I apologise for starting another PEL thread, but have noticed that a lot of people (including me) have had some difficulty understanding the issues.

I found this on the Hobgoblin Music site, and is the best (fairly short) explanation of the issues that I've seen:

"The government have published the Licencing Bill, which, if enacted, would criminalize the provision of most music in England and Wales, unless first licenced. If these laws are passed they will affect everyone involved in making music, and could be absolutely detrimental to music culture in England and Wales. The anti-music provisions are buried in the same bill that will allow longer opening hours in pubs, and as a result will not get much coverage.

Campaigners have been protesting about the two-in-a-bar laws for a long time now. The government has responded to this by suggesting laws which are many times more irrational, and many times more damaging to music.

The new Licencing Bill will make it illegal for any number of musicians to perform in an unlicenced premises or at an unlicenced event. The bill would criminalize any musician who performed at an unlicenced venue as well as the owner of the venue. The wording is not entirely clear but the bill also affects those providing "entertainment facilities" - this could include recording studios, practise rooms and retailers. Venues now needing a licence will include not just pubs and clubs, but private functions - even in your own home, churches, public land, one-off events... the list goes on. Television is exempt, however.

As far as we can see, the only part of the bill that makes any sense is the proposal for a fixed licencing fee. Previously the cost of a PEL has varied drastically from council to council. On the other hand grouping the acoustic performance of a man playing an unamplified guitar in a pub in the same licensing category as, for example, Glastonbury festival may well not make for cheap licences.

We don't yet know how much the new licence will cost - if it is very reasonably priced and easy to obtain then perhaps there will not be as much of a problem, but there is no reason at all to assume that this will be the case. To obtain a licence a premises requires approval by Police, Fire Service, Environmental Health Department and local residents (remember this includes all venues including your home and garden, churches, village halls, as well as pubs).

These new laws pose a real threat because the police and local authorities are known to take the licensing laws very literally, however ridiculous, and enforce them strongly with fines,

We understand the need to place some restrictions on certain types of noise or crowd gathering events, but to discriminate against every kind of live performance and make the ringing of church bells into a licensable act is little short of crazy and has to be stopped."