Piansit storms off stage over phone-filming concert-goer

Audience members were likely shocked to see world-renowned pianist Krystian Zimerman storm off the stage at his concert for something that seemed so inane. But to Zimerman, it was a big deal, and he had good reason to be upset.

At a concert held during the Ruhr Piano Festival in Germany, Zimerman stopped playing when he noticed an audience member was recording his performance on their smartphone.

“He noticed someone up in the choir seats filming the concert on their smartphone. We think it was probably an iPhone,” festival spokeswoman Anke Demirsoy said after the performance, the BBC reports.

“He asked them to stop, but they didn’t. So he interrupted the recital and walked off stage.”

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When Zimerman returned to the stage a short while later, he told them that he had lost recording contracts and projects because of footage of him playing being shared online, with executives telling him “we’re sorry, that has already been on YouTube.”

“The destruction of music through YouTube is enormous,” he reportedly told the audience, according to The L.A. Times.

After his tirade, Zimerman finished the concert, but did not perform an encore and cancelled a post-concert event.

This isn’t the footage of Zimerman storming off, but if you want a sense of the calibre of artists who is taking a stand against the recording of live events, watch him play Mozart Sonata No. 10 in C Major:

Zimerman isn’t the first artist to get upset at someone filming during his performance. In April, rock band the Yeah Yeah Yeahs put up a note to their fans at the entrance to their performance, asking them to not watch the show through their smart device or camera, the BBC says. And former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters has said that filming at an event shows a “lack of respect” to the artist.

While this issue isn’t new, the ease and availability of equipment to film at concerts is. It would’ve been unheard of to bring in a full video camera to many concerts in the past (and still would be today), but as the video camera technology that is integrated into smartphones improves, now anyone can record at a live event, with decent results.

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Jasper Hope, chief operating officer at London’s Royal Albert Hall, told the BBC that he didn’t think filming at live events was a problem – and as long as the recorder was discreet, it wouldn’t have a negative impact on the artist.

“If you’re the kind of artist that is prepared to use digital media to promote yourself, then provided you’re not distracted I don’t see a problem with that,” Hope said.

“Do I seriously think that recording contracts for any artist can be jeopardized in this way? No I do not. It is becoming part and parcel of modern music promotion.”

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