Concertgoers may be forgiven for wanting to take home more than a souvenir shirt or a blurry selfie. But when the camera keeps rolling long after the favorite song starts, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) says fans could be crossing a legal line.
Taking photos and short video clips has become part of the modern concert experience. Recording an entire performance, or substantial portions of it, is another matter.
IPOPHL said personal or non-commercial use does not automatically make concert recordings “fair use,” particularly when lengthy videos are uploaded or shared online.
Under Republic Act No. 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code, performers such as singers, musicians, actors, and dancers have rights over recordings of their performances, including their reproduction, distribution, and public availability.
In other words, “I didn’t make money from it” is not a complete legal defense.
Whether a particular use qualifies as fair use depends on several factors, including the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the protected work, how much of it was recorded or shared, and the potential effect on the market for the work.
That makes a quick clip of a favorite chorus a very different proposition from posting an entire song, let alone most of the concert, on social media.
The distinction matters as concerts increasingly extend beyond the venue. A performance that once ended when the lights came up can now live online through audience recordings, potentially reaching thousands of viewers without the artist or organizer having authorized the distribution.
IPOPHL advised concertgoers to observe recording restrictions set by artists, organizers, and venues.
“Concerts are experiences worth remembering, and capturing moments from them has become a natural part of how audiences celebrate and share their appreciation for artists,” IPOPHL Director General Teodoro Pascua said.
“However, making memories should go hand in hand with respecting the rights of the people who make these moments possible,” he added.
The Philippines is also a party to the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, which provides additional protection for performers’ rights over recordings of their performances and their distribution.
For concert fans, the message is fairly simple: capture the moment, but perhaps not the whole set. Your phone may have enough storage for the concert, but copyright law does not necessarily have the same capacity for everything you want to upload.
