So I am sure by now all of you have seen the incredible performance by Tupac (well his hologram) this past weekend at Coachella. But wait...hasn't Tupac been dead for 16 years now??? For those of you that have not seen the video... head to the bottom of this post and watch the video before we get into this discussion.
Ok, I am expecting that all of our first reactions to this performance is..."WOW this is amazing"...but after thinking about it for a while, I started to think just the opposite. Yes the technology is crazy and maybe one day we will be going to concerts where the actual performer could be on the other side of the country performing multiple concerts that the same moment though this technology. (But that is not my point)
But I ask you to view this video and performance through an ethical standpoint. Tupac obviously has been dead for 15+ years now and he had absolutely no say whether or not Coachella had the privilege to bring him back from the dead. How is it ethically right to make a profit off of a dead man?
Also the crowd acted as if Tupac did reselect from the dead, but this was by no means Tupac at all. It is impossible that there was ever a recording of Tupac saying "What the fuck is up Coachella"... simply because the first Coachella performance happened 3 years after his death.
Now we come to the main issue that makes me angry that this performance ever happened. Since the music industry thought this was alright to bring Tupac "back from the dead" and create lines that he never said once in his life...we can begin to see more performances from dead performers. And the music industry loves this idea because they will make a killing off of these dead performers. These artists already have brand recognition so it would not be hard at all to fill major concert venues. And the total cost for these concerts will be minimal compared to what it costs for an actual live performance.
These music industry executives make me furious with this approach to make more money...
So I ask you all.....is bringing these artist back in the form of a hologram really what people want to see? Even if you want to see these performances...do you see them to be ethically right?
