Stop 696

I'm sure that many of you are aware of Form 696 but for those of you who don't know about it, there are some links below to help you find out more.

It is basically a piece of beaurocracy which the Met Police want to implement, in London at first, in order for them, they say, to make a 'risk assessment' about live performances. The form which is 8-pages long apparently asks for names, addresses and phone numbers of all performers and for details of the type of audience the gig might attract. This is obviously aimed at trying to stop black and asian gigs at which the police expect trouble. For this reason it is a racist, disproportionate and misguided response to the problem of gun and knife crime, which of course will not make a difference. Not only will it create untold extra work for licence owners who will be threatened with heavy fines or even imprisonement for not complying but it will jeopardise the live music scene, particularly smaller venues which have 30 bands a week playing there. The problems will be further compouned by the fact that many performers will rightly refuse to give their contact details, viewing it as an infringement of their civil liberties.

Feargal Sharkey, now head of the industry body UK Music and Jon McClure of Reverend and the Makers are leading the campaign to scrap the form. You can sign the petition against 696 by following the link below.

Radio 4 http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7846000/7846432.stm

Petition http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Scrapthe696/

Belfast Telegraph http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/feargal-sharkey-aims-to-stop-form-696--new-rules-that-could-pull-the-plug-on-londons-music-scene-14071564.html