Kathleen Edwards Concert - When is it NOT OK to Record

My wife and I rarely get out to any type of live music these days due to the usual children issues, but our good friends Fred and Barbara invited us and another couple out to see Canadian singer Kathleen Edwards at the local specialty concert hall The Independent.  The short review is that she put on a GREAT concert, alternating between slower songs and rocking bigger songs, without too much conversation - the crowd loved it, she did an amazing show, the bar was easy to get to, and the acoustics were good -  you should definitely see Kathleen in concert if you like any aspect of Alt Country music.

However, the main irritation and inspiration for the blog is that some really tall guy fought his way in front of our little group in order to hold up a pretty sophisticated recording device, and then proceeded to spend 10+ minutes adjusting the various buttons on it to presumably make sure it could record her concert at the highest enough fidelity.  Having spent enough time with Rhapsody and the legal side of music, I simply don't believe you should be able to nakedly record music, presumably to do something else with it, like make it available on your site - it's simply not your right...The only possible exception would be if Kathleen had a pro-taping policy, as some bands do, but there weren't any signs of that, and he didn't act like it was legitimate.

Am I aware that there are a variety of services which allow you to steal/borrow digital rights to their music ?- Of course.  However, when I ask you in the middle of an artist's live show why you feel able to record a  full concert and your answer is "i will talk to you later, and I haven't have time to ask her", you should not be surprised when I make sure to yell into the mid-point of each concert recording, so that you eventually went away, as you did tonight.

The end result is clear - Kathleen Edwards rocks in concert, and more importantly, stop recording digital musical concerts and pretending its OK, unless the artist approves of it - otherwise, you should all drive these guys out of the arena.  Great creative music is too important to leave to music pirates.

Comments

[mark]

While I'm all for artists retaining all rights to their music, I have to respectfully disagree with you on this, depending on whether it was audio or video taping that was being done. I personally love going to youtube and finding good quality video and audio recordings of a band I like, and as long as the recorder is not making a profit on it and isn't being too big a jerk in the process - which this guy may have done by pushing to the front - then I don't have a big problem with it. It is possible some artists who could use the extra attention might even welcome the free publicity. KE probably falls into this category, though hopefully not for much longer. Her new album I've come to believe is a masterpiece and the kind of record, like Lucinda'a Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, that we'll still be listening to ten years from now and that will define her career.

[Sean Ryan]

I totally understand your desire to want to record an artists work - it's no different than my children wanting to eat only desserts.

However, you don't have the right to do so, unless the artist indicates they are cool with it. You can always violate the right, as many do, but at the end of the day, an artist's ability to monetize their work is the only thing they have, so respecting those rights seems reasonable

Only in recent times was there even a concept that it was "OK" to do this.

[Suzanna]

Kathleen is pro-taping, as long as people don't sell it. Of course, it's always courteous to ask performers first, but sometimes there just isn't enough time.

I'm sorry about the really tall guy guy who fought his way in front of you. He probably did it to get the best possible sound, so that everyone can enjoy the show as much as possible later on. Wouldn't you like to experience the show at The Independent again, with best possible sound? Well, (at least) two guys made sure you can. There are two recordings of KE @ The Independent at dimeadozen.org.

I'm very thankful to tapers worldwide who share their recordings of KE and other great artists, I wish that everyone would feel the same and not make it more difficult for them to record shows.