Today I’m going to tread a little bit into the music world. I recently attended a couple of concerts earlier this month, but the film student in me couldn’t stop observing a fairly new trend: cell phone and camera recordings at concerts. It’s not that I haven’t noticed this has been going on for a while, and it’s not a new thing for people to record or take pictures without permission at concerts, but I feel like it’s definitely changing.
One of the acts I saw, Fitz and The Tantrums , had an audience that was widely lit up with cell phone lights. I am going to estimate that around 50-60% of the audience was filming them, at least at some point or another. It actually got so bad that at one point one of the vocalists, Noelle Scaggs, addressed the audience and told them to put away their phones and start enjoying the music (how embarrassing!). I don’t want to downplay the energy of the show, because it was one of the best [sold out] concerts I had ever been to. However, the cell recording was distracting.
On the other hand, I went to see Iron and Wine and while there was the cell phone recording, it was very minimal compared to the Fitz and The Tantrums concert. This show was also packed, so it wasn’t because of a lack of people. I thought to myself, “why is there such a big difference in the amount of bootlegging at this particular concert?”
The difference is in the marketing. Fitz and The Tantrums have used social media marketing in great way to promote their music. A year ago, no one had ever heard of them, and now they are doing a headline tour, TV appearances, and have music videos showcased on music channels. They are all about Facebook, Twitter, updates, photos, videos, etc., because their fans have pretty much spread the word that they are awesome and need to be listened to. Since they are with a more independent record label, they don’t have the marketing [money] power that big label bands have. Iron and Wine, though a smaller artist, is more traditional in his approach to the music industry. He is about performing to get his name out, release records in a more traditional way – his music is also more traditional (folk/rock).
My ultimate opinion on concert bootlegging? Well, again, not so simple. I personally hate taking the time to take pictures or video because 1- I don’t like carrying things around and 2- I love just listening to and watching live music without the extra medium. However, because our society has largely moved to digital and online, it can greatly benefit small acts and give them great success. Even Iron and Wine uses social media, just not as extremely as others. I know that I find new artists I love online now, because it is free and convenient.
But nothing beats discovering a new artist at a summer concert.
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