Alicia Keys joins group of musicians banning cell phones and concerts! This is CRAZY on many levels!

Alicia Keys has recently joined a group of artists banning the use of cell phones at her shows. Lets hope she doesn’t want the effect of all the lights across the stadium in your next show! They don’t ask fans to surrender their device until the end of the show rather they give them pouches that hold the phone and cannot be opened without a key that the stewards own.

I have worked in the Live Music industry for years both as an Lighting Designer, Engineer and more recently as an entrepreneur in the space. This is crazy on so many levels and below I will elaborate on that.

First of all let me state that I understand the initial thought. Artists time after time have said they wish that rather than the fans simply recording them or taking photos they “Be Preset” and enjoy the experience. However it should surely be up to the fan, that has paid her $200 for a front row seat, to experience the show as well as capture the moment which in some cases may be a once in a life time experience.

The second is that if they listened to their managers and label they would know that by footage of their show being captured and uploaded to You Tube, Facebook or any other social networks it will take advantages of their virality and spread that moment way further than friends and family. I’m sure if artists are tracking this stuff correctly then they would see the impact in sales, streaming and live it has. Even without looking at this data you can see the increase in live shows since the explosive growth of these networks and see a clear correlation. I know there have been many other factors over the years but this surely can’t be discounted.

Finally there are logistical issues that would hamper ingress and egress of fans by insisting on this rules. For example imagine the fact each fan now needs a bag search, metal detector and now a ridiculous phone pouch! This will slow things down and hamper the experience. Now the artists may not care about this however in certain fans this may mean they attend less. I know that if I go to a show as someone in the industry I need to be able to answer my phone at anytime and not go and find a steward.

Many artists and festivals seem to be going the other way and embracing it. They want to allow as many photos as possible and often have a row in the front that you can walk down to take a close photo.

At the end of the day artists forever say how they would’t be here without the fans, well now is the time to remember that and allow them to enjoy the experience how they want. By insisting on this rule you are dictating to them that this is the only way you can experience my show and to hell with you if you think different.

I very much look forward to hearing her explain this to her fans as it circulates online!