Reporter Jian Gongbo
Last night, singer Li Zongsheng held the last concert of this round of performances in Shanghai. However, some viewers found that after his first concert in Shanghai on August 17, the full version of the 2 hours and 47 minutes of the concert had appeared online.
With the full recovery of the concert market this year, concert clips, entire songs and even the entire concert video have also been continuously uploaded online. Is such an act suspected of being illegal? In the eyes of some viewers, fans shoot concert videos not for profit but to commemorate or share with fans, and the filming behavior does not affect the revenue of the concert organizer. However, some members of the legal profession pointed out that such acts are suspected of infringement under the Copyright Law.
The ongoing tour is fully online
The last performance of Li Zongsheng's 2023 "Year of Songs" tour in Shanghai was held at the Mercedes-Benz Arena. The Shanghai performance started on August 17 and featured a total of three performances. This is Li Zongsheng's second concert in Shanghai after many years of absence, which is highly anticipated by fans, and its in-house ticket price of 2580 yuan sets a new price record for recent concerts.
However, after the first concert on August 17, live videos appeared on the Internet. Subsequently, someone uploaded a long video of nearly 2 hours and 47 minutes, covering almost the entire concert process. In the comment area, there are also people who sorted out the concert repertoire and the time node of each song. The video uploader also later announced his seating area and the model of the device used.
At about 1 a.m. on August 20, someone uploaded the second full video of the concert held on the evening of the 19th, which was split into 34 short videos that could be played continuously according to the repertoire and concert content, with a total duration of 2 hours and 48 minutes.
Li Zongsheng's concert is not the only singer who has been filmed and posted online. On August 13, Liang Jingru's concert in Suzhou was filmed, and the title of the video also emphasized the words "the whole audience" and "the middle of the front row". The three-hour version of Mayday's July 16 Shenyang concert was also posted online a few days after the event, with the title also emphasizing the "infield" and "the whole process". In addition, the concerts of many singers such as Jay Chou, Li Ronghao, Xue Zhiqian and other singers have been released with full videos, most of which are still on tour, and some videos have exceeded 100,000 views.
Compared with the short videos shot with mobile phones in the past concerts, the long video shots of some concerts that have appeared recently are significantly more stable and the clarity has also improved. In response to questions from netizens in the comment area, some publishers said that they were filmed with a camera and a tripod. Some people also found that some videos did not have the usual singer singing along during concerts, which turned out to be "holding back and not singing".
There is a risk of infringement when shooting concert videos
When the act of pointing a mobile phone at the screen in the cinema is increasingly opposed, is it legal and reasonable to shoot and release the whole concert?
In the eyes of some fans, filming the concert is to keep it as a memorial, and it will not infringe on the rights and interests of the concert organizer. In the online concert video, many of them left the word "commemorative", and many uploaders were also happy to interact with netizens in the comment area, sharing and exchanging details of the scene and feelings for the singer. "Listening to a concert is expensive, and fans want to make a record for themselves." Lei Ming, a corporate employee who has heard two concerts this year, believes that there is no incentive for such filming to make a profit: "There may be spoilers in the movie, but the songs of the concerts are all released in advance." ”
"Why do we pay so much to go to a concert? The key is the scene! Mr. Wei, a veteran fan of Li Zongsheng, chased two concerts in a row, and in his opinion, watching the video shot on the Internet is completely impossible to experience the feeling of the scene from the aspects of visual, sound effects and emotions, "If you watch such a video at home, why not listen to the record again?" He once collected some DVDs and other derivatives officially published after the concert, "These official products not only shoot perspective, clarity, and sound effects that are not the same as those he shot, but also include interviews and behind-the-scenes stories of singers and creators." The gains from these derivatives cannot be infringed by several videos posted online. The organizer doesn't have to care, right? ”
However, in the eyes of the legal profession, although such behavior is understood by some fans and netizens, there is still a risk of infringement. Article 10 of the Copyright Law stipulates that copyright owners enjoy a number of related rights - the right of performance, that is, the right to publicly perform a work, and the right to publicly broadcast the performance of the work by various means; the right of filming, that is, the right to fix the work on the carrier by means of filming an audiovisual work; The right of information network dissemination, that is, the right to make the work available to the public by wire or wireless means, so that the public can obtain the work at a time and place of its choosing.
"Shooting and publishing live video of the concert risks violating these rights." According to reports, Article 52 of the Copyright Law makes it clear that without the permission of the copyright owner, a work is used by means of exhibiting or filming audiovisual works; or without the consent of the performer, broadcasting or publicly transmitting his live performance, or recording his performance, shall, according to the circumstances, bear civil liability such as stopping the infringement, eliminating the impact, making an apology, and compensating for losses. "Although the use of published works of others can be exempted for personal study, research or appreciation, there is still room for controversy as whether a concert that is still on tour is considered 'published', and whether the video is really for personal enjoyment only."
Can I refuse access to large shooting equipment?
In fact, from theaters to museums, many cultural performances are beginning to say no to relatively professional shooting equipment.
The "Etiquette for Performances" in the "Instructions for Ticket Purchase" of the National Centre for the Performing Arts requires that the audience must store photography and video recording equipment in the cloakroom, and refrain from taking pictures, videos and recordings during the performance, and do not use flash. During the performance, the mobile phone must be turned off or adjusted to silent mode to avoid receiving and receiving calls, etc.
"Watching a performance in the theater, not to mention holding a camera, even if you use your mobile phone, you will be reminded by the staff." Shi Lei, a brand planning practitioner who often watches performances at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, said that in terms of stage performances, the theater and the audience have formed a tacit understanding.
More and more art museums are also starting to say "no" to professional shooting equipment. The Tianmuli Art Museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, clarifies in the "Instructions for Exhibition" that professional equipment such as flashes, tripods, long lenses and selfie sticks are prohibited in the exhibition hall. Some exhibits and all videos are prohibited from filming or videotaping. Such regulations are intended to "respect the fruits of artistic labor and protect exhibits". The He Art Museum in Foshan, Guangdong Province explicitly does not allow medium or large format cameras, super zoom and telephoto lenses, selfie sticks, gimbal tripods, stabilizers, flashes, aerial cameras and video equipment, and explicitly limits shooting equipment to "small format cameras with dimensions less than 15 x 15 x 10 cm" and "only one lens shorter than 80 mm focal length".
The reporter saw in the audience of Li Zongsheng's concert prohibited and restricted items to enter, the description listed 16 types of items in detail, including selfie sticks and aerial drones related to shooting, but did not provide for tripods and professional shooting equipment.
"A large-scale concert is often tens of thousands of people, and it is really impossible to manage." Mr. Huang, who is engaged in performance planning and liaison, said that the core competitiveness of the concert lies in the "scene", and the audience's own video shooting has less impact on the performance. But he also admitted that the rapid recovery of the performance market this year has led to some new phenomena, "For example, during the Mayday Beijing concert, a couple wearing a wedding dress and taking photos in the spotlight caused a lot of controversy." Now some concerts also adopt ticket live broadcast, if the audience brings equipment into the live broadcast, it will affect the organizer's revenue. In his view, whether restrictions and accountability are made depends on the specific circumstances of the performance.
Source: Liberation Daily