Feargal Sharkey, Chief Executive of UK Music said today: “After six years of legislation, eight consultations, two Government research projects, two national review processes and a Parliamentary Select Committee report, all of which have highlighted the harmful impact these regulations are having on the British music industry, Government’s only reaction is yet another review”.
The Government today failed to accept recommendations made by Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee to exempt small scale venues from needing to obtain a licence for live music and from abolishing Form 696.
The Government rejected the Committee’s call to exempt venues with a capacity of 200 persons or fewer from the need to obtain a licence for the performance of live music.
Government also refused to back the Committee’s call to abolish the pernicious and discriminatory Form 696. As the Select Committee’s report highlighted, Form 696 “Goes beyond the requirements of both the Act and its Guidance”, and imposes “unreasonable conditions on events”, and “should be scrapped”.
UK Music is extremely disappointed by the Government’s response. At a time when the British music industry is facing significant recessionary pressure and Government’s own research indicates a 5% decrease in the number of venues available to aspiring young musicians and performers, we had hoped, wrongly, that this Government would endeavour to provide the most supportive framework possible for our industry. Today it has not.
Feargal further commented: “Yet again we are told to wait. Yet again we are told that there will be another new review process, more meetings and yet another group, this time charged specifically with trying to develop loopholes which exploit a deeply flawed and ill-conceived Licensing Act. At what point does someone within Government become brave enough to acknowledge that it is time to raise a hand, time to admit they have got it wrong and time to fix it. To recall the words of one former party leader, ‘Sometimes it is better to lose and do the right thing than to win and do the wrong thing’”.
Once again Government has tried to establish links between live music, noise nuisance and disorder yet once again it has failed to provide any evidence to substantiate its own allegations.
“What is most surprising is that British music must now rely on opposition parties to support the future of our industry. That is why tomorrow we will be supporting the introduction of the Liberal Democrat Live Music Bill. This is opposition legislation specifically designed to tackle the key issues in the Licensing Act 2003; key issues which damage our industry and which provide a platform for the unattractive and immoral principles of Form 696.”
ENDS
For further information, please contact Jo Dipple on 020 7306 4072 or 07796 937 160 or email
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Notes to editors: UK Music represents the collective interest of the UK’s commercial music industry: from artists, musicians, songwriters and composers, to record labels, music managers, music publishers, collecting societies and studio producers.
Our member organisations are: the Association of Independent Music (AIM), the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors (BASCA), BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, the Music Managers Forum (MMF), the Music Publishers Association Limited (MPA), the Musicians Union (MU), PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) and PRS for Music.
