Making music
Undertones ex-frontman and head of the Live Music Forum, Feargal Sharkey wants more live pub music, finds Michelle Perrett.
Licensees have been handed a real opportunity to get on board with live music under the new Licensing Act, according to Feargal Sharkey, head of the Live Music Forum (LMF).
In an exclusive interview with The Publican - following the most authoritative survey yet of live music in England and Wales - the former pop star is calling on licensees and local authorities to work together to ensure the future of live music in pubs.
He wants all licensees to tick the box for showing live music when they apply for their premises licence next year. Feargal told The Publican: "I genuinely think there are an awful lot of opportunities for licensees and I think all of us would be foolish to try to let this opportunity go amiss."
The LMF was set up in January this year to promote live music and examine the impact the Licensing Act will have. It will then suggest recommendations to the government on how to improve live music in pubs.
The survey, carried out by Mori for LMF, reveals that many licensees are still unsure of the basics of the new Licensing Act and whether it will have any impact on live music. Three-quarters of those who currently stage live music feel they have not been told enough about the possible impact the Licensing Act may have, explains the report.
Of those who have provided live music in the last 12 months, 43 per cent know nothing about the Act.
Despite these concerns Feargal believes it represents an opportunity for licensees and wants them to "opt in" when they fill out their forms during the transition process. "Under the new rules you fill in the form for your alcohol licence and you are going to be paying, whatever the fees might be," he says. "If you want to have live music you don't have to do anything else but tick the box. There is no other expense as there will be no extra processing costs to the local authority. It will be nothing more complicated than ticking a box so it's not exactly going to take a lot of effort."
However, there is inevitably concern from licensees that there will be added costs of meeting local authority requirements.
Local authorities have yet to make clear how they will manage the expected deluge of pubs wishing to have the option of showing live music - and how they will go about inspecting them.
Feargal has written to every chief executive of every local authority explaining the cultural and economic benefits of allowing live music in venues. He says that the LMF is asking local authorities to adopt as many of the recommendations in the licensing guidance as it can. It wants them to monitor the impact of the Licensing Act on live music and says many are keen to accommodate live music in their licensing policies.
"There is a wider cultural and economic benefit to be had and local authorities will have to be very, very careful to find a balance between the small vocal minority against those benefits," he said.
Key findings included:
- 44 per cent of pubs have played live music in the last 12 months
- 20 per cent of licensees surveyed said live music has been performed in their pub for over 10 years
- 47 per cent of licensees said they know nothing about the impact the Licensing Act will have on live music
- one in seven of the 1,577 venues surveyed currently operate under the "two in a bar rule", whereby there is no need for a public entertainment licence - the rule will be scrapped under the new regime.
Feargal says that if licensees are thinking about introducing live music to their venue then the Live Music Forum wants to help. For further information contact the Department for Culture, Media & Sport on 020 7211 6200, or visit www.culture.gov.uk/creative_industries/music/livemusicforum
