Will This App Make People Put Smartphones Away at Concerts?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have banned smartphone photos and recording at their shows. Everyone hates people who record at shows, yet everyone does it. How do we stop this? Soundhalo thinks they know (via Guardian).

Soundhalo launched an app that debuted at the Alt-J show last night at the Brixton Academy in London. The Android (and soon to be other platforms) app allows fans to download live tracks to their phone immediately after they were played. The idea behind this is that people can put their fuckin’ phones away and watch the show with their eyeballs and not a 3 inch screen. Maybe Google Glass can change this, too?

Alt-J drumm Thom Green said “I think it’s amazing that the whole show was streamed live on the internet. I’m glad they chose us to kick the whole thing off, it’s a real honour. It’s one of those things that you can’t really believe doesn’t already exist, it’s just so perfect. I can’t wait to see how far it goes and to watch it back myself and watch my own highlights on my phone.”

Will people still record with their phones though? Don’t some people just want the digital file knowing that they created? People take photos from far away when they could just as easily go online to some media site (such as the always excellent PeteHatesMusic) and get professional photos from there. For some people, it’s the experience and the crowd interaction they like. Hopefully they are in the minority and efforts from people like Soundhalo can change this. You can get the beta app from Soundhalo’s website.