Filming concerts for YouTube: seeking recognition in the pursuit of cultural capital

Over the last few years, music fans have filmed portions of live concerts on their mobile phones or compact video cameras and uploaded footage to YouTube. This article focuses on what motivates “filmers” to place a camera between themselves and the performance on stage, and therefore capture footage for later consumption. A notable facet of the culture of concert filming is that filmers tend to film only concerts. They eschew the traditional image of YouTube uploaders who have turned the site into a dumping ground for all manner of cultural ephemera. Filmers are small-scale broadcasters who provide access to limited spaces and often take pride in the audio-visual quality of their products. They are not paid for their efforts but instead seek recognition from their audiences as compensation. Drawing on interviews with a sample of concert filmers and viewers from across the globe, this article applies Pierre Bourdieu's influential work and argues that filming concerts can be understood as a specific means of developing cultural capital. It suggests that filmers are fans who position themselves as cultural intermediaries, blurring the boundaries between producers, consumers, and broadcasters.