With more and more people visiting live venues comes more and more the roles, responsibilities and legal considerations.
Most touring concert equipment is provided by specialised companies that provide both sound and lighting equipment or specialise in one or the other. The decision of selecting companies like this depends on location, performer’s requirement, venue size, and most important budget. The budget usually dictates all decisions and is determined by the popularity of the performers and their ability to attract more and more of an audience. Various organisational roles are involved with the concert production and each has part to play on the team. A stage manager coordinates the crew, which looking in more detail is created by sound, lighting and performers crew teams. The stage manager is responsible for the performer’s equipment (musical instruments). In some cases the stage manager may have assistance crew for each part of performer’s instruments. But let’s start from the top.
The event manager is the person who plans and achieves the event. The event manager has to plan and organise the event within the budget provided from the client. This include booking acts, communicating with the stage management and providing necessary equipment by contracting companies providing the relevant kind of equipment. The stage manager, for his part, is responsible for the performer’s equipment, such as drums, guitars, and keyboards. The stage manager also should be looking after all procedures that are governed by the Health and Safety Legislation and that they are strictly followed by the venue staff. Front-of-House crew includes, sound engineers, lighting engineers, monitor engineers, security. The sound engineer or sound system designer controls the mix that the audience hears from an area called Front-of-House position. He is also responsible for setting up and packing away the equipment that he operates. The monitor engineer’s role is essential for live music. The monitor engineer deals with the musicians on the stage during very tense moments while they are performing. The performers depend on the monitor engineer to produce custom mixes for them. Also he is responsible for the setting up and packing away the equipment that he operates. The light engineer controls the lighting system. And most of the time is also the lighting designer of the event. He decides the best overall lighting for the venue and selects the type, position, and colour of the lighting instruments. Utimately the stage manager is responsible for the supervision and control of the sound and the lights. The stage manager is able to control and regulate the backstage area, a kind of security type role, in which he checks the people’s backstage passes, and clearing the area from people who shouldn’t be there. The security as part of Front of House crew usually is a local security company, which should provide enough security guards regardless of the size of the venue, also they should be licensed. Usually the security members on the entrance are responsible for checking bags and purses before letting the people at the venue. Also they should look after the safety of the audience and keep the order inside the venue. Back on the stage a very important part is taken up by the stage crew who must have good technical and musical knowledge. The roadies, as part of this crew, and as a primary job is to make sure the equipment for each performance or event moves safely from one venue to the next. This includes all type of equipment amplifiers, microphones, musical instruments, scenery. They are also responsible for loading all equipment for transport. Their technical knowledge comes down to an understanding of electronics and even basic repair techniques. They also are required to tune musical instruments for the performers. The riggers, another part of the stage crew ascends the heights inside the venue to secure hanging points for flown lighting and sound systems. They attach the chain motors used to lift sound systems and lighting at certain heights. And because almost all lighting and speakers are flown, this position is essential. The riggers also can be divided into climbing and ground work. The electricians, also part of the team connect the power cables for the sound and lighting equipment to the venue electricity supply. This usually involves three phase connection for the lighting equipment and one connection for the sound equipment. Other services depend on the venue, for example video equipment. If the show involves special effects as flash pots, smoke pots, explosive, and similar effects, a pyrotechnician should be appointed as part of the stage crew as well. The authorities are very strict about the use of such effects, and the pyrotechnician should be licensed.
The production manager is responsible for overseeing and arranging the technical requirements and staff for the event. The production manager reports directly to the event manager, he also coordinates between the designers and suppliers and makes the best deals. Sometimes all the financial negotiations take place between the event manager and financial advisers and that can have a negative effect on the event, because the financial people most of the time do not understand how the event design must be achieved on a day-to-day basis. The crowd management is another very important part of the security family. The crowd management includes stewards and supervisors. In general they are very important to the smooth and successful running of the event. Part of their duties is to manage the entrance and the exit of the venue, this include checking tickets and passes, to direct, assist or give information to the visitors and to prevent prohibited items being brought into the venue. They also need to be licensed. Another part of the management team is the tour and transport management. The tour manager oversees travel arrangement, collects money, pays bills, and addresses problems as they arise. On the other hand the transport manager’s main responsibility is the travel logistics. Sometimes that means arranging private jets for the performers while guiding a fleet of busses and trucks from venue to venue. Also they make sure the drivers know where they going and when to arrive at the next destination.
When you are on tour you should know the international transport regulations to avoid any problems and delays of the tour. This mean when shipping goods overseas, the exporter must be aware of packing, labeling, documentation, and insurance requirements. It is important that the exporter ensures that the goods are packed correctly, so that they will arrive in good condition. The equipment should be labeled correctly also to ensure that it is handled properly and arrives on time at the right place. The documents should be sorted to meet the foreign country requirements. And finally the goods need to be insured against damage, loss and delay. Doing all this things shouldn’t be any problems on any border.
So let’s move to the next part where I’ll take a look over the legal considerations involved in concert performance.
Concert rigging involves moving loads (lights, speakers) over the heads of the audience. Like any other system of moving equipment, this kind of operation by untrained riggers can be dangerous. So anyone who operates that kind of act should be trained and authorised to use the equipment. While rigging the main safety procedures are: * Never stand under a moving load. * Wear a harness when working at heights. * Know how to tie knots efficiently. * Never stand directly under rigger working overhead. * Never use damaged hangs.
Following strictly these procedures with the Golden Rule “Check, check again, and keep checking...” the chance of accident will be minimalised drastically.
All the workers involved in the preparation of the music venue, must wear protection depending on their activity (gloves, eye protection, ear protection). All this covered by the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) legislation for Health and Safety of the workers. Because of the type of the labour there is a lot of manual handling and heavyweight lifting, these are regulations addressed to the employers and to the employees, alike. The Manual Handling Operations Regulation from 1992 which is more or less Health & Safety regulation, saying that any hazardous manual handling operations at work, which involves a risk from injury should be done very carefully or be avoided if it is possible. The hazards of manual handling include: * Lifting a load which is too heavy resulting back injury. * Poor posture during lifting or poor lifting techniques resulting in back injury. * Dropping a load resulting foot injury. * Lifting sharp edged or hot items resulting in hand injuries.
The door supervision is essential for the security of the visitors of any type of public activity. The main duties of the door supervisors are to:

* Manage crowds and stop people from queue jumping. * Checking the visitors for relevant ID. * Looking for inappropriate behaviour inside and outside the venue. * Dealing with emergencies. * Supervising the visitors as they left the venue. * Upholding venue drug, fire and safety policies * Co-operating with the emergency services to resolve situations.
Before the opening of any live music venue the people who are involved with the organisation and preparation should obtain all the necessary licences: * A licence from the local council that entitles you to provide public entertainment. * A separate licence that gives you the right to perform copyrighted material or play recorded music. * If inside the venue the organisers would like to provide or sell alcohol, food and drinks.
The biggest danger for the health and safety for the workers and the public at the music venue is the risk of noise exposure. The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (Noise Regulations 2005) requires employers to prevent or reduce risks to health and safety from exposure to noise at work. Both employers and employees have duties under these Regulations, but the same regulations do not apply to the public exposed to noise. So for that reason the wearing of ear-protection is required, when there is exposure for long time at high noise levels. But that is not all the organisers should secure the fire safety, evacuation, structures, electrical installations and lighting, barriers, sanitary facilities, also facilities with people with special needs. Medical and first-aid help should be also provided as a service at any music venue.
The organisers of a music venue have to ensure that people with special needs (mobility problems, difficulty in walking, vision and/or hearing problems) are able to attend. Because of this the following needs to be provided: * Access – place parking facilities, as well as the most directly accessible point to enter at the venue. * Ramps for wheelchairs * Viewing areas * Facilities - Sanitary Facilities * Support from the stewards or special needs assistants should be in attendance
And all this is enclosed with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995, which prohibits the discrimination against disabled people.