Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2019 September 13

= September 13 =

How common are no recording policies during concerts/panels/public events outside of Japan?
In Japan as well as concerts by Japanese artists in foreign countries, it's common if not the norm to forbid the use of cameras and other recording devices. This tends to be the case not just for concerts but even other forms of public appearances such as panels and public talks. While there are sometimes exceptions to this and at times it can be on a label-to-label or even artist-to-artist basis (for example, some artists may sometimes allow recording during certain events but not others), at least from personal experience it seems to be particularly more common among Japanese events than those from the West or even other Asian countries. For example, in my home country (the Philippines), such policies among local artist performances are either extremely rare or almost non-existent provided that the recordings are limited to phone photos or videos and/or are not used for commercial purposes, and I think the practice is similar for Western artist performances. I've heard anecdotally that some Korean concerts ban recordings, but the fact that there seem to be many images online of fans taking pictures at Korean concerts makes me think that either this is not a universal rule or is not strictly enforced. So the question is: how common is the Japanese practice of banning photography even in concerts or public appearances by entertainers among non-Japanese entertainment industries? Note that my question is specifically limited to concerts and convention panels attended by entertainers and other media personalities; other kinds of public performances such as theatrical plays (where I think such policies are common), or public appearances by politicians (where recordings can be restricted for security reasons) are outside the scope of what I'm asking about. Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 04:47, 13 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Note that the presence of such bootleg videos doesn't mean it's legal, as these days cameras are so small and easily hidden (say in a hat), that only a strip search (and maybe a body cavity search) would eliminate the possibility of a hidden camera. SinisterLefty (talk) 09:12, 13 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I'm not actually sure if the practice among the Japanese can be attributed mainly to a fear of bootlegs, as such policies tend to be enforced even in events where there are no plans to release official videos for it. I suspect that in Japan's case, having control over the artist's public image might be a more significant reason, although this is just my personal theory and I don't have evidence to support this. Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 10:14, 13 September 2019 (UTC)


 * Just a personal observation, but almost every live performance I've ever been to has a boilerplate text printed on the ticket or program or somewhere obvious that states that recording is not allowed. I live in the U.S.  -- Jayron 32 12:30, 13 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I saw a play last night. The welcoming announcement before the show began specifically stated that still photography (without flash) was allowed, but audio or video recording was prohibited. A music concert I attended a few months ago had the same rules. I'm in South Africa. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 06:07, 15 September 2019 (UTC)