As Vanessa Thorpe of The Guardian reported earlier today, Kendrick Lamar has joined a growing lists of artists and entertainers banning people from taking photos at their concerts.
According to the report, Lamar has gone as far as not allowing professional photographers into the venue for his most recent gigs.
“While the rapper’s management did allow a few official photographers into the North American dates of his show, showcasing songs from his latest album Damn, Lamar’s fresh concern to limit the market is an attempt to protect his valuable ‘brand’ and ensure the appetite for tickets remains keen. A large part of the income of the music industry, even for bestselling artists, relies on the profits made by concert tours.”
Lamar joins a growing lists of artists that already includes Jack White, Guns N’ Roses, Alicia Keys, and Jarvis Cocker. The late Prince was also big on people keeping their phones in their pockets at his concerts.
“People can’t clap any more, because they’ve got a fucking texting thing in their fucking hand, and probably a drink, too!”
This isn’t a case of artists being greedy – Lamar just gave fans the entire soundtrack to Black Panther – but rather a limit to the amount of content coming out of tour stops to avoid a negative impact on ticket sales. The thought is, if a show is available online, someone is less likely to purchase a ticket. Some artists, as Thorpe noted, are more concerned about phones “ruining the ambience” of their concerts.”
Former White Stripes frontman Jack White banned mobile phones at gigs for the ‘100% human experience’
And there’s already measures being put in place to help make the change more widespread and easy to control, especially when dealing with massive crowds.
“Efforts to limit the amount of phone footage and photography online have been boosted by new technology in the shape of the Yondr pouch, handed out to concert-goers as they arrive. Phones are placed inside the pouches and locked there until the end of the gig. Hi-tech phone signal blocking devices for venues are also being tested.”
Of course, some artists encourage concert goers to “light their phones up,” similar to people pulling out lighters; it happened just last week at the Super Bowl. It really depends on who you’re talking too.
Some artists are just sick of performing to a huge audience, only to share the spotlight with a good chunk of the audience’s mobile devices.
“People can’t clap any more, because they’ve got a fucking texting thing in their fucking hand, and probably a drink, too!” Jack White told Rolling Stone.
We’ll see if more artists follow suit.
