Today, April 17, The Live Music Act is set to pass through Parliament, an event that comes as a cause for celebration amongst many musicians.To mark the act’s progress in style, a host of well-known faces who have supported the legal change will perform a gig in the halls of the Houses of Parliament
It is being run by UK Music and the Musicians’ Union, which fought for a change in the law, and the line-up will include singer Martina Topley-Bird and Daytona Lights. Even a band of politicians called MP4 will show that they’re not all out-of-touch.
Highlighting why the Act was needed, Topley-Bird said that playing live “has been essential to my creative development as a performer and songwriter and the passing of this legislation will make more opportunities available to young upcoming artists”.
Before the Bill was passed, small venues and pubs were not allowed to host live music events without first applying for a licence, but now any event with an audience of fewer than 200 people can go ahead between 8am and 11pm without local authority permission.
It is hoped that now more pubs will host live music events and give musicians a platform to find new fans.
Even Elbow’s Guy Garvey remembers his roots playing in the Corner Pin pub in Stubbins.
“The encouragement the landlord and the friends that gathered back then gave us kept us writing and playing long enough to make a life from our passion,” he recalled.
The front man added: “British music is one of our proudest exports, and everyone involved with raising this issue and voting in its favour should be enormously proud. Now let’s get drunk and have a sing!”
UK Music will now assess the impact the new law will have on the industry. It has commissioned a major research project by seeing how many licensed premises intend to offer live music from October.