An interesting new bill has been making the rounds in Philadelphia, PA, as the City Council is deciding to create a registry that will require all entertainers – bands, DJs, and rappers – to provide their personal information, including name, address and phone number.

According to City Councilman Mark Squilla, “giving performers’ information to police when requested enables them to review past performances to see if there were any public safety issues during their events.” In doing so, the police would have veto power for a show at any venue that holds 50 or more people, based on a searchable history of “crime, traffic, litter, noise, parking and hours of operation; as well as any community concerns, particularly those of neighbors in the immediate vicinity,” according to the text of the bill.

While no particular artist has been cited as the motivation for passing the bill, Councilwoman Maria Quiñones-Sanchez stated that certain musicians “have been known to have created incidents and violence at their previous acts.” There was a deadly shooting outside of the Theatre of Living Arts venue after a Lil Durk concert last fall.

Meanwhile, the Philadelphia music community is particularly displeased with such a measure. Local musician Nik Greeley posted about the bill, saying “We are not being over-dramatic when we say the future of Philly’s music scene is at stake here.”

We spoke to Chris Perella, talent buyer at the Ardmore Music Hall, to discuss the legitimacy of such a bill. “There is a significant degree of separation between artists and the folks they’re coming to play for; it’s nearly impossible to gather personal information about the individual artists & their crew for our own purposes (coordinating logistics, sound checks, etc.). The idea that a small team of people who are working on a show would be forced to awkwardly and invasively demand this information from every artist, in an environment where venues can have up to 6 or 7 shows every week, is outrageous; the idea that it would actually happen is a work of fiction.”

The Ardmore venue has a capacity of 600+, well over the 50-person minimum that would give police veto power. Naturally, Perella is dissatisfied with the blind authority that law enforcement would have over his venue’s performances.

“The notion that it would be acceptable for the police to veto any concert gathering of 50+ people is unbelievable. The implications of that level of power are downright frightening, and the potential harm it could cause to small local businesses and people like myself, whose livelihoods depend on these concerts, is vast. If the goal of this bill is to cherry pick artists and musicians whose presence in Philadelphia has coincided with any sort of crime or public disorder, I believe that is far outside the bounds of power that the police should hold.”

He continues, “If there is criminal activity on the part of artists themselves, it should be addressed as it should for any citizen. The idea that incidents happening outside or around certain concerts, gives anyone the right to suddenly make sweeping and subjective decisions about the events that they feel should (and should not) take place in and around the city, is a scary one and a truly slippery slope. I would never endorse any level of violence or community disruption resulting from concerts or similar events, but this bill is a wildly misguided attempt to alleviate those concerns.”

Those strong sentiments seem to be shared by the music community, as the smaller venues would lose business to such strict policies. Artists plotting a tour would be likely to avoid Philadelphia, a city with such strict performance laws.

A hearing to discuss the bill will be scheduled in the near future, and we certainly encourage anyone affected to show up and voice their concerns in an appropriate setting.

If you’re against this bill, we encourage you to sign this petition on change.org.

Or reach out to them directly:

Councilman Mark Squilla:

Twitter @cmmarksquilla

Phone: (215) 686-3458, (215) 686-3459

[City Council quotes from Billypenn.com]