The Stage

New guidelines for live music licences

Published Tuesday 23 January 2007 at 14:25 by Nuala Calvi

Local authorities will have to take into account the volume at which a band plays and whether or not a venue advertises them as the main attraction when deciding if live entertainment needs to be licensed, according to new guidelines.

The Department for Culture Media and Sport has published draft guidance to help local authorities interpret the Licensing Act, including an expanded section on how to determine whether music is “incidental” and therefore not licensable under the law.

Pubs and clubs could run into trouble if authorities decide that live music is the “main reason for people attending the premises” and if it “predominates over other activities”.

However, the guidelines state that the number of musicians playing should not be relevant and that a whole orchestra could be considered incidental in some situations.

Live music campaigner Hamish Birchall claimed the advice would put bands at a disadvantage to recorded music.

“Quibbling about whether a gig is advertised, whether it is the main reason for attendance and whether volume ‘predominates over other activities’ is petty when set against the exemption for big screen broadcast entertainment and the light touch for jukeboxes,” he said.

“Recorded music is often played at a level that predominates over other activities. If DCMS want to treat live and recorded music equally, as they have suggested in the past, they should make clear that the volume of live music is only relevant if there are complaints. Local authorities have adequate powers under separate legislation to deal with it and both local authorities and the police can close noisy licensed premises immediately for up to 24 hours.”

The guidelines follow a survey conducted for the DCMS that found more than 60% of smaller venues have a licence for live music following the introduction of the Licensing Act last year.

However, almost 3,000 people have signed an e-petition calling on the prime minister to recognise that music and dance are being restricted by “burdensome licensing regulations”.