Medford, MA Noise Ordinances: Amplified Music & Outdoor Sound (2026)

Section 38-34(b) sits inside the broader noise section of Article II, Nuisances, in Chapter 38, Environment, and dates to the 1974 Revised Ordinances, chapter 23, section 29 and chapter 14, section 24. It is written as a blanket prohibition, not a decibel or time-of-day standard: no person may sing, play or perform on any musical instrument, or operate a sound device or machine, in the streets or public places of the city, unless the city has granted a license or permit for that activity. The section carves out three specific exceptions that need no separate license: a funeral, a military parade, or a procession of a political, civic or charitable organization, and even the parade or procession exception only applies where a police escort is provided for it.

Because the rule sits in the same section as Sec. 38-34(a)'s hours-based restriction on noisy work and machinery, the two work together to cover both mechanical and performance noise in public spaces, but subsection (b) applies specifically to singing, instruments and sound devices operated in streets or public places rather than to construction or plant noise. The ordinance text does not specify which city office issues the license, leaving that detail to the city's general licensing practice rather than printed in this section.