Shambles, I not sure I follow the final paragraph of your post of 10 Mar 10 - 08:21 PM.

Where the public are entertaining themselves then this could be considered "incidental music", since it is not for the purpose of entertaining an audience or attracting customers, and for many customers would be something going on in the background. Unfortunately the definition of "incidental music" in the Act and Guidance Notes is typically woolly, and we are left to rely on "common sense", which experience shows is in short supply.

Where it is a "performance" then it should be exempted under the proposed small gigs amendment.

All this assumes both amendments actually go through.