Events | 2009.11.08
Ministers urged to keep promise on music
• Small venues seeking licensing law exemption
• Musicians see no sign of promised consultation
Government inaction over the exemption of small, live music venues from overbearing licensing laws is putting the future of the live music scene in jeopardy, the head of the UK\'s music trade organisation has warned.
Government promises two weeks ago to exempt venues with 100-person capacity have stalled with no sign of the proposed consultation, said Feargal Sharkey, the former lead singer of the Undertones and now chief executive of UK Music.
"We have heard nothing more about this other than a brief statement in parliament, which seems devoid of any meaningful intent," he said. "It is very disappointing that the government is constantly and endlessly debating this and seems incapable of dealing with the situation in hand. It is increasing everyone\'s level of frustration and even anger."
The organisation has sent a letter, seen by the Guardian, to Gerry Sutcliffe, a licensing minister, asking if he has informed his cabinet colleagues about the decision or taken any steps to launch the 12-week consultation that has been mooted.
Musicians and campaigners are concerned there is not enough time before the next general election to change the act and criticised an apparent lack of political will to take the exemption forward.
Tim Clement-Jones, a Liberal Democrat peer and author of a private member\'s bill that would exempt a range of venues up to 200 capacity, called the government\'s announcement a "complete damp squib", as any exemption would be limited to 100-capacity venues and reliant on a three-month consultation.
"It is extraordinary that two weeks have passed and no consultation paper has emerged, no timetable has been given and the government has gone quiet," he said. "Was this announcement genuine or was it to wrong-foot the debate? If it was genuine, the government has to prove that by acting now."
Critics of the act point to examples such as a headteacher in Daventry who was told he faced a £20,000 fine and possible imprisonment unless he cancelled a musical at the last minute, because the school did not have an entertainments licence. A West Country choir has even resorted to asking a minister to bless its summer singsongs to avoid having to get a licence.
The government says the Licensing Act has resulted in 8,000 extra premises gaining a licence to put on live music, an 11% increase on 2007. But Hamish Birchall, a musician and campaigner from the group Live Music Forum, said the government was being dishonest. "These statistics do not measure how much live music is being put on, only the number of the paper permissions to have live music. And, as these often include prohibitive conditions from local authorities, many venues are prevented from putting on gigs," he said.
The act came into force in 2005 and a survey of small venues in 2007, carried out for the Department for Children, Schools and Families by British Market Research Bureau, revealed a 5% fall in live gigs in smaller venues .
The musician Sting said a review of licensing laws was vital. "[Small venues] are disappearing because of short-sighted licensing legislation, and that vital creative ground, that has served music so well over the years, will disappear for ever. They cannot be replaced by X Factor, which merely clones existing entertainment stereotypes. We desperately need music pubs and music clubs. They are a vital part of our cultural landscape."
The DCSF said: "The consultation document is currently being drafted. A final draft will be sent to the cabinet for agreement."
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/[...]ve-music-venues-licensing-laws
