process many regard as expensive and over-complicated.
John Whittingdale, chairman of the culture, media and sport select committee, called the proposals a “step in the right direction” but said they did not go far enough.
A report by the select committee in May said the 2003 act had been an overall success but that “absurd” licensing laws were damaging the live music scene.
“We have already had consultations; this has been debated interminably,” Whittingdale said yesterday. “Our recommendation was for venues of up to 200 people to be exempted and in our view the evidence for the exemption is clear and should be acted upon immediately.”
The government’s new proposal would go further than reintroducing the “two in a bar” exemption – which was in place before the 2003 act – which allowed non-amplified music by one or two musicians in a venue of any size. The new proposal, due to be debated in Westminster, would allow bands of any number to play amplified music in small venues, a government source said.
Some will be dissatisfied that the government’s new proposal does not go far enough to solve the 2003 act’s problems, while other groups, such as local councils and police forces, who have been vehemently opposed to any exemptions to the act, are likely to be critical. The licensing minister, Gerry Sutcliffe, is expected to say there are already sufficient measures in place to deal with noise and anti-social behaviour, but the government will prevent problematic venues from holding gigs if there are complaints made against them. How this would be put into practice remains unclear.
Sutcliffe is not expected to mention form 696, which MPs and campaigners want scrapped, arguing that it is “potentially racist”. The Metropolitan police recently changed the form, which previously requested details of the ethnic groups likely to attend a gig and the type of music being performed, to shift the target to promoted late-night events that feature MCs and DJs, rather than live music.
Even with the changes, Whittingdale said the form was “unnecessary”, adding that sectors of the industry believed it unfairly targeted certain types of black music.
Speaking before the review announcement, Horace Trubridge, assistant general secretary of the Musicians’ Union, said smaller venues had seen a marked drop in business because of the act and artists were becoming impatient. “Consultations are a great way of deferring a decision, and it is a shame that nobody in government has been brave enough to say ‘Come on, let’s try it’, even if it had to be revised later down the line,” he said.
The proposed exemption – which will not include venues with DJs – is expected to take “a few months”, but ministers are confident it will be “tight but possible” to do it quickly.
That timescale is likely to be met with cynicism from campaigners, who have already taken part in six years of legislation, eight consultations, two government research projects, two national review processes and a parliamentary select committee report, according to UK Music.
