October 11, 2005
Text messaging allows for conversation at concerts
93XRocks Has a fascinating article on the role cell phones and text messaging play during concerts. A must read.
"As if there weren't already enough going on at a live concert, many fans can now spend the downtime between bands texting photos and messages to their friends in the venue via the big screen. In some instances, they can leave those homemade signs in the car, because the bands might even answer queries from the stage.
"We've done this at bars with 30 people and at shows with 40,000 people, and the dynamics are totally different," said Alex Campbell, CEO of Chicago's Vibes Media, one of a growing number of companies that supply venues with the software to do in-house text messaging.
"At a House of Blues show with 2,000 people, it's more of a back-and-forth conversation and interaction between people, like at a Las Vegas [show] with Hoobastank where we had a guy dump his girlfriend via texting and then all these other guys were trying to pick her up. But at a show with 30,000 people, it's just about getting your name up there and giving a shout-out and getting noticed."
Backstreet co-manager Kenneth Crear said the Boys, using a computer backstage, would scroll through messages that ranged from "We love you" to "A.J., will you marry me?" to "Brian, how are your kids?" With up to 2,000 messages coming in per show, the volume was heavy, but as long as fans are into it, Crear said the band will continue to feature texting during its shows.
"Who knows? Someday in the future we might take a segment of the show and stop what's going on and have them respond onstage," he said.
"This really extends what is typically a two-hour event into a longer experience," he continued. "An hour after the show you can ping the phones of the people who sent messages and let them know about a special Web site with exclusive behind-the-scenes material and more information on the band."
Bands are using texting for a wide variety of purposes during their shows. Coldplay encouraged fans to text their e-mail addresses to the anti-poverty campaign by Oxfam using technology similar to that used on U2's world tour and during the Live 8 shows in Philadelphia and Edinburgh, Scotland.
The Rolling Stones have yet another unique texting application on their A Bigger Bang tour. Fans attending certain shows on the tour can text a message as soon as they arrive at the venue and, through a random drawing, win a chance to sit onstage during the show."
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