The Provincial Work and Social Security Department is reportedly cracking down on venues offering live music in Malaga province.

The Provincial Work and Social Security Department is reportedly cracking down on venues offering live music in Malaga province.   Work inspectors apparently never sleep, and visit premises at weekends, holidays and in the early hours, often accompanied by the police. According to a report in a local Spanish daily, the Ministry of Work is demanding that they legalise the situation of musicians who perform there. They can either hire them on the general regime, which means paying €20 in social security per musician and per performance, or each of the musicians can pay their own monthly social security as self-employed workers, which amounts to around €256. In the past few months, all kinds of venues throughout the province have been visited by work inspectors asking to see papers for singers and musicians and demanding that their situation be legalised. Most of the musicians complain that they don’t earn enough to make it worth their while paying to be self-employed, and they also face the difficulty that if the venue has to pay their social security, they get less money for the gig.