Barriers to black and South Asian music events 'cost London up to £141m a year'

EXCLUSIVE: Black and South Asian music events in London face disproportionate license cancellations, restrictions and barriers compared to white events, according to two years of research into racial inequality in the capital's live music industry, with many genres labeled "high risk" despite a lack of evidence. The report "Equality of Nejad in Issuing Music Event Licensing" (

Black and South Asian music events in London face more cancellations, restrictions and licensing barriers than white events, according to two years of research into racial inequality in the capital's live music industry.

The Racial Equality in Music Event Licensing (REMEL) report, led by Black Lives in Music, estimates that cancellations, relocations and events that are prevented from taking place cost London £127m to £141m a year, with a projected loss of more than £650m over five years.

The report found that genres including Afrobeats, drill and dancehall were routinely identified as 'high-risk' despite a lack of credible evidence, while indie, pop and rock events were relatively under-researched.

Other events that faced severe restrictions included reggae gatherings aimed at older audiences, jazz nights and community events.

The investigation raised concerns about the use of unverified police information, with promoters describing events being canceled based on undisclosed information, online searches or unrelated incidents.

Charisse Beaumont, executive director of Black Lives in Music, said that although the research focused on London, the problems it uncovered were across the country.

"As soon as we published the report, the call for the survey, people were upset that they couldn't complete the survey because they were outside London," he said.

For Beaumont, this discrimination went far beyond specific musical genres. "It's about race. And that's what's so sad about it."

The two-year study was commissioned by the Mayor's Office and involved 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 legacy of the Metropolitan Police's controversial Form 696 lives on, the findings show. Introduced in 2005 as a risk assessment tool, it was dropped in 2017 after criticism that it discriminated against black music events.

Hakeem Stevens, the report's lead researcher, said police scrutiny has become harder to document. In the days of emails and faxes, we had documentary evidence. "What's happening now is whispers, phone calls, conversations, verbal conversations that can't be recorded."

Black and Asian musicians have faced disproportionate scrutiny, he said, adding, "You have white artists playing black music and they don't get that level of scrutiny."

The researchers found that promoters received little explanation about cancellations, faced significant security costs, and had limited opportunities to challenge decisions.

Stevens said the financial and credit implications can greatly affect mental health.

Beaumont singled out the case of the Color Factory, a black-owned venue whose license was suspended after an off-site incident reportedly unrelated to the venue.

He said the owner successfully challenged the decision but faced significant financial damages, including legal fees and layoffs.

"In the end, they won, but they didn't get their money back," he said.

The report also found that when incidents occur, many white-owned venues return to business after the incident, while black-owned venues are forced to close for long periods.

Kwame Otiende, a venue owner, promoter and Green Council member, said the increased scrutiny would discourage venues from hosting certain events.

"The venue knew they were going to get more grief from every relevant authority they had to go through to get a temporary event notification," he said.

Instead, he suggested, venues might make safer business choices: "I can just put on your average kind of music ... and still make the same amount of money."

The report makes 19 recommendations, including calls for more transparent and evidence-based decision-making, alongside independent review, clearer evidence standards, better reporting of licensing outcomes and stronger accountability.

Beaumont said, "Success to me is the ability for any artist of any background, especially black and South Asian, to be able to perform anywhere without barriers and hold events, so that they too can make money.

They've released an album, they're on tour, they might be able to play a 1,000 capacity venue, but can they go from 2,000 to 5,000. To 20,000 to a stadium? "It doesn't happen to us."

Mobile Police Commander Nirav Patel said the force will carefully review the findings of the reports. "Our focus is on fair and evidence-based partnerships in the licensing process that balance the interests of venues, promoters, artists and local communities, while never compromising our ultimate priority of keeping Londoners safe," Patel said.