What’s the future of the kiss cam at concerts? Nick Groff, manager of German electronic producer Bunt., offered some insight when he took the stage at the Billboard Live Music Summit on Monday (Nov. 3) in West Hollywood, California.
Speaking with Billboard editor-in-chief Hannah Karp, Groff discussed giving fans control of the cameras capturing crowd footage at shows, an initiative that sparked a viral moment at an Oct. 18 Bunt. show at The Shrine Los Angeles when one of the phones was used by a couple to show themselves kissing.
“We didn’t plant that kiss,” said Groff. “We gave that phone out to fans.”
For Bunt. and his team, giving fans the ability to film themselves for the big screens at shows is a way to incorporate fans into the performances, especially as Bunt.’s concerts have grown bigger and the team has had to put barricades around the producer for crowd control.
“We had this really awkward problem where we got to this place by celebrating the fan, but how do we bring the fan into a larger show?” Groff said during the Summit.
To address the issue, the Bunt. team linked with a technology company, who reported that they’d created a system that allows specially prepared iPhones to be linked with venue systems, so that footage captured on these phones can be broadcast on the venue’s big screen. At the Oct. 18 Shrine show, these phones were given to longtime Bunt. fans that the artist and his team had a pre-existing relationship with.
The goal with the initiative, Groff said, is “celebrating the fan by capturing them in their moment.”
The Summit discussion referenced the now-infamous viral moment that happened at an August Coldplay concert, where a couple engaged in an affair were captured on a kiss cam. “Although the novelty of that moment, which was scandalous, happened, the reality is that the kiss cam was a novelty idea at live events because it actually celebrated this simple, pure, human emotion of love,” said Groff.
Groff pointed out that this method could also help solve an issue that’s particularly problematic in dance music, where fans stick their phones in the faces of DJs while they’re playing, interrupting the show and affecting the overall mood. This system being employed by the Bunt. team makes it so that phones are now turned back around on audience members, rather than being pointed at artists.
Still, the widespread adoption of this system may be a ways off, as Groff said putting it together was expensive and is technically “really complicated right now.” While the overall system is “still in its infancy in terms of being able to build out,” the team is planning to use it at some of Bunt.’s bigger upcoming dates, including a Nov. 13 set in Munich.
