The Licensing Bill by Pete Mella Six months in prison and a £20,000 for singing folk songs. An Orwellian future or 21st century life under New Labour? We investigate the Licensing Bill. It’s perhaps never been quite as confusing and worrying time for musicians and landlords who want to put on live music.    The Licensing Bill, which is scheduled to become law in July and come into effect the following year, has sent alarm bells through the musical community. The government claim it’s merely there to update “archaic licensing laws”. Other groups, including the Musicians’ Union, Equity, British Music Rights, the Arts Council and English Folk Dance and Song Society, see the bill as ruinous to live music in this country.    The current situation in England and Wales is that of the “two in a bar” rule, that it is legal for one or two people to perform in premises otherwise unlicensed for live music. The new legislation would abolish the rule, and make all premises bound to seek a whole music license.    There have also been fears that this licensing would stretch to other areas, such as schools, churches, charity concerts and spontaneous singalongs. Draconian penalties were also suggested for those who broke the rules, of jail sentences or fines of up to £20,000.    The Bill was first introduced to Parliament in November 2002, by Junior Culture Minister Kim Howells. He has always been keen to stress that the new laws won’t cause the jailing of unlicensed church choirs or SWAT teams descending on school nativity plays. Entertainment is only a small part of the Bill, which also includes such things as opening hour reforms and the admittance of children to licensed premises.    The government have assured musicians that church concerts, concerts in church halls, charity concerts that don’t make a surplus, nativity plays, pub singalongs, busking, music tuition and many other categories don’t come under the new regime.    Amendments have also made to exempt performances at private weddings and garden fetes. Musicians who do not check whether premises are licensed have also been decriminalised, unless they arranged the gig themselves.    However, musicians’ groups remain unconvinced, and fear that the wording of the bill could be open to interpretations that could criminalise areas of public performance that the bill was not designed to cover.    Another criticism is that amplified sound from big screen TVs and jukeboxes is not covered, even though this is a much bigger cause for noise complaints for pubs. Several clauses wrapped up with health and safety also mean small venues that currently put on two in a bar gigs may not be able to afford the renovations needed to comply to get a full license.    Opposition Peers have won amendments that exempt incidental music in any place, exempt performances provided to less than 250 people before 11.30pm, and exemption for educational establishments.    It’s up to the government whether or not they talk on these opposition amendments. Public pressure can sway them. Go here [link] to hassle your local representative in fax form.    Also, an online petition against the Bill now has over 81,000 signatures – check it out here [link] (and yes the Government does now accept electronic petitions).    As much as the government would like to dismiss fears about the Bill as scare mongering, it’s hard to imagine so many people and groups would get so worked up if there was nothing to worry about. The Licensing Bill will not destroy live music, but could conceivably criminalise perfectly harmless activities. It’s up to the musical community to make their voices heard.    Links  Musician's Union [link]  Department for Media, Culture and Sport [link]    (This article also appeared in Sandman # 8)  April 30, 2003 9:25pm