Lip-Syncing at concerts?

[Neon Fire 473]

Why do some people do this at concerts?  I went to Winter Jam this year and apparently some people were just lip-syncing.  It annoys me because I'm paying money to see these bands, why aren't they really singing?  Has anyone else noticed that or know why it's done?

[Ribbonfree 2,383]

Singing for an hour long plus set is hard without a good training regimen- especially with a choreographed dance number or the like- and the band is either afraid of messing up and uses the lip synch to cover their bases, or more cynically just doesn't have the talent to perform live.

 

And before you say that the people who can't perform live shouldn't, most artists make most of their money on the road. They barely see a sliver of album/merchandise sales with most modern recording contracts.

[Neon Fire 473]

Singing for an hour long plus set is hard without a good training regimen- especially with a choreographed dance number or the like- and the band is either afraid of messing up and uses the lip synch to cover their bases, or more cynically just doesn't have the talent to perform live.

 

And before you say that the people who can't perform live shouldn't, most artists make most of their money on the road. They barely see a sliver of album/merchandise sales with most modern recording contracts.

 

True, but I have a friend who's in a band and he doesn't lip sync ever...but then again it's a small band.  

 

Wasn't planning on saying that.  They're still incredible singers and love meeting them when possible.

[Ribbonfree 2,383]

Well then your friend's a good singer and well trained! Are his sets long though? Like averaging over thirty minutes?

 

And yeah, I was just making my potential rebuttal in advance.

[Neon Fire 473]

Well then your friend's a good singer and well trained! Are his sets long though? Like averaging over thirty minutes?

 

And yeah, I was just making my potential rebuttal in advance.

 

Yeah, he's really good.  Especially since he also played guitar and keyboard sometimes.  And yeah, usually.

[Espy Vibe 4,280]

On 2014-03-02 at 11:51 PM, Ribbonfree said:

Singing for an hour long plus set is hard without a good training regimen- especially with a choreographed dance number or the like

I think artists like Michael Jackson did quite a bit of lip syncing as well for this reason. I bet people probably would think it was weird if in the middle of it he was huffing and puffing a bit, we all would do it if we were doing a concert for about an hour or so, dancing and singing the whole time. Of course he isn't the only one, people like Britney Spears got called out bad for this but consider for a moment that she had to do some more advanced choreography while singing.

There are usually more backing tracks also for a lot of songs and they can only sing one layer. It's just how the song was mixed and is a common technique in the industry, has been for a very long time in just about every record one can think of even beyond vocals.

Another reason is because of management, more specifically a contractual obligation. It's something to do with needing to make sure all concerts go as planned and on schedule, so singing has to be lip synced to stay on schedule.

It doesn't excuse the "bad" vocalists, but even then they would already have to be at a decent level already if they are lip syncing over a song.

Insert auto-tune argument here, but also consider that some audio engineers feel pity for the singer so they quietly turn it on subtly enough to keep everyone happy and the show continuing.

[Dreambiscuit 9,691]

There really isn’t any excuse for lip-syncing at concerts. These singers are making boatloads of money for these gigs and have the responsibility to provide a live show. They may be trying to preserve their vocal cords by faking it but that’s not a legitimate excuse. If they can’t do the job they shouldn’t take the money. If they announced in advance that they’d be lip-syncing, no one would attend their concerts, so they should respect the audiences that are paying their salaries and give them what they’re paying for.

Lip-syncing to accomodate choreography onstage is understandable if it's the filming of a movie or music video, but live performances are supposed to be live and fans expect performers to deliver or change the routines if needed. 

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

This lip syncing made me think....

Type syncing..... Chat gpt... Copy paste....