{"id":12662,"date":"2012-12-08T13:39:51","date_gmt":"2012-12-08T13:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whisnews21.com\/?p=12662"},"modified":"2012-12-08T13:39:51","modified_gmt":"2012-12-08T13:39:51","slug":"nashville-bill-to-ease-restrictions-on-home-studios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/08\/nashville-bill-to-ease-restrictions-on-home-studios\/","title":{"rendered":"Nashville Bill To Ease Restrictions On Home Studios"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"studio23\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nashville Bill To Ease Restrictions On Home Music Recording, Hits Snag<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Bryan Cumming records in his home studio, Studio 23. Metro sent him a citation based on a little-enforced law banning home studios. \/ Dipti Vaidya \/ File \/ The Tennessean Written by Joey Garrison The Tennessean, article send to WHISNews21 for our attention by Keith Bradford.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Language in a bill aimed at tidying up the city\u2019s code to accommodate home recording studios has turned into a source of consternation for some Nashville musicians \u2013 the very folks its Metro Council sponsors are trying to help.<\/p>\n

\"Dave
Dave Pomeroy, president of the Nashville Musicians Association, wants to work with the city on a new bill that would allow home recording studios.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dave Pomeroy, president of the Nashville Musicians Association, said he agrees with the intent of legislation that would add a new accessory use dubbed \u201chome recording studio\u201d to the city\u2019s home occupation code. Council members Megan Barry and Ronnie Steine proposed the ordinance to authorize a practice many \u2013 thousands perhaps \u2013 are actively doing, even though it technically violates Metro\u2019s codes.<\/p>\n

This contradiction is especially unfitting for a place known as \u201cMusic City,\u201d the proposal\u2019s backers say.<\/p>\n

Pomeroy, however, whose 2,500-member union didn\u2019t learn about the proposal until the day it came up for a vote, doesn\u2019t support several particulars in the bill, which the council agreed to defer voting on Tuesday to address some concerns in committee. That decision came after a public hearing in which musicians fell into both camps on the proposal.<\/p>\n

Among the concerns of his group, Pomeroy said, is the bill\u2019s \u201cvague\u201d definition of a recording studio itself, which can include a simple laptop. He also takes exception with the city\u2019s existing home occupation code, which allows businesses no larger than 500 square feet \u2013 smaller than many studios. He added that it\u2019s often difficult to pinpoint exactly where a studio ends and living quarters begin. Then there\u2019s the issue of defining musicians recording \u201cfor business\u201d as opposed to \u201chobbyists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very complicated issue with a lot gray areas and a lot of drastically different circumstances,\u201d said Pomeroy, a bass player who has a studio in his home. He claims songwriters organizations and other groups were late to learn of the ordinance as well. \u201cLooking at the bill, it created a number of regulations that, to me, appeared to be somewhat arbitrary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to pass legislation, it needs to be stuff that makes sense and is enforceable,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd if we\u2019re going to try to impose regulations, they need to reflect reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Metro law, residents can apply for home occupation permits to operate businesses from within their houses, but the code doesn’t allow patrons to visit for business purposes. Home-based recording studios, so long as musicians arrive there to produce and record, are thus prohibited.<\/p>\n

The legislation at issue would allow no more than 10 or musicians at a recording studio per day, a figure some skeptics say is too low.<\/p>\n

\"Councilwoman
Councilwoman Megan Barry has proposed a bill to allow home recording studios, which are effectively banned under city code<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barry, whose legislation has the recommendation of the Metro Planning Commission and backing of plenty of musicians in its own right, said there\u2019s no rush on getting it approved. \u201cWe want to put together a bill that has the input the music industry,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have discussions with all the folks who are interested and then make the necessary changes to the bill that are appropriate as we go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Tuesday\u2019s meeting, she kicked off talks with the bill\u2019s critics to begin working out kinks.<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrently, it is illegal to have a recording studio in your home, and hundreds of musicians in Nashville have them,\u201d Barry said. \u201cWe talk all the time about wanting to attract and create a place where creative people want to be. We don\u2019t want to put any kind of impediment in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Barry, the issue came to light after the Metro Codes Department mailed a citation to Bryan Cumming after codes officials read a Tennessean<\/i> story about the rise of at-home studios and learned of his Studio 23, situated inside his West Nashville home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome recording studios are essential to the vitality of the musical community,\u201d said Cumming, a musician\u2019s union member who spoke in support of the legislation at Tuesday\u2019s public hearing. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of where the works gets done, and polished and developed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposed legislation comes more than one year after a measure to accommodate all home-based businesses that welcome patrons \u2013 which former Councilman Mike Jameson had introduced \u2013 failed in the council by a 21-11 vote. Among those who led its opposition was Councilman Carter Todd, who is also against the at-home studio bill.<\/p>\n

Todd told his colleagues the ordinance \u201ccame out of nowhere\u201d and lacked input from the professional music community \u2013 something Barry disputes. He said he received calls from several members of the recording academy, who celebrated the Grammy nominations concert on Wednesday, and claimed they couldn\u2019t attend the public hearing the previous night.<\/p>\n

The Forest Hills-area councilman said his council district includes only a single commercial business. \u201cMy district does not want any home-based businesses,\u201d Todd said, suggesting a better version of the bill could exempt certain council districts, similar to a recently approved backyard chicken ordinance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really difficult statute to draft, and for every page of the ordinance you write, you really need to write two more pages to define all the terms,\u201d Todd said. \u201cIf you were going to do it right, it would probably be 100 pages long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todd also questioned the fairness of allowing only one type of at-home business: \u201cIs it fair to do something for recording studios without doing it for tax preparers, financial planning, swim lessons, planning lessons \u2013 all the other kind of things you might want to do from your home?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Joey Garrison can be reached at 615-259-826 or jgarrison@tennessean.com<\/a>. Follow him on twitter at @joeygarrison<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nashville Bill To Ease Restrictions On Home Music Recording, Hits Snag Bryan Cumming records in his home studio, Studio 23. Metro sent him a citation based on a little-enforced law banning home studios. \/ Dipti Vaidya \/ File \/ The Tennessean Written by Joey Garrison The Tennessean, article send to WHISNews21 for our attention by Keith Bradford. Language in a bill aimed at tidying up the city\u2019s code to accommodate home recording studios has turned into a source of consternation for some Nashville musicians \u2013 the very folks its Metro<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}