Barriers facing black and south Asian music events ‘cost London up to £141m a year’

Black and south Asian music events in London face disproportionate cancellations, restrictions and licensing barriers compared with white events, according to a two-year investigation into racial inequality in the capital’s live music industry.

The Race Equality in Music Event Licensing (REMEL) report, led by Black Lives in Music, estimates that cancellations, displacement and events prevented from taking place cost London £127m to £141m annually, with projected losses exceeding £650m over five years.

The report found that genres including Afrobeats, drill and dancehall are routinely labelled “high risk” despite a lack of credible evidence, while indie, pop and rock events face comparatively little scrutiny.

Other events facing stringent restrictions included reggae gatherings aimed at older audiences, jazz nights and community events.

The research raised concerns over the use of unverified police intelligence, with promoters describing events being cancelled based on undisclosed information, online searches or unrelated incidents.

Charisse Beaumont, chief executive of Black Lives in Music, said that although the investigation focused on London, the problems it uncovered exist nationwide.

“As soon as we put the report out there, the call for our survey, people were upset that they couldn’t complete the survey because they were outside of London,” she said.

For Beaumont, the discrimination extended far beyond specific music genres. “It’s about race. And that’s what’s so deeply sad about it.”

The two-year study was commissioned by the mayor’s office and included collaboration by the Greater London Authority (GLA), the Metropolitan Police Service, UK Music, LIVE, the Musicians’ Union and a wide network of promoters, artists, venue operators and community representatives.

The findings suggest that the legacy of the Metropolitan police’s controversial Form 696 persists. Introduced in 2005 as a risk assessment tool, it was scrapped in 2017 after criticism that it discriminated against black music events.

Hakeem Stevens, the report’s lead researcher, said police scrutiny had become harder to document. “Back in the day when emails were sent and faxes were sent, we had documented evidence. Now what’s happening is it’s whispers, it’s phone calls, it’s conversations, verbal conversations that can’t be recorded.”

He said black and Asian performers faced disproportionate scrutiny, adding: “You’ve got white artists that perform black music, and they don’t get given that level of scrutiny.”

Researchers found that promoters received little explanation for cancellations, faced substantial security costs and had limited opportunities to challenge decisions.

Stevens said the financial and reputational consequences could severely affect mental health.

Beaumont highlighted the case of the Colour Factory, a black-owned venue whose licence was suspended after an incident outside its premises that was reportedly unrelated to the venue.

She said the owner successfully challenged the decision but faced significant financial losses, including legal costs and staff redundancies.

“In the end, they won, but they didn’t get their money back,” she said.

The report also found that when incidents occur, many white-owned venues are supported back into business after incidents, while black-owned venues are forced to close for prolonged periods.

Kwame Otiende, a venue owner, promoter and Green councillor, said the additional scrutiny discouraged venues from hosting certain events.

“Venues will have known that they get a lot more grief from whatever relevant authorities they need to go through to get a temporary event notice,” he said.

Instead, he suggested, venues may opt for safer commercial choices: “I could just put your very sort of middle-of-the-road chart music … and I’ll still make the same amount of money.”

The report sets out 19 recommendations, including calls for more transparent, evidence-based licensing decisions, alongside an independent review, clearer evidence standards, better reporting of licensing outcomes and stronger accountability.

Beaumont said: “Success would be for me, the ability for any artist from any background, particularly Black and south Asian, to be able to perform and put on events at any venue without barriers, so they too can make money

“They’ve got an album out, they do a tour, they might be able to do a 1,000-capacity venue, but can they progress from 2,000 to 5,000 to 20,000 to stadium? That doesn’t happen for us.”

The Met police commander Neerav Patel said the force would carefully consider the reports finding. “Our focus will remain on making fair, evidence-based contributions to the licensing process which balance the interests of venues, promoters, artists and local communities while never compromising on our ultimate priority which is to keep Londoners safe” said Patel.