Kate Bush’s “no phones please” request
Kate Bush’s “no phones please” request
There is a legal copyright issue behind Kate Bush’s request for no phones or tablets — she is essentially trying to prevent copyright infringement of her work via unauthorised dissemination of images (photos) or music (video clips) through social media.
Her music and the performance on stage is protected by copyright (under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988) and by taking photos/digital clips without her consent and posting them on your Facebook page, you are infringing copyright. This is obviously difficult to police and so she is trying to contain it as much as possible before the event.
I always think a more commercial way of dealing with it is to charge an additional fee on top of the ticket price — £50 for your ticket and a further £5 if you want a media licence to take images/digital footage.