Most of the music at the venue would be unobtrusive background music.

This should qualfiy as exempt as incidental live music and should not have been subjected to this process in the first place.

Why were the premises not advised of this by the licensing authority?

My recent local experience was that the applicants were not aware that there was such an exemption, until the Licensing Manager mentioned it in passing, at the hearing. Had they been so advised, this may have prevented the whole process and saved the applicants a lot of money.

Sadly what live music may or not qualify under this exemption is entirely in the head of each Licensing Manager and would seem to be a matter only for them to decide............