MPs have called for legal restrictions on live music, introduced less than five years, ago to be relaxed.
A select committee report has asked that pubs and smaller venues be exempt from requiring a live music licence. They say “draconian” rules, introduced in 2005, have hampered performances “especially by young musicians”. The MPs also want a form, which forces promoters in London to provide personal details of artists and their target audiences, to be scrapped. The Licensing Act 2003, which came into force in 2005, has been criticised for reducing the number of places where artists can play, even to small audiences. The Culture Media and Sport select committee, led by Conservative MP John Whittingdale, expressed “concern at the linkage of live music and public order issues”. The report said that music should not automatically be treated as a “disruptive activity, which will inevitably lead to nuisance and disorder”.
Mr Whittingdale added: “We were particularly concerned to hear of the way the Act may be hampering live music performances especially by young musicians, who often get their first break though performing live at small venues such as pubs.”