Findings and Recommendations: Report on Licensing Act 2003 – Live Music Forum (2007)
Organisation / Affiliation / Publisher: Live Music Forum
Source: Government
Date: 2007
“Based on all the evidence we have before us, it is the overall conclusion of the Live Music Forum that the Licensing Act 2003 has had a broadly neutral impact on the provision of live music. However, it is also true to say that the Licensing Act has not led to the promised increase in live music. On a number of occasions Government Ministers publicly stated that the Licensing Act would result in a “vast increase” or an “explosion” of live music. Members of the Live Music Forum remain unconvinced by these comments.
The promotion of live music is not one of the objectives of the Licensing Act and we view with some scepticism any belief that the Act will in itself lead to a growth in live music. It would also be true to say that many of the benefits the Government believed the new legislation would bring to live music have been delivered – the removal of the extra cost for a Public Entertainment Licence, the removal of the annual renewal process and the introduction of standardised fees, have all been cited as positives by the industry, and the flexibility provided by the new system of Temporary Event Notices (TENs)5 would appear to be widely supported by applicants and is something that the Forum would argue should be maintained (see paragraph 3.17).”