'My view is that there will be an explosion of live music as a result of removing the discriminatory two-in-a-bar provision.'
Government minister Lord Andrew McIntosh, House of Lords, 26 November 2002

"Additionally, those who 'know a great deal' or 'fair amount' about the Act are significantly more likely to say that they won't consider putting on live music in the future, compared to those who 'know nothing' about the Act (70%, compared with 58% who know nothing at all about the Act)." DCMS/MORI live music survey, p21, 'Consider Having Live Music', October 2004

See also responses to survey question QN9 which outlined 'key changes affecting the staging of live music' (including abolition of the two in a bar rule) and asked whether, taking these changes into account, respondents will consider having live music. A majority respond negatively, a depressing 35% say they will be 'certain not to'.

Link to the full survey (1.7Mb PDF file):
http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/eoyguhlqp32dcg5wipmdpvj2d3pd5uzspswj3owg4njd226ttubku7nn6mkw7ly3ug5pnpjc2pemwg55dmvpvx2xmxd/livemusicsurvey.pdf

The MORI survey found that the majority of bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels had no live music. However, of the minority that had regular live music, jazz does not score badly.

Overall, jazz accounted for 20% of the live music provided by venues in the 12 months prior to the survey. Interestingly this is only 6% below 'Disco' and only 8% below 'Rock'. Jazz is ahead of country music (which scores 14%), and ahead of 'Swing/R&B' (10%), 'Brass band' (10%), and 'Folk' (10%). 'Pop', at 49%, is the only category with a really big lead. [See QY3].

'Disco' is a strange category. It would seem to refer to live bands playing this type of music. However it is possible that licensees were confused by the definition of live music: '... By live music we mean music performed in public by at least one person in real time, that is, not pre-recorded' [Q1]. Does that mean if you add one 'live' performer, even with pre-recorded music, it counts as live music? Could DJs therefore count as live performers? What about Karaoke?

Whatever the reality about 'Disco', the survey also shows live jazz as more popular than rock in hotels and restaurants, and more popular than rock and pop in restaurants.

Type of live music provided in past year:
Hotels: Pop 53%, Jazz 38%, Disco 33%, Rock 28%
Restaurants: Jazz 37%, Pop 27%, Disco 17%, Rock 9%

It is when you look at pubs/bars that pop and rock have a really big lead:

Pubs/bars: Pop 56%, Rock 35%, Disco 21%, Jazz 20%

The total number of pubs (58,000 approx) is about double the total number of restaurants and hotels. So, even where jazz scores highly, there is clearly a lot more work for rock and pop bands in pubs.