Black music events ‘cancelled or shut down more’ than white-led events

Black  music events are “cancelled, restricted or shut down” at higher rates than white-led events, costing the music scene up to £141 million a year, a report has found.

The Race Equality In Music Event Licensing (REMEL) project found the closures and restrictions put more than £650 million at risk over five years.

The report found that the black and South Asian music sector “still faces deep systemic and institutional barriers that limit even more success”.

The report says the restrictions and closures costs the music scene up to £141m a year (Alamy/PA)

It cited respondents who were told of informal pressure from the police, with off-the-record briefings suggesting future licence reviews and other measures to stop black and South Asian-led events from happening.

Key findings from the report included that certain music genres were “assumed to be a risk despite evidence to the contrary”, or how “single or isolated incidents at one event can create long-term reputational consequences for a genre”.

The report noted that genres such as afrobeat, dancehall, R&B and hip-hop were flagged as “high-risk”, while other genres such as pop, indie and rock faced “little scrutiny”.

Temporary Event Notices (TENs) were more likely to be refused in London’s most diverse boroughs, restricting opportunities for black and South Asian-led events.

The report stated that many white-owned venues were “supported back into business” after incidents, while black venues were “forced to close”.

It also said licensing authorities were “felt to often misuse area-wide crime statistics to justify closing venues or denying licences”, even when a specific venue had a clean safety record.

It stated that high local crime rates across an entire neighbourhood were “wrongly blamed on individual music venues”.

The report recommended that the Home Office and the GLA should hire an independent panel of experts to conduct a review of the venue and event licensing system and to “embed equality and human rights law” in licensing law.

It also recommended that local authorities should publish annual data on licensing decisions, monitored by an independent panel “to ensure full transparency”.

The report found that the black and South Asian music sector “still faces deep systemic and institutional barriers” (Alamy/PA)

It recommended that events and venues should be framed as “public assets” that deliver social and economic value, rather than treating them as “automatic risks”.

Charisse Beaumont, chief executive of Black Lives in Music, said: “This was a collective effort with the goal to provide evidence and solutions for change in the licensing process. It’s now time to move from recommendation to action.

“We need the REMEL recommendations and principles embedded into the very fabric of the licensing system to create a truly thriving nightlife.

“When licensing decisions are shaped by racial bias and over-policing in music events, it suffocates creativity, stifles entrepreneurship and blocks economic opportunity.”