Alt-J became the first band to present a gig on the new service, with their Brixton Academy concert from last night used as the official launch for Soundhalo. Some sample clips have been made available on YouTube:

The Soundhalo app – currently available for Android, although will expand to other devices soon – combines professionally shot video footage with sound directly from the mixing deck. The footage is then made available almost instantly online. In theory, there will no longer be a need to wait for poor quality YouTube clips and bootlegs to appear. The app is also being aimed at people who may have missed out on tickets.

However, the recordings don’t come free. The Alt-J concert is being sold for £1 (around €1.20) per song or £6 (€7.10) for the whole thing. Purchased concerts will, however, be accessible on all the purchaser’s supported devices. The company hasn’t confirmed whether this is a temporary launch price or whether all uploads will cost the same.

Given that a dedicated camera and technical team will be needed to record any given gig, the app will initially only offer a small selection of concerts, with the team likely hoping that major label involvement will eventually allow expansion.

The trend of recording concerts on smartphones and cameras has been a source of irritation for many other concertgoers and bands. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs recently put up a sign asking patrons not to use cameras at one of their New York concerts:

(Photo: Spin)