Talk:City of Edinburgh Council seek to improve local music scene

Original Reporting Notes

 * Attended the meeting, have also attended a couple of the local musicians's pressure group meetings. Have fairly poor-quality recordings for quotes, plus various scrawled notes. --Brian McNeil / talk 16:27, 18 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Meeting was planned to run 15:30 to 18:00 UTC.
 * Held upstairs in Usher Hall's circle bar area.
 * Four lead speakers opened, introducing themselves - overplayed Picture House closure (loss of 1K+ capacity venue) and need to replace that.
 * Couple of people left in disgust at the larger venue and performer (Green Day, U2) focus of opening statements.
 * Councillor Hart noted already spoke with people from Austin council (or whatever US equiv is); have offered to help/get involved.
 * Once opened to floor became far more-heated discussion.
 * Straight off the "sole complainer" was brought up as unreasonable, became a thematic emblem for the evening.
 * Numerous examples of 'draconian' application of licensing guidelines cited (eg Rose street premises - noisiest street for night life in city being barred from amplified music)
 * Broke into four smaller groups for discussion; that to feed back into full group meeting at end.
 * Panellists wandered between groups during discussion.
 * Very few licensees/publicans present; was highlighted they self-police to minimise risk of conflict with licensing board staff.
 * Atmosphere was 'charged' (for want of a better description), people who make living playing in the city pretty angry and wanting to vent about 'zero tolerance' on noise.
 * Were a number of examples of noise complaints given in discussion groups; generally of the nature: pub has live music 20+ years, new person moves in to neighbouring property and starts complaining; council licensing board takes single complainant's word without wider consultation, no use of noise measuring equipment before ordering premises cease use of amplification.


 * Staff from licensing tried to claim they were enforcing the law, and were quickly corrected; local musicians see them as "jobsworths", giving examples such as complainants having to 'turn off their fridge' so the noise from a pub could be heard, and thus validate the complaint.
 * Several people left in disgust early-on when there was an excessive focus on the loss of The Picture House (it's turning into a chain pub). The local musicians aren't interested in another 1K+ capacity venue if they lose all the places where 100-200 might turn up for a gig.
 * Little to nothing taken from cited sources.
 * Format was intro --> four breakout groups --> summary input from groups --> close.
 * All groups came back mentioning the "single complainant issue"; this prompted/was followed by Councillor Hart's sundry commitments.


 * Several of those present noted licensing board staff being visibly uncomfortable afterwards.


 * Have run through crappy audio recordings from the event to refresh my memory.


 * Noting my COI. I've attended a couple of meetings of local musician's pressure group which was set up a couple of months before this meeting. I'm quite sympathetic to their cause, because I like being able to nip into a pub where it isn't crappy canned music; I am also friends with a good number of folks who play on the local circuit. --Brian McNeil / talk 17:30, 18 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Audio emailed, in three parts, to SCOOP. Unfortunately, is close to 3 hours. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:53, 18 November 2014 (UTC)


 * Actually, only two parts arrived. I'm inclined to proceed, though.  --Pi zero (talk) 22:36, 18 November 2014 (UTC)