Creative Industries Minister Shaun Woodward said that the figures were encouraging and evidence that venues understood the new system.

DCMS commissioned Ipsos MORI to survey small venues to gauge whether they are taking advantage of the new rules brought in under the Licensing Act 2003. The survey looked at 2,101 establishments, most with a capacity of fewer than 500 people (including pubs, restaurants and village halls) to ascertain how many have a licence to put on live music.

It showed that:

• 63 per cent have either obtained a music licence (61 per cent) or put on live music via other means (2 per cent)  – compared to 60 per cent under the old laws;

• a quarter (25 per cent) of premises now have a licence to put on music for the first time;
  
• of the small proportion (7 per cent) of venues that used to operate under the ‘two in a bar rule’, around 70 per cent now have live music licences; and
  
• fewer than 2 per cent had their live music applications refused.

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The main reasons given for not having applied to put on live music were that the venue was not suitable or that they simply wouldn’t stage live music.
Shaun Woodward said:

“It’s early days. But this survey is encouraging. And shows smaller venues getting to grips with the new laws on licensing.

“Small venues provide the lifeblood of the music industry. That’s where top selling artists such as the Kaiser Chiefs are discovered and cut their teeth. It’s good to see that so many smaller venues have applied to stage live acts. And a quarter chose to do so for the first time.

“Of course it’s not just about making the big time. There’s a huge range of musicians performing for pleasure or simply to earn a living. They rely on small venues. So it is good news that so many that used the two in a bar rule can now stage anything from solo jazz guitarists to the London Philharmonic Orchestra.”

Feargal Sharkey, chairman of the Live Music Forum said:

“This picture is encouraging and confirms much of the evidence that the forum has uncovered. We know that the majority of venues – large and small – can now put on live music and that’s fantastic news.

“But there’s always room for improvement. The forum will publish its final assessment of the legislation with recommendations on how the Government can make our live music industry even more successful early next year.”

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Notes to editors

1. The report “The experience of smaller establishments in applying for live music authorisation” can be found on the DCMS website

2. Findings from this survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Live Music Forum and DCMS, are based on telephone interviews with a sample of 2,101 establishments across England and Wales. Fieldwork was conducted by Ipsos MORI’s telephone centre between 16 August and 13 September, 2006.

3. The sample was designed to ensure that a minimum number of establishments of each type participated in the survey (ie public houses, wine bars, nightclubs, hotels and inns, student unions, restaurants, cafes, members clubs and associations, places of worship and community halls). Having achieved this minimum number of interviews, the aim was to ensure as representative as possible a sample in terms of the number of establishments within each category, whether or not they had applied for a licence to stage live music. The survey results were then adjusted by being weighted back into their correct proportions by establishment type and region (ie England and Wales), so as to better reflect the overall distribution of the target audience types.

4. This is an interim survey which specifically looked at smaller venues. The first baseline study of music venues was carried out in 2004 and can be found on the DCMS website. A follow up survey will be carried out in 2007.

5. The Licensing Act 2003 came into effect on 24 November 2005. It abolished the anachronistic ‘two in a bar rule’, whereby a public entertainment licence was not required where only one or two performers performed during an evening on licensed premises.  This restricted what entertainment was provided, and acted as a disincentive to more diverse forms of music.

6. The Act also introduced a single, integrated premises licence which permits premises to supply alcohol, to provide regulated entertainment and to provide refreshment late at night.

7. The Live Music Forum (LMF) was set up by DCMS  in 2004 following a Ministerial commitment made during the passage of the Licensing Act to ‘work with the music industry to ensure that full advantage is taken of the opportunities offered by the Licensing Act 2003 for the promotion of live music’. In tandem, it has a remit to monitor and evaluate the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 on the performance of live music. Chaired by Feargal Sharkey, the LMF is comprised of representatives from across the industry and non-commercial sectors, together with local government, the Arts Council and the hospitality trade. It is due to present its final recommendations to Government in 2007.