Sunday, January 23, 2011

Keith Jarrett... and what to expect at a concert


So yet again, Keith Jarrett has berated his audience mid-concert for coughing and using electronic gadgets.  I have some sympathy for him, since audiences seem to be getting noisier and noisier, but I wish he'd deal with it more decorously.

More interesting are the issues this raises about the formal and informal transactions involved in professional musical performances.  Does an artist have the right, ethically or contractually, to a certain standard of audience conduct, and is the audience, in return for its ticket purchases, entitled to a certain standard of behavior from the performer?  I've no idea whether these sorts of things are ever specified in artist's concert contracts.

I can well imagine that performers might sometimes request a nonsmoking environment, or a certain level of security so that they don't have to take matters into their own hands (e.g Amy Winehouse punching unruly fans).  But I somehow doubt it's common for someone's contract to include a "no coughing" rider.  Maybe Keith Jarrett could consider one...

Conversely, do audiences have a right to hear a performance of a certain standard?  I know musicians' and writers' recording and publishing contracts often specify that their work has to meet a certain, vaguely specified, standard, but it's rare to hear of concertgoers asking for a refund because the show wasn't what they expected, unless, for example, that they suffer tangible physical harm (like the Princeton professor who sued the Smashing Pumpkins for damaging his hearing.)

When you buy a concert ticket, I guess you're kind of taking a gamble and it's up to you to know that Keith Jarrett might act obnoxiously, that Martha Argerich might not show up, or that Sonny Rollins might have a bad night.  Just like when you order a meal at restaurant there's no quality guarantee.  So I suppose it's just up to the event organizers whether, for the sake of good publication relations, they choose to offer refunds to dissatified patrons, like they did when Steve Martin didn't tell many jokes (or something) at the 92nd Street Y... even though the event was a charity fundraiser.

But what about when the performer or concert producers know in advance that the audience probably isn't going to get what it expects (c.f. Dylan at Newport '65)?  Should they, to be ethical, have issued a warning?  And, more to the point, should Keith Jarrett's concert promoters start issuing disclaimers about his deportment?

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