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As the prevalence of smartphones increases, as does the prevalence of dickheads blocking your view at gigs as they shakily attempt to record it for posterity. This not only shows complete ignorance of the presence of other audience members, but also of the fact that it’s virtually impossible to record anything but a blurry, badly-lit mess on the majority of phones.

The practice has clearly started to wind up bands as well, with Savages and, somewhat more forcefully, Yeah Yeah Yeahs urging fans to refrain from waving their shitty Samsungs all over the shop. Alt-J presumably feel the same, as they agreed to be the first band to showcase Soundhalo, an app that allows you to watch high-quality footage of a gig after leaving, without having to block anyone’s view in the process.

If the clip below is anything to go by, then these videos will be worth paying for (you can preview them for free). While obviously the creators are going to put extra effort into making the first example of a Soundhalo video especially impressive, there’s no denying that the footage and editing are top-notch (although the use of slo-mo might get a bit irritating over an entire gig). I remember the Pixies offering professionally recorded CDs of their reunion gigs to attendees in a bid to deter bootleggers, with some success. If Soundhalo can convince enough bands to sign up, this could go so much further…