This is a call to anyone who loves any type of music. Please read
The Government have recently passed laws in the UK to try and suppress live
music and dance. Pubs which could previously offer work to solo singers or
duos now have to pay for a special licence and can only have 12 of these per
year. Even school Xmas concerts need to be licensed.
If you don't know there is a UK government web site where anyone can now
start a petition and that's what is being done. we've just received the
following email which explains things more clearly and gives the site
address . If you care about keeping music live please take the time to sign
the petition.
Subject: Music/Licensing Laws - Official Downing Street petition
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:36:37
Please circulate
The live music/licensing e-petition now has nearly 4550 signatures.
It currently stands at no.17 in the list of 1,702 petitions on the
Number 10 website: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/licensing/
This is good, especially in just under a month - and there are five
more months in which people can sign. (CLOSING DATE: 11 June 2007).
But the petition needs to do much better to make an impression on ministers,
and to encourage DCMS to implement music-friendly amendments.
The petition is for everyone, not just musicians. Please consider
signing if you haven't already done so. If you have signed, encourage
friends to sign.
Points to remember about the new legislation:
a.. The unlicensed provision of even one musician is a potential
criminal offence (although some places are exempt, including places of
public religious worship, royal palaces and moving vehicles). Max penalty:
£20,000 fine and six months in prison.
b.. The rationale is to prevent noise, crime and disorder, to ensure public
safety, and the protection of children from harm.
c.. But broadcast entertainment, including sport and music, is exempt - no
matter where, and no matter how powerfully amplified.
d.. In the transition to the new regime, bars with jukeboxes, CD
players etc were automatically granted a license to play recorded
music; but their automatic entitlement to one or two musicians was
abolished.
e.. For the first time, private performances raising money for charity are
licensable.
f.. School performances open to friends and family are licensable -
they count as public performances.
g.. Under the old regime all premises licensed to sell alcohol for
consumption on the premises were automatically allowed up to two live
musicians (the 'two in a bar rule').
h.. In December, DCMS published research confirming that about 40% of these
have lost any automatic entitlement to live music as a result of the new
Act:
'Very few establishments that wanted a new license were denied it, and many
who were previously limited to 2-in-a-bar now have the ability to stage
music with 2 or more musicians... This contrasts, of course, with the fact
that 40% of establishments now have no automatic means of putting on live
music (i.e. they would have to give a TEN).'
['Licensing Act 2003: The experience of smaller establishments in
applying for live music authorization'; December 2006', paragraphs
6.1.1 and 6.1.2 'Conclusions', p54; Caroline Callahan, Andy Martin,
Anna Pierce, Ipsos-MORI]
'TEN' stands for Temporary Event Notice - in effect a temporary
entertainment licence. Only 12 are allowed per premises per year.
They cost £21 each. See the full MORI reports on this site:
http://www.culture.gov.uk/Reference_...ec_summary.htm
link to sign petition is here.. http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/licensing/
I know this if for England and Wales at the moment but how long before we
get hit with something like this too in Scotland. This applies to everyone.
Thanks everyone. Please email this to everyone you know, post it on other
forums, myspce it, whatever you can do.
