The Stage

Sharkey ‘optimistic’ about parliamentary support for small gig exemption

Published Tuesday 18 May 2010 at 14:43 by Natalie Woolman

Chief executive of UK Music Feargal Sharkey has said he aims to get the Live Music Bill, which would give a licensing exemption to gigs for less than 200 people, re-introduced to parliament before the end of the year.

The bill, which received its second reading by the House of Lords earlier this year after it was introduced by Liberal Democrat Timothy Clement-Jones, would alter the Licensing Act 2003 by removing licensing requirements for small gigs.

Speaking to The Stage, Sharkey said: “I think if we were being realistic about this, we would try and get that bill re-introduced back into parliament in October/November this year for the new session of parliament because I think they may have one or two things that, not unreasonably, they might want to prioritise. But clearly we will be doing everything we can to remind them that there’s a priority called the Live Music Bill and a bit of existing legislation that seems to be rather flawed.”

He added that he was “optimistic” because both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have supported the campaign in the past.

Sharkey, who became the head of UK Music in 2008 after a music career with The Undertones, also pointed out that, according to research conducted for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2007, there was a 5% reduction in live music in “secondary” venues. This is despite an increase in the sector overall.

He said: “[For the DCMS] to put out that figure that there’s been an 11% increase quite clearly could be interpreted as misleading. It’s true, live music has seen fantastic growth over the last five or six years, but - as the industry itself is keen to recognise - that has all been at the top end and that was never the area of concern.

“The concern always was those little rooms in the backs of pubs, clubs, hotels, bars and restaurants and the government’s own statistics seem to indicate that actually there has been a reduction of 5% in those kind of venues.”

The Live Music Bill would make exemptions for venues with capacities of less than 200 people, re-introduce the two in a bar rule that allows one or two musicians to play with either minimal or no amplification and exempt hospitals, schools and colleges from requiring licenses for events where alcohol is not being sold and there are no more than 200 people involved.