Musicians Vs. Technology: A Recent History

They’ve got a fucking texting thing in their fucking hand.-Jack White, 2014

At one point, in the far distant past, audiences applauded musicians to show their appreciation for how good the performance was. Besides looking for applause as a sign of approval, artists could also count on people dancing, or at least trying to. But now crowds are filled with people standing still in order to get the steadiest photo or video possible.

Jack White is so fed up with fans taking out their phones during shows that he claims that he’s just wasting his time. White told Rolling Stone, “People can’t clap any more, because they’ve got a fucking texting thing in their fucking hand, and probably a drink too!”

Darn these distracted kids on their texting machines.

Though many performers have come up with creative ways of preventing concert goers from wasting the whole night on their phones, no one has done in a way as charming as Beyoncé. Last year, during a show in Atlanta, Beyoncé went from person to person giving them a chance to sing along to her song “Irreplaceable,” but as she got to one person in particular she realized their camera was distracting them.

See, you can’t even sing because you’re too busy taping. I’m right in your face baby. You’ve got to seize this moment, baby! Put that damn camera down.

This generation has become all about streaming things. We stream our movies, TV shows, albums, music festivals and so on. If it can’t be streamed, did it really even happen? Well, not everyone is on board with the all-you-can-stream fest. David Byrne makes the point that if someone can get something for free, why would they ever choose to pay for it? Valid point.

Byrne has a problem with free streaming music app Spotify. He points out that it would apparently take over 236,500,000 streams for each person in a four-person band to earn the minimum of $15,080 a year. He also points out that the internet's approach to music is creating an unhealthy set of values.

The amounts these services pay per stream is miniscule—their idea being that if enough people use the service those tiny grains of sand will pile up. Domination and ubiquity are therefore to be encouraged. We should readjust our values because in the web-based world we are told that monopoly is good for us.

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Artists know that fans want to take photos or videos of them to be able to cherish the moment later, especially if it’s someone who rarely makes appearances. While Björk also requested fans not take their own photos or video during his set at last year’s Bonnaroo Fesitval, she was kind enough to make a fair trade. Professional photos of her set were made available on her website afterwards.

Björk was able to perform without any distractions, the audience got to fully experience her show and fans — even the ones who weren’t able to make it — were able to enjoy high quality photos of her performance. This may be the one case where everyone truly won.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are tired of seeing an audience of cell phones. In an effort to end this, the band posted a sign at one of their recent shows at New York’s Webster Hall. The message: PUT THAT SHIT AWAY. It's a sentiment that most bands and audience members can relate to.

By now it’s pretty well known fact that if you don’t listen to what Prince tells you to do, he’ll find a way to make you listen. Want to cover a Prince song for your YouTube fans? I hope they enjoy watching it on mute when the audio inevitably gets taken down. Rather download his albums for free like you do everything else? Yeah, good luck.

Prince has only recently begun to warm up to technology, but don’t expect much to change about his attitude towards piracy. During a surprise show in New York City, fans were warned that any use of cell phones for photos or videos would not be allowed. But of course people tried anyway. The brave souls who dared to disobey Prince apparently had their phones taken from their hands and were escorted out of the venue.

Prince doesn't fuck around. I repeat, Prince does not fuck around.

Although the purpose of concerts are generally a chance for fans to finally see their favorite artists up close, in many cases the musicians are just as excited to see their fans. This is why seeing a sea of their fans’ phones instead can be a bit disappointing and often lead to the artists reacting in a way fans may not be expecting.

During one of The Lumineers’ shows last year, frontman Wesley Schultz stopped the music midway through their biggest hit, “Ho Hey,” to ask the audience to live in the moment.

"Put away cameras and recording devices and just be human with us for a while."

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While consumers seem to enjoy Spotify, it seems more and more artists are speaking out against it. Thom Yorke is yet another artist who has repeatedly shared his opinions on Spotify, and they're not positive, and he's not holding back.

I feel like the way people are listening to music is going through this big transition. I feel like as musicians we need to fight the Spotify thing. I feel that in some ways what’s happening in the mainstream is the last gasp of the old industry. Once that does finally die, which it will, something else will happen. But it’s all about how we change the way we listen to music, it’s all about what happens next in terms of technology, in terms of how people talk to each other about music, and a lot of it could be really fucking bad. I don’t subscribe to the whole thing that a lot of people do within the music industry that’s ‘well this is all we’ve got left. we’ll just have to do this.’ I just don’t agree.

When we did the In Rainbows thing what was most exciting was the idea you could have a direct connection between you as a musician and your audience. You cut all of it out, it’s just that and that. And then all these fuckers get in a way, like Spotify suddenly trying to become the gatekeepers to the whole process. We don’t need you to do it. No artists needs you to do it. We can build the shit ourselves, so fuck off. But because they’re using old music, because they’re using the majors… the majors are all over it because they see a way of re-selling all their old stuff for free, make a fortune, and not die. That’s why to me, Spotify the whole thing, is such a massive battle, because it’s about the future of all music. It’s about whether we believe there’s a future in music, same with the film industry, same with books.

To me this isn’t the mainstream, this is is like the last fart, the last desperate fart of a dying corpse. What happens next is the important part.

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Rather than just posting warnings around the venue, Neutral Milk Hotel takes it a step further to make sure you get the point in advance. Under the description in every link to buy tickets to one of their shows, it clearly states that no photography or video recording will be allowed at their shows. And that includes cell phone footage.

As of right now, there’s no need for the band to deliver personalized messages, a simple warning is enough. But with the heads up given before you even purchase tickets, there’s no way you could get away with the usual “I didn’t know.” You knew, they made sure of it. So just this once, leave the professional cameras at home and your phone in your pocket.

Does being told that you can’t take any photos or videos at a particular concert hurt less if the message is a bit charming? Probably not, but that’s the route She & Him took for one of their shows.

She—Zooey Deschanel—is known for being quirky and humorous, and their sign reflects not only a distaste for picture-snapping fans, but a sense of humor. It may be a cute way to tell audience members to keep their cameras in their pockets, but security was a little less friendly. Anyone caught trying to take a picture got a flashlight pointed at their face.

There are really not too many different ways to ask people not to take photos or videos with their phones during a show. Yet, Savages found a way to make their request a bit more personalized. What could’ve have been a short, basic message was instead transformed into something more complex. In their message to fans, Savages claimed that they were looking “to discover better ways of living and experiencing music.”