Should music fans stop filming gigs on their smartphones?

[Black Rose]

Ugly scenes? Fans of Bring Me The Horizon film vocalist Oli Sykes on their smartphones and cameras

 

As fans filed into Webster Hall in New York City last week, a note from indie rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs wasted no syllables in laying down the law.

 

"Please do not watch the show through a screen on your smart device/camera," it said, along with some stronger words unrepeatable here.

 

During the gig, vocalist Karen O repeated the request, telling fans to take a picture right at that moment - but to then keep devices hidden for the good of those around them. On the web, news of the band's defiance against the march of the amateur filmmaker spread - and was met with whoops of delight from many music fans fed up with seeing mobiles thrust into their line of sight at every public event.

 

Many of them longed for the days when the only thing illuminating the crowd at a packed gig would be a sea of cigarette lighters, held aloft during the more tender moments - and not, as is now more often the case, the glow of the mobile phone.

 

"I would never turn on a cell phone at any musical event," wrote Roger Waters, former bassist and vocalist for Pink Floyd.

People behind you are like 'put your phone down we can't see'”

 

Bring Me The Horizon fan

"It would seem to me to show a lack of respect to and care for fellow concert goers, or for that matter the artist. Apart from anything else, how could I possibly truly experience the thing I'd paid to see and hear, if I was fiddling with an iPhone, filming or twittering or chatting or whatever?"

 

'Weak and distorted'

 

To make matters worse, the type of footage recorded at gigs tends to have, as one Guardian journalist put it this week, "audio quality that would make Simon and Garfunkel sound like Slayer".

 

Sophisticated as it may be, your smartphone's microphone is only capable of capturing anything and everything immediately around it. But one company emerging from Dublin's blossoming start-up scene thinks it has the answer - and appears to have record labels on its side.

 

"What our unique proprietary technology is able to do is take the poor quality on-camera audio from fan videos, and we analyse that and can see the patterns, even though it's very weak and distorted," explains Cathal Furey, co-founder of the firm, 45sound. "The technology takes those patterns and matches it against what we call a master audio recording, which would be a professional live audio recording [from the same gig]."

 

From here, clips are re-uploaded with the high-quality audio, and in cases where there's more than one recording of the same moment, fans watching the gig on 45sound can switch camera angles. In recent years, several sites have sought to make use of the swathes of fan footage recorded on a nightly basis.

 

Apps such as Vyclone have been used by the likes of Ed Sheeran to "crowdsource" gig footage, with fans being encouraged to upload their recordings of Ed for it then to be edited together for the official music video.

 

Another start-up, OutListen, gathers fan videos and, if there's sufficient interest, will go to record labels after a big show and request the professionally recorded audio. But Mr Furey believes it is 45sound's audio-matching software which gives it the edge over rivals - meaning no human intervention is needed in order to whip the clips into a listenable state. "It's all completely automated," he says.

 

"What we're trying to build is a scaleable company. I'll be happy when one day we do a thousand shows in one night."

Sony trial

 

Vital to this scalability is in building relationships with record labels. To that end, 45sound has the ear of several companies - including Sony Music-owned RCA Records. One of their acts, Bring Me The Horizon, has been trialling 45sound on their latest tour - prompting fans to record their show and upload it after the gig. "It compliments the whole marketing plan," says Justin Cross, head of digital marketing for RCA. A lot of the artists we work with at RCA are live bands - if you're watching someone's video of Bring Me The Horizon and you can see for yourself how fantastic they are live, you're probably going to want to go and see them."

 

As part of their trial with 45sound, Bring Me The Horizon's vocalist Oli Sykes prompts fans during the gig to record one particular song. For those who hate people recording, it may seem an irritating, even inconsiderate request - but it is somewhat tactical, the 26-year-old tells the BBC ahead of the band's gig in Bristol.

 

"When we did it in Leeds the other day it was almost like it got it out of everyone's system. Everyone filmed the song, and then everyone put [their cameras] down and everyone got back into it so it was cool."

 

'Put your phone down'

 

Meanwhile, in the shivering cold outside the venue, Bring Me The Horizon's fans are divided in their views of gig etiquette. "People behind you are like 'put your phone down we can't see'," says one female fan. "I think people kind of like just want to just get into it without standing around with your arm in the air all the time filming."

 

Another fan, male, has more enthusiasm towards the web's possibilities. "It's always good when people film it, you can go on YouTube and see it, and relive it, and see all the people in the comments talking about it - you can make more friends with that as well."

 

For record companies like RCA Records, it's a situation that requires delicate compromise, says Mr Cross. "From a label perspective, and my perspective as a fan, it's something that's just part of a gig now, you can't get away from it. On one side of things, it can be quite annoying for the fan that isn't into doing this, but on the other side it's helping to push the band."

 

But 45sound's Mr Furey argues some events are just too good not to be widely shared. "I can definitely see that having a sea of cameras can ruin the experience. Ultimately the most important person is the person who pays for a ticket to go and see the show.

 

"At the same time, I've been at other events where my first reaction is 'who's videoing this?'. Live music shows are an incredible human event - they're very tribal, very powerful, very emotional."

 

So while the Yeah Yeah Yeahs join a select group of grumblers that includes the likes of Jarvis Cocker, Jack White and the Stone Roses - it is likely that the "sea of cameras" is here to stay, and not just at gigs.

 

"I have that problem in general life myself," reflects Bring Me The Horizon's Mr Sykes. "I find a lot of people are documenting too much stuff... rather than just living it."

 

Some comments here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22113326

 

Also here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/shortcuts/2013/apr/10/yeah-yeah-yeahs-phones-gigs

[uttamo]

Should be banned. It ruins the experience for others as well. You're there to enjoy the performance as it is. Amateur recordings are poor in quality anyway. Just wait for a concert film if you really want a video of memories.

[Lu'kaa]

I spend a lot of time on YouTube watching specific concert videos, and most of those are concerts I myself attended. I love seeing shows from various angles, and sometimes I love watching the same show but in various venues (I don't know why but I really like doing that). I have never been really annoyed by a cellphone or a small camera in a crowd.

I think tablets should be banned though, that's really too much.

[Cyan Kat]

If it was a rare one off new song being played then I can understand people might want to share it but I do think it's incredibly annoying when they are blocking your view and I can't understand why people continue to film them when they are being professionally filmed for TV or livestream because phone quality sucks.

[Lodder]

No, I like to make some pics and vids at every concert I attend.

[Lu'kaa]

I have to say I disagree a little bit with the bad quality argument. Most of the footage you can find nowadays is pretty decent (video at least), done by people shooting in HD and they're usually not jumping or whatever.

 

But although I like finding on YouTube playlists from people who filmed the whole show, I can really understand that it must have been annoying to stand right behind them all the time.

[Coldplay]

I don't really care what you do, as long as you put your damn phone a bit lower so that me and everyone else behind you can get a half-decent view

 

I've never taken a video at a gig and I probably never will. It's my show, I spent a bit too much for it, I waited for months on end for it, and I'm gonna live in every second of it -- I'm not reaching in my pocket or staring into a screen for anything.

 

Save the camera for when you actually meet the band or something.

[Reilly]

99% of footage shot on smartphones that people have shown me- you can't hear a fucking thing, other peoples hands/heads are completely in the way of a blurry image of the silhouette of the band, and inevitably what can you do with that but delete it anyway? That's besides the main point, even if you capture the band perfectly, you don't need to capture every memorable moment of your life on a little camera. Realistically are you going to keep that video for the rest of your life and look at it instead of just remembering the gig? You'll show a few friends and never look at it again.

 

In the article Waters' mentioned people chattering on their phones, if he means tweeting, then I have a huge pet peeve for people who tweet about how they're actually at some gig right now and loving it, and it's several times worse if they do multiple tweets about what the band are doing. As easy as it is to tweet, it's still not easy in a packed, loud and noisy environment, it doesn't take 10 seconds, you see people fumbling about on their phones for 2mins and miss half a song.

 

I know someone who tweeted "Finally they're doing Intervention right now! Been waiting all night for this!" ugh.

[Abracadabra]

Okay, at least I've never been to a concert like that

[Black Rose]

I would prefer something like the middle ground, no videos apart from one or two songs, that way people can get their memories in the form of mid quality video with poor audio and high quality pictures, and people behind don't have to watch the show though a video screen. Also high quality pictures, maybe even a high quality video of the song could be uploaded for all.

 

Gigs should be enjoyed, not spent playing around getting a video which the majority of time would either be binned or watched once or twice, blocking the line of sight for people behind.

[Italian Plastic]

if someone filming the concert with their phone is really stopping yourself from enjoying it then that's your problem

 

There have been a lot of shows where I would have loved to see some footage of, but no one was filming! (iPhones are stupid expensive in NZ, so concerts look nothing like the photo in the article) ie. Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples singing their song, Connan Mockasin joining Liam Finn for an encore...hell there is NOTHING from when I saw Caribou, which was one of the most incredible musical experiences of my life.

 

My only problem with filming is when you see heaps of cameras but then you look on youtube the next few days and there's nothing :( pls share it with the world

[Prince Myshkin]

Allow people to film. Allow people to attack those who film.

Then I'll film that.

[Mollyxyloto]

First of all I love Bring Me The Horizon!!

 

I think that it's okay to take some pictures or a couple of videos but I think that when you go to a concert to see a band you are there to see them not mess about on your phone.

 

I went to a Green Day tribute band (who were frickin awesome) show last night and there were some people who were missing what they were doing because they'd been filming/taking pictures.

 

I think a couple of vids/pics are okay but don't forget why you're actually there :)

[Black Rose]

There is a couple phones which could take half decent videos, pictures are normally hit and miss, the sensors can't cope with the limited light (people using flash, it's pointless at the distances), add in digital zoom and out of the pictures probably only 10-20% will be any good. (Unless you are near the front).

[Prince Myshkin]

It's a weird culture where people don't seem to be happy unless something is recorded. They need that validation for some reason. Go to the gig, watch it, remember it. It really isn't hard. And it's not as simple as saying it's other people's problem as it appears to be many performers' problem too.

[shred]

I do it but I don't record the whole song - just a minute of it so I can enjoy the rest of the song without concentrating on recording. I do it because I want a record of the show I've been. Photos aren't enough! :D

 

I haven't really been annoyed by others recording. Yes, there are times I wished the person in front of me would lower their phone but then I think to myself, I do the same so I shouldn't complain.

[Prince Myshkin]

I do it but I don't record the whole song - just a minute of it so I can enjoy the rest of the song without concentrating on recording. I do it because I want a record of the show I've been. Photos aren't enough! :D

 

I haven't really been annoyed by others recording. Yes, there are times I wished the person in front of me would lower their phone but then I think to myself, I do the same so I shouldn't complain.

 

And those who don't do the same? Sounds like you're agreeing they should be complaining if the only thing stopping you complaining is the fact that you do it.

[NumbersGirl]

I think they should be allowed to carry on as they do now.

 

The fans' level enjoyment, as a result of their picture-taking/filming/lack thereof, is up to them. Personally I know the experience isn't quite the same when you're focusing on getting a good video. I do try to get a few pics and videos, but certainly not the entire concert; I'd be kicking myself afterward if I didn't focus (only) on the performance for the majority of the concert. Although, I think it's rewarding to film inbetween each song, because you can catch little funny moments that hardly anybody else will catch on film.

 

However, people should also be mindful of whether they are deterring from the experience of other concert-goers; this is where the issue can be a bit sticky. If other fans are getting annoyed by a person's filming due to the activity blocking their view, they should let that person know.

 

Okay, at least I've never been to a concert like that

If that's not photoshopped, I just... I don't even understand the logic, that's just wrong.

[Karencorpse]

I don't like those devices up in the air above the heads, because it makes it hard for those behind them to see.

[Corkus]

I don't like those devices up in the air above the heads, because it makes it hard for those behind them to see.

Bingo.

 

If you're going to use a camera, hold it in front of your face, not above your head. This especially applies if you're tall.

 

Also, use a real digital point-and-shoot camera, not your phone. A digital camera won't take shitty photos and videos where you can't decipher a thing because of how blown out your phone's speakers get. iPhone video on Youtube is virtually unwatchable.

[Linus]

I generally don't like the idea of constantly standing with the phone in your hand to get pictures and videos. Just enjoy the moment :)

But the again, if EVERYONE stops filming, there'll be no way to re-live it on youtube afterwards ;)

[I ran away]

I know it can be annoying if people in front of you hold their phones up high, but then again for me as a relatively small person it is no more annoying than tall people standing in front of me, which happens all the time...

I myself am strongly in favor of being allowed to take videos because I can understand if you want a souvenir from the show that is more than a photo.

If you have a modern smartphone and go by some basic rules (no zoom, no flash, as steady as possible) videos can be halfway decent and yes, I do go back to watch videos I have taken quite often !

 

When I went to the NYC show with a camcorder, I originally intended to only record the soundcheck because the actual concert would be recorded by NBC anyway. But when I was there I just filmed everything, and it turned out to be the right decision cause otherwise I'd have missed the chatter of the guys between songs, their coming together for a group photo and the moment during ASFOS when Chris came to our corner and sang right into my lens.

 

I do agree however that you shouldnt let the filming stand in the way of your concert experience. Don't know what I should do for the stadium show....

[karvi22]

I think everybody should be free to do whatever they want to do, in the end they all have paid a ticket to be there. In my opinion you can't really enjoy a show if you record every single song, but it's also true that this is a perfect way to keep a good memory of the concert. In my case I only record little pieces of songs and take a few pictures. However I totally understand those who record eveything, sometimes the show is so beautiful that all you want to do is to be there forever, so record the whole concert seems like a good way to make your dream come true.

 

The only thing that should be forbidden is to annoy the rest of the people. If you don't let the others to see the performance while you're recording a video, then stop recording!

 

PD: sorry for my english, sometimes I think is really bad lol

[42Escapist]

I hardly film anything when I'm at a concert. I take a few photos and random clips but never anything substantial. I suppose I was in a unique situation at Glastonbury where many shows were being broadcast anyway, so I almost completely avoided taking out my phone; if I want to find a video, I can probably track one down without much difficulty.

 

My worst experiences with phones at a concert have been at big arena shows. These people were paying very good money and it broke my heart to see almost everybody watching through their phone's camera lens. There was even a very rude man behind me at a U2 concert who thought it would be fine to call a friend during a song. The guy was drunk and blabbering on loudly about stuff that was completely irrelevant to the show. Even the people glued to their phone cameras were annoyed by this idiot.

[I ran away]

There was even a very rude man behind me at a U2 concert who thought it would be fine to call a friend during a song.

Oh yeah, that reminds me of a girl who was standing right behind me at the C-stage. Just as I was trying to record one of the acoustic songs, she decided it was a good time to re-live her previously shot videos of the main stage songs, and blasted them out of her phone. I was a bit annoyed because it is already difficult to get good sound in a crowd with phone videos, let alone with disturbing noise from behind you...