The Neptune Music Bar in Hove is “regularly full to bursting”
Sounding out the smaller venues
The passing of the Live Music Act will undoubtedly provide a boost to small live venues in the UK, but how is the industry faring currently? Jim Evans finds out
IT’S NOT EASY out there, but despite the recession, high business rates, record youth unemployment levels and ever- increasing competition for the fans’ disposable income, small venues in the UK are attempting to hold their own in the live music sector, helped by recent legislation and support from music industry organisations and licensed trade bodies. Certainly there have been some closures and there will surely be more, but there are more positives than negatives. The show goes on. The recently passed Live Music Act will come into effect on 1 October 2012. First introduced by Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Tim Clement-Jones in July 2010 as a Private Members Bill in the House of Lords, the Live Music Bill
gained Royal Assent on 8 March, passing the bill into British law. The Act sets out to remove much of the bureaucracy currently attached to hosting gigs in small-capacity UK venues. Most importantly, it exempts venues with a capacity of 200 persons or fewer from the need to obtain a local authority licence for the performance of live music between 8am and 11pm. The Act also states that there will be no audience limit for performances of unamplified live music.
Prior to the passing of the Live Music
Act, which follows a near-decade of lobbying, small UK venues had to apply for permission to their local council authority for permission to host live music events (as dictated by the 2003
FRIENDLIER FIRES The Live Music Act has been welcomed by the wider music community with Sting among the artists keen to praise the initiative. "It's great news that the campaign has been successful and small venues will be able to hold live music events without a licence," said the artist in a UK Music statement. "Such venues are the essential shop floor of the UK's multi- million pound music industry." Jack Savidge of Friendly Fires adds: “Last year we played a gig at the
Horn in St Albans, a small venue that’s supported us in various incarnations for over 10 years. It’s a common saying that for a band to get good they have to play gig after gig after, and that there is no substitute for playing to an audience. With more and more small venues facing closure (even the Horn is launching a ‘save the Horn’ campaign for the first time in its 37 year history) it’s becoming harder for new artists to do this. We hope the new Act will help small venues to survive and thrive.”