An impressive 16 tracks on offer in this edition of Osmosis, across a pretty impressive range of genres. Musicians featured between them admit to being influence by The Stranglers, The Monochrome Set, A Certain Ratio, The Fall, The Smiths, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Slits, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Daft Punk, Jimmy Eats World, Blink 182, Finch and Hot Water Music. All that, and only sixteen tracks. Wow. And from places as diverse as Canada and Colchester.

To slightly more serious business - if you're more than a little interested in live music here in the UK, you'd do well to register the fact and have a bit of a grump about new licensing proposals. You may aleady have received the email we've reproduced below, but if you haven't - give it a few moments of your valuable time.

Dear friends,

As you may be aware, the Government is intending to introduce new licensing laws governing the performance and rehearsal of music in public buildings, a move that will drastically affect the whole culture of music-making in England and Wales. Essentially, what they are also trying to do is legally redefine the notion of "performance" to include "performance and/or rehearsal". They want all venues (and this includes any church holding rehearsals or performances not directly related to the religious function of the building) to be subject to a Public Entertainments License. Currently they haven't published a fee but leaks to date have suggested that this fee will be between £500 and £1000 per annum.

Clearly this will do a lot of harm to both amateur and professional music, drama, and dance - informal rehearsal venues will be a lot thinner on the ground as smaller organisations that play host to choirs, amateur theatre, musical groups, and concerts will simply not be able to afford the license. It will be illegal even to burst into song spontaneously in the pub, as the current two-in-a-bar rule will be abolished, and any "entertainment" at all, however informal, will require a license. Failure to comply? Currently suggested penalties include a £20,000 fine or a 6 month prison sentence.

It's worth noting that not only the administrator of an unlicensed venue but also any musician performing in such a venue would be criminalised. If you want to read the whole Bill (great fun, I can assure you!), it can be found at:

www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200203/ldbills/001/2003001.htm

This threatens the whole spectrum of musical performance, from a production of Dream of Gerontius at Worcester Cathedral in the Three Choirs Festival, via school performances, music at weddings, and hospital concerts, right through to folk sessions in the local pub (a spontaneous activity encouraged in Scotland and Ireland).

There is a petition on-line, to be found at:

www.musiclovers.ukart.com

Tthe wording of this is taken from an early day motion, the text of which can be found at:

edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=331

The number of signatures so far: 32445 signatures on Saturday 11 January. The sender of this email said there were 6456 signatures when he signed. So the numbers are rising fast! If you are a musician, or feel strongly about this, please can I urge you to sign this petition, and also forward this message on to anyone you can think would be affected or would care about the issue.