By Leanne Khov
Arts & Entertainment Editor

On Jan. 27, City Councilman Mark Squilla of the First District proposed a new bill that will require all owners of Philadelphia venues like restaurants, nightclubs and bars to create a registry by collecting the names, addresses and phone numbers of all musicians that will perform in their area. This means that all performances will have to be licensed by Philadelphia’s government in order to perform at all.

As the bill is headed to a committee hearing, it will allow the Philadelphia Police Department to take part in the approval process for a “Special Assembly Occupancy” license, a section of the Philadelphia Code. The license describes how venues must be licensed in order to hold special events for concerts containing 50 or more people.

Not only are venues required to obtain the musician’s registry, this bill will require them to hand over the performer’s information to the police when they are asked for. It will allow the police to decide where and when these performers will play by looking into each performer and their tracks before licensing them for approval. Thus, this will allow law enforcement veto power over shows containing 50 or more people.

According to Billy Penn news, Squilla sees no problem about his bill. “Some clubs were operating without a license because they found a way to have music without a DJ or live performer/band. This legislation will include new forms of music/streaming that weren’t around when this first Special assembly bill became law,” Squilla said.

However, many musicians, fans and promoters have reacted with negativity towards this bill. As the word of the legislation spread, many exploded in anger, mainly at Squilla.

In response, Avram Hornik, owner of Four Corners Management, have stated to Philly Voice, “[Police are] not trained for it. They have enough responsibilities to police the city and keep the city safe — why do they have the responsibility for deciding if something is a risk or not? And if they don’t affirmatively say it’s safe, then if something goes wrong, they’re responsible.” Many have petitioned against the bill in websites like Change.org which will be headed to the committee hearing. Philadelphians and performers have also expressed their outrage in social media, arguing that musicians should not be force to give out their private information as well as allowing the police the right to decide whether or not they should perform.

“I don’t think this bill should be enacted. Musicians should be allowed to perform without having to be licensed and giving out their info. Their purpose is to please crowds and the government should let them do that without any restrictions,” said sophomore Julianna Mathew.

For Squilla, the bill’s intent was never to allow the police to have veto power or to force a registry upon the musicians. After hearing the slams against the bill, Squilla was planning to strip out the bill’s requirement of musicians to give out their addresses and names. As the controversy grew more intense and outrageous, Squilla decided to withdraw the bill and create a new bill that will leave out the registry requirement instead. Despite denouncing the bill, musicians are still planning to create a rally, organized by Lea van der Tak, outside City Hall on Feb 4.