I was eventually banned from the [insert venue name#1 here] for making recordings without the permission of a band. It took me over a year before the manager of the club would even let me come to any show there, wouldn't even let me enter the building.
Now, fast forward about a decade. Ani DiFranco had guest listed me and given me permission to make a recording (audience only) of her show at another local venue [#2]. Everyone was very nice, I had Neumann KM54s and my DAT set up next to the soundboard. Well, I knew the guy who was running the lights and it turned out the lighting booth got a feed from the soundboard so they could keep track of the show and know when to do what, lighting wise. So he and I are in that room, with the door shut, setting up another DAT machine to get that feed (stealth). Getting some buzz in the signal, trying to figure out why and how to fix it. Well, in walks my buddy's boss. And his boss' boss. And his boss's boss' boss. Saying 'What the hell do you think you're doing?" (Cost my buddy his job, though he said he didn't care). So then the manager of the entire venue [#2] takes me outside the lighting booth and is chewing me out good "Ani was good enough to guest list you and give you permission to make an audience tape and this is how you act?" etc. Ten minutes solid he's chewing me out, and guess who walks up as he's doing so? Well it's the venue [#2] manager's friend, the former manager of The [insert venue name#1 here], the guy who banned me from The [insert venue name#1 here], to hear me get the lecturing. [insert venue name#1 here] manager tells his friend how he banned me. Yikes! For a year or two after that, whenever I'd go to that venue [#2], they would assign a person or two to follow me wherever I went and watch me like a hawk to make sure I wasn't doing anything I shouldn't. Thankfully, the venue [#2] was sold, new management now who don't recognize me, hehehe!
Another time, at this as yet unnamed venue [#2], I successfully made a stealth audience recording. My main concern was not the ushers, who are mostly looking for pot smokers, but the other audience members, who in recent years seem to contain higher numbers of rat finks. My buddy was a few seats away, stealthing with a virtually identical rig, and an audience member finked on him. As he was leaving the hall, they stopped him and demanded the tape. He said what are you talking about and demanded to be allowed to leave. They followed him as he went to the parking lot and got in his car, still demanding the tape. Then they stood around his car and wouldn't let him pull out of the parking lot. This went on for awhile, with the addition of the (famous national artist's) road manager, until the sheriff showed up. Says to my buddy, so do you want to give up the tape or spend the night in jail and then talk to the judge in the morning, even if he let's you off? So my buddy, realizing what he should have done an hour ago, gives up the tape.
Fast forward a night or two. Same artist playing another city an hour and a half away. My friend gets inside the venue, is settling down into his seat (with his rig) and security comes up and tells him he is no longer welcome at shows by [the as yet unnamed famous national artist]. They had been on the lookout for him. He says he really regrets not surrendering the tape at first request at the previous gig, as that would have allowed him to remain anonymous, as status he lost with that as yet unnamed famous national artist.
Myself, as soon as the show ends, I take out the tape, hide it, and put a decoy in the deck.
There was a period when I would do stealth soundboards! Get my gear in and secretly connect to the board! Successfully. Repeatedly. But once, at a long weekend festival, I returned to the board area and found my gear still there but unplugged. I promptly gathered it up. Nobody said a word but if looks could kill... Kinda a rude thing of me to have done in those days, stealth soundboards, especially now that I'm on the other end, being paid to do multitracks on behalf of artists and record companies, etc., and knowing that the one time someone plugged into my gear at a festival, where I was recording for a radio station, without asking, I got very pissed - in fact I still hold a grudge against the band whose 'archivist' did that without asking.
Aren't you glad you asked?
Topic: What are usually the consequences of getting caught? (Read 10608 times)