Can you upload full concert performances online? Here's what the law says
There’s nothing quite like reliving a concert through videos on your phone, especially when you’ve captured your favorite song or a memorable moment. But while you may naturally want to share these clips online, you may want to be mindful about what you post.
Singer Ice Seguerra recently made a plea to concertgoers and asked them to take down full concert performances uploaded online.
This was after some users shared full-length videos of The Sessionistas‘ concert held on Aug. 22. Seguerra is a part of the group along with Nyoy Volante, Juris Fernandez, Kean Cipriano, Sitti Navarro, and Princess Velasco.
"I appreciate that people take video highlights of our performances during shows. I love seeing your reactions, your favorite moments, and the songs that meant something to you. But uploading full performances—or almost the entire concert—is different," he said in a Facebook post.
"When you buy a concert ticket, you’re buying the experience of watching the show. You are not buying the right to record the whole thing and upload it to your own YouTube page or social media pages. Hindi po dahil nakabili tayo ng ticket, atin na rin ang concert," he continued.
The singer-songwriter went on to stress that the work is protected, and that posting entire portions of a concert already falls under "unauthorized distribution of someone else’s work."
His wife, Fire and Ice Entertainment CEO Liza Diño-Seguerra, echoed the same sentiments on her Facebook page.
"Please understand: a ticket is not a license to pirate the show," she said. "We love seeing your photos, short clips, reactions, and moments from the concert. In fact, we are grateful that you want to share them. But there is a very clear difference between celebrating a performance and republishing the performance itself."
What the law says about concert recordings
Intellectual property lawyer Atty. Anton Bengzon agreed with Seguerra and Diño in that "buying a ticket does not automatically permit a concert goer to record an artist’s performance."
"It is the artist’s right to prevent or authorize the recording of his or her performance," he told PhilSTAR L!fe.
This is specified in Section 3 of Republic Act No. 8293, or the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines, which states that performers have the right to authorize "the fixation of their unfixed performance." It's essentially the act of capturing or recording a performance in a medium from which it can later be reproduced or communicated.
It also gives performers additional exclusive rights, including the right to authorize the reproduction of their performances once fixed in sound recordings, the first public distribution of copies of their performance, and making the performance available to the public through wire or wireless means.
However, this doesn't mean that you can no longer post your concert experience.
Bengzon said that "certain uses of a recorded performance may be used for legitimate purposes, like reporting on the concert, or giving a commentary or critique of the concert."
"This is called 'fair use.' In general, the use can be justified for legitimate purposes," he said. "The user can only record and upload snippets of the concert for a legitimate purpose."
But with regards to how much you can post, Bengzon noted that there is no fixed or permitted "length" that a person can record a performance.
Nevertheless, it's best to avoid uploading lengthy portions or the entirety of a performance
"Uploading the entire performance violates the artist’s performance rights to the concert. It is actually a criminal offense, and people who do this should take it down," Bengzon said. "The offender runs the risk of imprisonment of one to three years and a fine of P50,000 to P150,000."
