Cellphone Condoms Could Put An End to Shooting Video and Photos at Concerts
The exciting quest for venues and artists to prevent concertgoers from taking video and photos on their phones continues!
Last month, we learned that Apple has “acquired the patent for new technology that could ostensibly make recording photos and video at concerts more difficult, if not entirely impossible.” This month, Digital Music News (by way of Metal Insider) has made us aware of a newish company called Yondr, who make these nifty cases that lock within a designated area. In other words, the venue makes your put your phone in one of these as you enter, and then you can’t even get to your phone ’til you leave.
Alicia Keys, Louis C.K., Dave Chappelle, and, most recently, folk rock act The Lumineers have all utilized the technology, which is apparently made from the same shit as Batman’s costume, according to The Lumineers’ Wesley Schultz:
“Even at one of the shows, a guy brought in a knife with him — just, he usually carries a knife, I guess — and he tried to stab through the case, and it’s got steel, I think, woven into it. So his knife got stuck in the thing, and then when he had to leave, he had the embarrassing deal of having to tell the people that he tried to open it, and they had to pry his knife loose.”
Well, good to know the venue’s staff had the time to make sure the dude put his phone in one of these pouches, even if they didn’t have the time to pat him down for a knife.
Sigh.
ANYWAY, I think I prefer this to the Apple solution. I just really like the idea of making phones a non-issue. It definitely makes sense for movie theaters, where phone usage is an increasingly experience-ruining problem, but even for concerts, where there are already a ton of bright flashing lights… I mean, last year I stood behind some idiot who spent the better part of a Faith No More show checking the Rangers score. He was a little taller than I am and the crowd was packed together in such a way that his phone was basically in my line of view the entire time. It sucked, hard.
Okay, so you’d lose the ability to text your friend if you get separated in the venue just to be like “Hey where you at bruh?” In olden times, we just picked a designated meeting spot for after the show (e.g., the merch booth, a certain spot in the parking lot, etc.), and somehow, we always found one another. It’s not like Vince and I got pushed apart during a Tool show and never saw one another again. It worked then, it can work now.
What do you think? Would you prefer Yondr to in-phone tech that makes taking photos and videos impossible? Other way ’round? Neither? Sound off in the comments section below.
