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/


Thanks everyone. Please email this to everyone you know, post it on other
forums, myspace it, whatever you can do

Imagine this in the early sixties. The Cavern Club with just twelve live performances a year? How could The Beatles have become that big?

"prevent noise, crime and disorder". Noise, alright. But my experience is that live music prevents crime and disorder, not the absence of it.

Can non-britlanders also sign?

Worth a go on the signing Bobber.

It's a ridiculous thing....I have recently been using music to transform a bar with a rough reputation & constant fights, into a music loving venue with no brawls I know about yet and i have had to host everyone...The nights have grown into sometimes 3/4 gigs a week and the impact on the bands getting themselves tighter has been rewarding to see & hear.

Where I live has the highest suicide rate for young males in the UK. Most of these bands are male and it's great to offer an opportunity that breeds communal hope.

This govt. should be ashamed of themselves......No smoking! No music....whatever next?.....Notice that TV/Radio propaganda is allowed anytime & at any volume....It's all bullshit!
Freedom of speech!???

This is a fucking joke!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I guarantee the government will take absolutely no notice of the online petition - just look at their reaction to the anti toll road petition!! Even though the petitions are on the government's OWN website they are completely dismissed as irrelevant! Democracy? Voice of the people? Fat chance!!!

They only time the government sit up and listen is when big name celebrities champion a cause - and that's only because they want to keep them on their side!

EVERYONE should ignore this law and then see how the prison service copes with the sudden influx of martyrred musicians!!!!!!!!!

Quoted from The End

EVERYONE should ignore this law and then see how the prison service copes with the sudden influx of martyrred musicians!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately I'll think you'll find it's landlords who'll be held to account, and they won't want to risk their licences.
This is what you get when you vote for intrusive namby-pamby left wing governments. They are slipping their insidious little fingers into every part of our lives.

Quoted from Bobber

...But my experience is that live music prevents crime and disorder, not the absence of it.

You can only be right, Bobber. Sounds bizarre to me. People in Britland have been saying for a few years now that Blair and Co. are dictatorial. I dismissed it, but now I think it must be true. Sounds just unbelievable in a democracy like this.

Cool Brittainia seems so long ago now........
There's an old story from down pc's way about a farmer who wanted to catch a herd of wild pigs. So one day he went out and put down one fence post. The pigs saw this as no threat and ignored him. He went out the next day and put down another and so on. The pigs had  gotten used to the farmer doing this and couldn't see the posts as a threat so they continued to ignore him. Then one day they awoke to find themselves completely fenced in, their  freedom forever lost.

That is so Totally Wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's now getting to the stage where the very people who make pubs what they are, are being driven out. Pubs are meant for social gatherings; bit of chat, few beers and a smoke; maybe a bit of live music thrown in. Now they've been turned into 'family pubs' with restaurants attached, non smoking areas, childrens areas. I'm sorry to you guys that have kids, but they do not belong in pubs.

Banning live music in pubs is the end. When I was a teenager that's where you heard new bands. When punk/new wave broke in 1976 you could see a band in a pub one week, and they were in the charts the next. That's what I call exciting. There was a recognised progression: pub circuit, college hall, Rainbow Theatre sized venue, Wembley Arena. A friend of mine actually made a decent living as a pub musician! So now you'll only be able to see new bands on the net! Exciting!!!!