The Stage

Reports claim bureaucracy is losing club performers gigs

Published Tuesday 23 May 2006 at 17:05 by Nuala Calvi

Variety artists say they are losing work as a result of the new Licensing Act because owners of pubs and clubs find the application process too complicated.

Reports have been received by Equity branches that the work involved in getting an entertainment license now means many venues have simply stopped using live performers altogether and reverted to using recorded music.

A motion overwhelmingly passed by the union’s Annual Representative Conference has called on its council to monitor the situation by calling on variety branch secretaries to provide full details of any incidences of cancelled gigs in their area. The evidence will then be presented to the government by Equity’s research and parliamentary officer.

Proposing the motion on behalf of the South East area branch, Mavis Wesley said she knew of a club in Essex which used to have live music but was put off applying for a license because the application form was too long and confusing - leading to the loss of 150 gigs a year.

“Unfortunately these forms are generated by bureaucrats whose English is far removed from that used in an Essex club,” she said. “Now that club has bingo and karaoke where it used to have live singers. How many more gigs have been lost across the country?”