DCMS slated for shunning live music reform
Music campaigner Feargal Sharkey has slated the Government for refusing MPs' calls to reduce the regulatory burden on hosting live music.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has chosen not to follow the advice of MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee and exempt small-scale venues - with a capacity under 200 - from needing a licence for live music.
DCMS also didn't back the Committee's call for the "two-in-a-bar" rule to be reintroduced, or to abolish the controversial Form 696, which requires operators in parts of London to complete in-depth forms before every promoted event.
Sharkey, chief executive of lobbying body UK Music, said: "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."
Sharkey said: "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'.
"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 [to free up the licensing of live music]. 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."
