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May 07, 2008

Chicago City Council revives anti-promoter law...

Jim DeRogatis (Chicago Sun Times) | Read Full Story >

If approved by the committee and the City Council, the law would require anyone promoting any event drawing more than 100 people to obtain a license—even if they are working with a well-established and already licensed promoter.

Licensees would also have to carry at least $300,000 in commercial liability insurance (even if the venue is insured), and they would have to be at least 21 years old (thereby ruling out enterprising college students, D.I.Y. punk fans and other budding young entrepreneurs from hosting a concert or a legal rave—and if you think that’s not a good idea, you should know that several of the top promoters in Chicago actually started their careers at age 18 or 19).

What all this means is that if, say, a local fanzine wanted to promote a monthly concert featuring the bands in its new issue at a well-established local club of 200 capacity, the editors would have to apply for a promoters’ license and meet all of the requirements and expenses, even if the club already has a license and can boast of a clean record of trouble-free events. The same would hold true of many regular benefit gigs.


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2 Comments

#1 king daley says:

is anyone really surprised?

wait, did you vote for Daley?? He needs to go.

#2 Bill F says:

Next time there are elections do a little research and make an educated decision. We have more laws than Russia during the cold war. Everyday the government takes more and more control. Vote these lawmakers out of office


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