I poked around over at Lawrence Lessig’s blog today, where he talks about an in-going line at a Black-Eyed Peas concert getting perturbed because they weren’t allowing people to attend the concert while carrying cell phones with cameras. This is just another instance of laws/rules working too preventatively, resulting in less satisfaction by the people that the rules govern.
The concert was sponsored by the RIAA, which is probably why it makes a bigger stink for Lessig than other concerts might have, but he does indicate that this policy is in effect at other venues as well. The premise of the ban is that if people are allowed to take cameras into the venue, they will take pictures of the band. Since the band’s image is the property of the label, the label is losing money if that person is able to obtain their own photos rather than buying the concert posters, or worse, if they sell their personal photos on eBay.
The solution seems very simple to me: Allow people to enter the concert with camera-phones. If they take a picture of a band and that’s against the venue’s policy, eject them.