and another A new piece of bureaucracy will force licensees to reveal a mass of information about performers. Publicans and managers of other small venues are forced to comply with a new piece of bureaucracy called Form 696 The form demands that licensees give police a mass of detail, including the names, aliases, private addresses and phone numbers of all musicians and other performers appearing at their venue, and the ethnic background of the likely audience. Failure to comply could mean the loss of a licence or even a fine and imprisonment. It applies in 21 London boroughs, but professionals in the music business fear that if it becomes accepted, it will be copied in other cities. These new rules will make putting on live bands next to impossible for most small venues. An 'open mic' night could not happen under such rules. Please join this group to protest against form 696 and new bureaucracy which could kill off live music in London and potentially the whole UK. Feargal Sharkey (singer of Teenage Kicks) is campaiging against the new rules - see below for more details. Please sign the petition on the 10 Downing Street website against 696. See here: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Scrapthe696/
