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Coronavirus: Two-metre rule 'must be relaxed for musicians'
Jun 6, 2020
The government is being urged to ease social distancing for musicians, so more of them can get back performing and recording.
Musicians' Union leader Horace Trubridge told the BBC they could play "side by side" to lessen the risk of spreading coronavirus.
The 2m rule was "overkill" at a "bleak" time for his members, he added.
The government said it welcomed "creative and innovative" ideas to help the UK's "brilliant" musicians.
Coronavirus means theatres, pubs, clubs and other indoor music venues will be closed for the foreseeable future, while promoters have cancelled all the UK's main festivals.
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The Labour-affiliated Musicians' Union is in talks with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport over "enhanced busking" - allowing spectators in outdoor spaces to make contactless payments for individual and group performances.
"They seem to be keen on that," Mr Trubridge said, adding that councils could "relax their bylaws" to help "get live music back into the public's consciousness".
He argued it was difficult to see a way of easing social distancing for audiences to make theatres and venues viable during the pandemic, but that this was not the case for performers.
"There's no finesse about the 2m rule at the moment," Mr Trubridge said. "If you're in a line rather than looking at each other, then it seems to be overkill."
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