The Plaza Mayor and its surroundings are these days an amusement park for visitors: Christmas stalls, guided routes, tuk tuk, musical performances… And an ordeal for many residents and merchants, who have been fighting for years against the noise generated by the public address system that many street artists use to capture the attention of tourists. Faced with the despair of the neighbors and aware of “the high density of occupation of public spaces”, the Downtown District Board has decided to review the regulations that regulate the performances of these musicians. One of the main novelties of this instruction, published yesterday in the Official Gazette of the Madrid City Council, is that it reduces the number of authorizations that will be granted to play in the street from 500 to 250. Currently, according to data from the council, there are 496 interpreters who have permission to perform in this Special Acoustic Protection Zone, so if next year the number of requests remains at similar levels, a public lottery will have to be held. In addition, the maximum number of gang members is limited to five and the requirement that each member of the group have an individual permit is maintained. These authorizations, personal and non-transferable, only regulate musical performances, leaving out theater, dance, poetry, mimes… This is one of the main limitations of this rule, according to the Residents of the Plaza Mayor of Madrid association. and Aledaños, which asks to expand the catalog of activities that includes instruction to all those that use music and voices amplified by public address systems: “There are performances that use loudspeakers, such as ‘break dance’ dancers, who do not know the prohibition of their use or there is no one to make them comply with it,” denounces Ricardo Bustos, spokesperson for these neighbors. Related News standard Yes Illegal street musicians and repeat offenders in the center of Madrid: 280 fines in six months Cris de Quiroga The city council grants half a thousand permits every six months and the Police have hunted down 234 without authorization The recently approved instruction also prohibits performing in spaces that in The previous regulation, from 2021, was authorized, as part of Calle de Toledo (from Calle Imperial to Plaza Mayor), Calle de las Postas, the cellar of San Miguel and Cuchilleros, among others. “This means that we already have a fairly wide perimeter where we cannot act,” Bustos celebrates. Within the enclaves where these artists can still play (always from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.) the difference is maintained between more protected residential areas, where neither amplification nor percussion is allowed, and spaces for tertiary use where Yes, percussion instruments can be used. In the first case, only from Friday to Sunday. The sections where performing is allowed within the Rastro are also limited, always agreeing with the merchants on the stage, to Calle de los Estudios, Duque de Alba, San Millán (between number 1 and 5), Plaza de Cascorro, Plaza de La Latina (only on the semi-corner with Maldonadas), Calle Maldonadas (only on the corner with Calle de Toledo), Calle Toledo (at Fuente de la Cebada), Calle de la Ruda and Calle de los Embajadores (from number 1 to 6). More sanctionsLikewise, if previously authorizations had to be requested every six months, they will now be granted for one year. The Central District Board observed that 38% of the requests were maintained in both semesters, so it has decided to simplify the procedures. Thus, those permits in force on December 31 of this year will be extended until April 30, 2025. In the case of next year, sources from the council explain, the authorizations, which will continue to be processed through the municipal website, will be valid « between May 1 and December 31, based on applications submitted in October 2024. Musicians on Preciados Street, in an archive image José Ramón barksHowever, the publication of this new instruction, more restrictive than the previous one, has left a “bittersweet” feeling among the residents of the Plaza Mayor. For them, the problem is not so much the number of artists but the public address system that leads them to live with high (and constant) noise levels. For this reason, they did celebrate with more enthusiasm other advances in their crusade against loudspeakers, such as the preventive withdrawal of these devices or the classification of their use as an environmental crime. According to the latest data provided by the General Directorate of Sustainability and Environmental Control, in the first nine months of this year, 178 disciplinary proceedings were opened against street musicians, 25 in the Plaza Mayor. «We have not seen an increase in surveillance or sanctions, nor is the removal of amplification equipment included in this new instruction. We have the rule, but we always have to see reality, that is, how it is executed,” concludes Bustos. It is not so much about going somewhere else with the music, but rather about controlling the decibels.
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