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And Finally Business News Live Business
Fabric to ban unauthorised photography
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 30 June 2021
London nightclub Fabric has announced that it will ban clubbers from taking photographs and recording videos when the venue reopens next month. Because, as we all know, people who take photos at live events are just the worst.
“Fabric is London’s home for underground music, always aiming to create a feeling of self-expression on the dancefloor”, says a statement posted on Instagram. “As we approach reopening, we are introducing a strict no photo and no video policy at the club. Stay in the moment and put away your phone, enjoy the night”.
Professional photography will still be allowed, where authorised by the venue, but all smartphone snapping will be against the rules. Such bans are unusual in the UK, although are more common in some other countries, particularly Germany. Some bands have also been known to prohibit attendees of their shows from taking photographs, with varying degrees of enforcement.
When audience members take photos or film snippets of live shows, not only might artists not want blurry footage of their performances circulating online, said audience members holding their phones up can often block the view of those behind them, of course. Which is really rather annoying.
Though, while Fabric does put on live shows, it seems more likely that this ban is mainly aiming to stop people from taking photos of other clubbers. After all, while your mates might be happy to pull faces at your camera on demand, others might be less pleased to discover that they’ve shown up on social media looking worse for wear after, er, a glass of wine or two.
The ban at Fabric will come into force when the club reopens on 23 Jul to begin 42 hours of music programmed over three days.
“We can’t wait to welcome you all back to Fabric for our 42-hour musical marathon”, the club said when announcing that event at the weekend. “Expect a mash-up of jungle, breaks, house, techno and everything we love in between”. But no photos.
The line-up is yet to be announced. Tickets are available now.
This story is discussed on this edition of our Setlist podcast
