It looks like the Chicago City Council is set to vote on an ordinance Wednesday that would, according to some, put a serious damper on the city’s music scene. Chicago Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis has posted the full text of the law on his blog, along with a statement from the Chicago Music Commission, which opposes the measure.

There’s a lot of jargon involved, but basically promoters looking to hold a concert at venues with fewer than 500 seats — that includes the Metro, Schubas and others — must jump through new hoops, with costs high enough to prevent the smallest promoters from doing business. This all comes on top of existing licensing laws designed to regulate live events in the city.

One write-up puts it this way:

The “Event Promoters” ordinance requires any event promoter to have a license from the city of Chicago and liability insurance of $300,000, but that’s just the start:

• The definition of “event promoter” is so loosely defined it could apply to a band that books its own shows or a theater company that’s in town for a one-week run.
• “Event Promoter” must be licensed and will pay $500 - $2000 depending on expected audience size.
• To get the license, applicant must be over 21, get fingerprinted, submit to a background check, and jump over several other hurdles.
• This ordinance seems targeted towards smaller venues, since those with 500+ permanent seats are exempt.
• Police must be notified at least 7 days in advance of event.

DeRogatis’s take: “[The] law that will pretty much drop a bomb on Chicago’s independent music community, if not nuke it entirely.”

Normally I’m skeptical of doomsday predictions and frantic Internet petitions, but Time Out Chicago’s interview with Alderman Brendan Reilly seems to indicate that even the people supposedly for the measure aren’t sure of the potential impact. Read the ordinance, make up your mind and leave a petition comment here if this seems as scary to you as it seems for a lot of other people.

Update, 4 p.m.: DeRogatis is reporting that the ordinance is tabled for now: “Following a nearly unprecedented outpouring of concern from the Chicago music community and a meeting with activists and some of the top concert promoters and venue owners in Chicago, Ald. Eugene Schulter, chairman of the City Council License Committee, decided on Tuesday that he will not present the so-called “event promoter’s ordinance” to the full council for a vote on Wednesday — and that the committee will go back to work on fine-tuning the law.”