Staging Festival Events Management Law - Assignment Example

1. Executive Summary The music festival scene has been thriving in the UK and Glastonbury Festival is a prime example with attendance figures in excess of 100,000 on the seven hundred acre green field site1. In addition to the festival goers, the event hosts approximately, 1900 toilets, 800 traders and 250 acts performing. The focus of this report is to provide a detailed account of the central legal issues underpinning the staging of a music festival. The report will then conclude with a summary of the recommended immediate action points to ensure that the outstanding issues are addressed within an appropriate timeframe prior to the event itself. 2. Introduction A flagging music industry hit by significant downturns in CD sales has in turn sought to rely on the growing live music scene to address shortfalls in revenues2. As such, the staging of a music festival can be commercially attractive however effective risk management is key to ensuring the festival event works; and as such, professionalism is imperative3. Additionally, central issues of importance in events management generally involve consideration of financial risk management, liability minimisation, legal, environmental and access requirements, income generation, sponsorship and marketing, and event site management4. Accordingly, in this report I shall specifically address the central legal issues that arise from the staging of an outdoor music festival, with particular reference to the following: 1) Appropriate corporate structure for staging and managing the event; 2) Contracts; 3) Equality in access; 4) Insurance; 5) Regulation, licences and permits; 6) Data protection issues 7) Intellectual Property Rights; and 8) Equal Opportunities. I shall then conclude with a summary of recommendations. 3. Event Context In considering the relevant legal issues raised by the staging of a commercial outdoor music festival, it is important to consider the event context. In doing so, there are distinct advantages of utilising the Glastonbury Festival as a comparator. It is submitted that consideration of the Glastonbury Festival legal compliance issues provides extremely useful guidance on the appropriate strategy that should be followed with regard to the commercial music festival. A central issue in any outdoor festival will be site access, environmental and noise factors in particular. For example, since 1970 Mendip District Council has been responsible for the licensing and monitoring of the Glastonbury festival, which involves preparing and drafting 200 conditions, careful planning and the outsourcing of staff5. 4. Legal Issues 4.1. Appropriate corporate structure It is submitted that legal issues underpin all aspects of an event. Firstly, it is vital to consider the appropriate method of business vehicle used to trade for the purposes of staging the event, which is important in terms of liability minimisation6. Various options are available including unincorporated association, sole traders, limited liability partnership and limited company. However, as the event will inherently involved financial risk and liability issues, the use of the limited liability company paradigm may more appropriate due to the principle of separate legal identity. 4. 2. Contracts Effective contract management will be vital in running the events. In particular, following contracts will need to be in place: 1) Supply Agreements and warranties from traders; 2) Outsourcing contracts for supply of temporary workers; 3) Legal Agreements with entertainers booked for performance with contingency plans and warranties regarding no-shows; 4) Agreements with sponsors, which should cover issues relating to quality of representation of trademarks and promotional material; 5) Agreement with venue and warranties and check what is included in the fee; 6) Contracts with any relevant broadcasters for media broadcast of the event. In particular important clauses include territory and region, guarantees regarding rights to the event and rights regarding repeats and sublicensing and merchandising through multimedia formats such as the internet, DVDs, CD-ROMS and cable television; and 7) Agreements with outsourced web services and data protection compliance warranties regarding ticket purchase and collection of private information7. Accordingly, at the outset of event management planning, it is vital to consider the key players and likely contracts needed. This should be followed by a consideration of the terms to be included in each contract and preferably contracts should be issued to the key players on the company’s terms depending on the commercial bargaining position8. 4.3. Equality in Access to the Event. In running the event, events organisers must be aware of ensuring equal access to the public9. The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 imposes a positive legal obligation to ensure that service providers do not discriminate against disabled people and treat them less favourably than other customers10. As such, this means that checks must be undertaken to ensure equal access to disabled, along with the requirement to make reasonable adjustments to services and premises to ensure access to services11. Furthermore, the implementation of the Equality Act 2006 (EA) with the Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR) further strengthens protection of disability rights. The CEHR merges the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission under one umbrella intending to bring together equality in enforcement of disability discrimination. The EA imposes positive obligations on the CEHR to produce regular “equality health checks” working with individuals, communities, the business community and individuals, to continue development of consistency in protection of disability rights12. Accordingly, the needs of disabled people will have to be considered in the early stages of planning to ensure accessibility. Reference should be made specifically to the handbook Organising Accessible Events13, which has been developed with the input of events industry associations and other stakeholders14. 4. 4. Insurance The allocation of risk and liability minimisation is paramount and the company should consider the following checklist pertaining to legal liabilities when considering insurance coverage15: 1) Are any obligations beyond the common law being assumed under the contract in respect of the venue – for example, theft? 2) Are liabilities assumed under contracts outside the scope of pre-existing insurance coverage? This is vital particularly in light of the continuing duty of disclosure under insurance contracts. 3) Check the coverage levels in contract and whether insurance covers this; and 4) Check the clauses of the contract particularly clauses pertaining to exclude liability or forfeit the right to bring legal action16. 4. 5. Regulations, Licences and Permits The requirements regarding regulations and licences for staging festival events are complex and the procedures will inherently vary from local authority within the UK. Accordingly, it is imperative to undertake relevant research regarding similar events in the area to ascertain the requisite licences permits needed to stage the event17. Firstly, Public Entertainment Licence will be needed and in reviewing the licence for Glastonbury a report is undertaken by the Environmental Health Manager to the licensing authority at Mendip District Council, which includes input from various authorities within the district, including the Ambulance Services, Police, Environment Agency, the Highways Authority and the Emergency Planning Authority18. Noise control in particular will be relevant and compliance with the recommendations of the Noise Council (Noise Council, HSE 1999) and the recently updated Noise at Work Regulations 2005 will be paramount to protect all employees and those exposed to excess noise. Additionally, the company will have to comply with health and safety regulations both towards its employees and the public. With regard to workers used on the site, The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (“the Act”) imposes general obligations on employers to ensure the safety of their employees. Section 3 of the Act requires employers to conduct their undertakings in a manner to ensure that persons other than employees at the workplace are not exposed to risks to their health and safety. Moreover, Section 2(5) requires employers to keep the workplace environment safe and healthy. Section 2(1) requires employers to ensure that systems of work are safe and without risk to health. Section 2(7) requires employers to establish a safety committee if requested and section 2(3) obliges employers to prepare a written and up to date safety policy with arrangements for carrying out the policy. Furthermore, if found to be in breach of the Act’s provisions, enforcement rests with the Health and Safety Executive, which has powers to issue enforcement notices to require improvement of existing work practices within a specified period of time, or to prohibit further dangerous activities. Additionally, the organisation of the event must ensure compliance with the following regulations: 1) Electricity at Work Regulations; 2) Environmental Protection Act 1990 3) Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1995; 4) Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999; 5) Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations; 6) Building Regulations; 7) The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997; 8) The Health & Safety (Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996; 9) The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998; 10) Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations. With regard to the performance aspect, it will be necessary to obtain licenses from the Performing Rights Society (PRS) and the Phonographic Performance Limited for performance of the member’s work in a public place. These licences ensure that the societies can collect royalties for the members19. Additionally, as the music festival will involve traders with the handling of food, potentially pyrotechnics, sale of alcohol and road closures, it will be necessary to comply with the requirements of the Licensing Act 2003, which has implemented a single system for licensing premises for the purposes of the supply of alcohol, provide regulated entertainment or provide regulated late night refreshment. Under the 2003 Act, three types of licences are available, namely the premises licence, the temporary events notice and the club certificate. Additionally, applications must be made to the local authority and there are exclusions for certain types of event and reference should also be had to the changes made by the Licensing Act 2005 to premises licences in particular20. Accordingly, it is imperative to undertake detailed research of all relevant regulations at the outset to address any potential delays and difficulties in obtaining them to ensure licences are secured within the timeframe for the event21. 4.6. Intellectual Property Rights If any creative work is commissioned, sponsorship agreements entered into or joint ventures involving the use of works attracting intellectual property rights, ownership issues must be addressed at the outset22. If the work is commissioned by a third party for the event, then the company organising the event may want to retain ownership of the copyright in the works. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, any work attracting copyright will vest in the creator unless undertaken during the course of employment23. Therefore, any agreement contracted with third party contractors, the company should ensure it obtains an assignment of copyright in all such works to ensure that copyright vests in the company24. 4.7. Data Protection Data Protection is regulated by the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (“Privacy Regulations”). In the current scenario the relevant issues are as follows: 1) Data collected of consumers purchasing tickets; and 2) Data stored on employees and outsourced workers at the event. Data Protection legislation applies to the Data Controller (under the DPA), which in the current scenario is the company staging the event. The general requirement as stipulated in Schedule 1 of the DPA is that “personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully, and in particular, not processed”. As the company will be collecting personal information about consumers when they purchase tickets either online or via phone, this constitutes “processing” for the purposes of the Data Protection Act 1998 (“DPA”)25. Accordingly, the business must be registered with the Information Commissioner for data processing26 and there must be a section on the trading medium website notifying the users that personal information is being collected and the purpose for which it is being collected. The second data protection principle under the DPA is that data must be held only for one or more specified and lawful purposes. In the current scenario, therefore when securing the information, the lawful purpose is for the purpose of processing ticket sales and therefore must not deviate from this. It is further important to mention that the data protection legal requirements are further affected by the use of cookies, hyperlinks and metatags. For example, “cookies”27 will constitute use of private data and the DPA requires businesses to inform users of this and give users an option to opt-out28 of this. Accordingly, the online terms and conditions must include this option in and the users must accept this when purchasing tickets for the event online. If the company plans to use third parties to process the ticket sales, then data may be passed onto the third party29. Therefore, businesses must be registered for this and ensure consents are obtained from customers to the release of this information to other traders to avoid infringement claims.30 The same obligations will be applicable to information held on employees and workers and section 5 of the DPA 2002 provides individuals with a legal right to request copies of information held on them, with a description of the purpose for which such information has been processed and to whom the information has been disclosed. 4.8. Equal Opportunities If the organisation itself is employing staff, it must comply with all equality legislation to ensure protection against sex, race, disability, sexual orientation and religious discrimination31. 5. Recommendations At the outset the organisation must determine the appropriate trading medium for staging the commercial event and due to the financial and liability risks involved, I would recommend incorporating as a private limited liability company, which provides the added protection of separate legal personality. In particular, specific concern to event organisers will be liability minimisation and ensuring compliance with all relevant rules and regulations applicable to event management32. The next task would be to create a timeframe for the staging of the event and address the points on the following checklist: 1) Licences required; 2) Key players involved in staging the event and contracts required; 3) Review of existing insurance cover and consider insurance obligations under contracts negotiated with key players; 4) Ensure registration for data protection; and 5) Health and Safety Compliance. Once this checklist is undertaken, the organisation should prepare a timetable of implementation and appoint appropriate staff at management level to head each section referred to above from 1) – 5). Moreover, regular meetings should be held to ensure internal consistency and co-ordination in order to maintain the overriding objective of legal compliance and liability minimisation. 6. References and Bibliography Bainbridge (2007). Intellectual Property. Longman G.A. J. Bowdin, Johnny Allen, Rob Harris & William O’Toole (2006). Events Management. Elsevier Publishing at p.333. Richard Kenyon (2007). Legal Opinion: Single Equality Act retains inequalities. Personnel Today, 3 July 2007. Accessed online at www.personneltoday.com Kuesk (2008). The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution. Berklee Press. Public Interest Research Unit (PIRU)., (2007) Teeth and their use: enforcement action by the three equality commissions (1 January 1999-1 June 2006). Available at www.piru.org Ian Yeoman, Martin Robertson, Jane Ali-Knight, Siobhan Drummond, Una McMahon-Beattie (2004). Festival and Events management an international arts and culture perspective. Butterworth-Heineman. Websites www.equalityhumanrights.com www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk www.opsi.gov.uk Legislation Sex Discrimination Act 1975 Race Relations Act 1976 Disability Discrimination Act 1996 Data Protection Act 1998 Equality Act 2006 Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 Environmental Protection Act 1990 Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 Health & Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1995 The Health & Safety (Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER) 1998 Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Building Regulations Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 Read More