Racial Bias in Live Events Licensing Costs London’s Music Scene $185M Annually, Says Landmark Report

A landmark two-year investigation into licensing practices in London has estimated that systemic racial bias costs the capital’s Black and South Asian live music scene up to £141 million ($185 million) a year.

The REMEL Report (Race Equality in Music Event Licensing) has analyzed years of data and gathered wide-ranging testimonies to better understand the inequalities between licenses handed out for live shows in the capital in recent years.

The two-year process included contributions from Greater London Authority (GLA), the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), U.K. Music, LIVE, the Musicians’ Union and a wide network of promoters, artists, venue operators and community representatives.

The report says that Black events are disproportionately canceled, restricted or blocked in comparison to white-led events and that certain genres such as afrobeats, hip-hop, R&B and dancehall are frequently flagged as “high risk” events. The report also says that Temporary Event Notices (TENs) are more likely to be refused in London’s most diverse boroughs, restricting opportunities for promoters. 

The REMEL Report says that £1.1 billion ($1.45 billion) was estimated to have been spent in London on Black and South Asian live music in 2024, but that licensing bias was still preventing venues and promoters from hosting events. Over the past five years, a projected £650 million ($856 million) has been lost due to this bias.

The legacy of Form 696 is also highlighted, with “current risk assessments systematically singling out Black and South Asian live music events and imposing punitive surveillance and heavy conditions without credible evidence of increased safety risk,” the report reads. 

Form 696 was a risk assessment used by London’s Metropolitan Police from 2008 to 2017 which required information from promoters on the type of music to be performed and the ethnic makeup of the likely attendees. Critics said that form enforced racial stereotyping of Black genres, and was eventually scrapped in 2017. 

The report highlights case studies such as Blue Note London, which initially had its venue license objected to by the Met and cited a “crime and disorder” risk and warning that attendees leaving the venue could cause disturbances in the area. The Westminster City Council initially granted a license with reduced opening hours, but a petition signed by 3,000 members of the public played a role in Westminster City Council dropping their objections and granting the license as it was applied. 

The REMEL report says that this case amounts to “‘financial racism’: the same crime-based objections used against Black and South Asian-led events, overturned in months by a brand with the capital and profile to fight back, a route rarely open to the independent promoters.” Read the full report here.

Speaking on the report, Charisse Beaumont, chief executive of Black Lives in Music, said, “The REMEL report is calling for a fair, transparent, evidence-based and culturally competent licensing system. A system that protects people without profiling them. A system that assesses risk through facts, not assumptions. A system that recognizes the value of Black and South Asian music, audiences, promoters and venues as an integral part of London’s cultural and economic life. Culture is not a risk. Culture is an economic asset.”

She added, “We are grateful for the collaboration of the Metropolitan Police, local authorities, music industry bodies and the GLA on project REMEL. 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 overpolicing in music events, it suffocates creativity, stifles entrepreneurship and blocks economic opportunity.”