Don't know whether I should have posted this in another thread, if so please move it.

With all the recent discussion in the thread for the Atlantic City shows reviews, I got to thinking about this topic.

Of course, the Eagles(and all performers) have the right not to allow videoing at their shows, but I’ve been thinking about just how much of a problem videoing at Eagles shows and posting the videos on YouTube really is.

Since the start of the LROOE tour in March 2008 the Eagles have performed about 200 shows. Have you ever seen videos of a whole show on YouTube? I haven’t .

The audience for each show is between about 8,000 – 40,000 people.

On average videos of 3-4 songs from any show will be posted on YouTube. 1 or 2 people will post videos from a show. Of the 200 shows, I have probably seen videos posted from around 30 shows.

Of the videos I've seen, about 80% are of poor quality, being taken from a long way away from the stage, badly affected by the stage lights or very wobbly. The rest range from being watchable to fairly good, but not of professional quality. These videos will never be an alternative to seeing a live show – there’s just no comparison. I believe most people value these videos as personal reminders of the show they attended.

Who watches these videos on YouTube? I would guess it’s mostly die-hard fans like us here on the Border, who like to see shows they’ve been to, and who will go to future shows anyway, so I don’t think it can be argued that people will watch these poor quality videos instead of going to a show.

I understand that there is a principle here about copyright. I’m neither defending nor criticising taking videos at shows; however, it seems that the issue has been blown out of all proportion.

Note: These figures are not facts, they are just my personal experience. I’m willing to be proven wrong!!

It is probably true to say that there are more audio recordings than videos being posted on the net and offered for sale. While it’s possible that these could have an effect on CD sales they often have a lot of audience noise, so they’d don’t really replace the experience of listening to the songs as the artist recorded them. They may even encourage people to buy a genuine CD.
Again, this is just my view on the issue.