A K-pop band’s plea to fans: Put down the phone
At a time when concert-goers are renting high-end phones just to record performances, K-pop band Cortis has made a radical appeal to its fans: Put your phone down. So serious is the band in its objection to fans using phones to capture its live performances — instead of actually experiencing them — that the phrase has become the name of its ongoing concert tour. Whether or not their followers heed the request, Cortis has reopened one of the most heated debates of the digital age: At what point does recording an experience become a refusal to live it? There is a case for making the most of a concert given how much ticket prices cost today. All the fans want to do is to relive those moments whenever they want besides sharing them on social media. Artists, too, are not oblivious to the power of virality; entire concerts are now designed to yield visuals with the potential to “break the internet”. So when the six-inch barrier of the smartphone screen goes up between the fan and the artist, the blame does not rest entirely on the former. But when Cortis and others decry the use of phones at concerts, they’re lamenting a very particular kind of loss. The electric energy that can only exist between fan and artist during a live performance is impossible to record or replay, much less share for likes and reposts. Long after the concert is over, it can be retrieved from memory. For that, however, it needs to be experienced.
- 1While this editorial is a cultural commentary, it touches indirectly on how public events are regulated, since large gatherings in India require police licensing under state Police Acts and safety compliance under the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Debates on recording at events also intersect with the right to privacy recognised as a fundamental right under Article 21 in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), since recording others without consent raises consent concerns. Such frameworks rarely address audience behaviour directly, leaving venues to self-regulate through contractual terms.
- 2The debate reflects a broader global conversation about attention and technology, with countries such as France restricting smartphone use in schools to address digital dependency among youth. In India, the National Education Policy, 2020 has flagged excessive screen time as a concern warranting behavioural and curricular attention. This makes the K-pop band's protest emblematic of a wider policy debate on how technology reshapes lived experience.
- 3Unauthorised recording and distribution of a live performance can implicate the Copyright Act, 1957, particularly Section 38A, which grants performers rights over their live performances, making unlicensed recording potentially infringing. Venues typically rely on ticket terms and conditions, enforceable as contracts under the Indian Contract Act, 1872, to restrict photography or recording. Licensing bodies such as Phonographic Performance Limited further show how intellectual property law intersects with live entertainment.
- 4The global live music industry has grown into a multi-billion-dollar sector, with major K-pop tours alone generating hundreds of millions of dollars annually, making fan engagement strategies commercially significant for artists. Behavioural studies suggest people check their phones dozens of times a day on average, a habit that directly competes with sustained attention at live events. This economic and behavioural backdrop explains why bands like Cortis are pushing back against pervasive phone use at concerts.