Apple May Block iPhones For Concert Videos

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Is this you when you attend a concert?

Do you like recording and taking cell phone pictures of the concerts you attend? Or do you like watching videos of songs and concerts on YouTube that fellow fans have shot with their mobile device? If so, the latest news from Apple may not be welcome.

On the other hand, are you irritated by people holding up their cell phones at concerts to catch all the action onstage rather than simply enjoying the music? Then the patent just awarded to Apple Inc. on June 28 may seem like a godsend.

Either way, an innovation that can block video recording and picture taken on iPhones could affect your concert-going and after show experiences in the future.

On every iPhone, there is a small aperture next to the camera lens. The just-patented technology enables an infrared signal to be sent to a phone via that aperture and stop it from recording.

Numerous artists like Adele, Jack White and Neil Young have expressed their displeasure regarding fans that shoot video at concerts. On Prince‘s final Piano and a Microphone tour, he did his best to restrict any ticket holders from capturing his performances. As a result, there was very little visual documentation of what by all reports were stunning concerts by an artist we tragically lost soon after he played some of those shows.

What musical acts often object to with cell phone recordings is the poor quality of both the video and audio, which they feel can represent them in less than the best fashion. Others don’t wish to have poor performances documented, or feel that fan recordings can disrupt their shows, and that audience members who are shooting videos aren’t listening to the music as the acts wish they would. The feeling is that mobile device videos and photos can damage an artist’s reputation and brand.

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At Best Classic Bands, our feelings about this issue are mixed. On the one hand, as our regular readers know, we try to seek out the best quality audience-shot videos we can find to post with our articles and reviews to allow fans who weren’t at shows or can’t catch a tour to still get a taste of the excitement and magic of their favorite artists performing live. But we have also attended shows where audience members recording songs or shooting pictures has interfered with our enjoyment of the the concert experience.

There’s no immediate cause for concern among those who like shooting shows or watching them online. Apple has not as yet announced its intention to integrate the technology into its phones. As well, equipment that would generate the infrared signals would have to be made available. And it’s not known whether the company would share its patented innovation with other mobile device manufacturers.