Opposition to those previously reported new rules governing live music which came into effect in November 2005 and stemmed from the 2003 Licensing Act is growing, so much so the Lib Dems are now calling for the government to formally reexamine the regulations which, some argue, have had a detrimental effect on the grass roots live music community by discouraging pubs from staging live music events because of the costs and bureaucracy now involved.
The Lib Dems have issued a statement after 79,000 people added their name to a petition against the rules on the Downing Street website. The party's Culture, Media And Sport spokesman, Don Foster, said this morning: "The sheer scale of this petition shows the depth of public concern on the impact that these regulations are having on live music. Live music in a pub is an essential part of Britain's musical heritage so why something as innocuous as providing a piano in a bar should be deemed an offence is beyond me. The Government claims that there has been no effect on the industry but their own research shows that 40% of smaller venues have lost any automatic entitlement to provide live music. The Government must take note of people's concerns and seek to help the industry grow by repealing such bureaucratic legislation".
The Lib Dem move follows reports back in March that a sub-group of the Live Music Forum, the Feargal Sharkey headed organisation set up by the government to advise on the new rules, had concluded the new regulations had had a negative impact on grass roots live music - an opinion that contradicted official government research issued at the end of last year that said the opposite.