Question

During the inauguration for President Obama in January 2013, Beyoncé was scheduled to sing the national anthem. The question arose: Did she lip sync during her performance? No answer was forth- coming from the singer’s representatives, but it was clear from those attending that the National Marine Band was not playing during her performance. Those in charge of the event felt that since she had not had an opportunity to rehearse with the band that it was best to use a tape. Are there any ethical issues involved in this choice for the performance? Was there an obligation of disclosure?

Answer 1

In usual live-in concerts, lip sync is often justified when the performance involves Pop genre. This is so because in that genre, the audience expects you to dance and sing at the same time, which is highly challenging as vocals require stability while dancing, requires movements, both being contrary to each other. However, in case of National anthem, the same does not hold true because there is no dance performance involved in the process. Ideally, Beyoncé could have sung in the live concert and the support of lip sync was rather not desirable. Moreover, when it comes to the singers, the audience expects to hear them live. When the same is not coupled with any multiple activities, the audience shall not buy the fact that the singer lip synced without appropriate disclosure. Often, the audience pays a premium rate to hear them live. Closer the audience’s seats to the performer, more are the ticket charges. Considering all this in mind, lack of disclosure shall only mean, in this case, cheating the Public which calls for an ethical action.

To hear Beyoncé in live-in concerts, would have been a unique experience for all the audience. However, even in case, the singer did not get time to rehearse with the band, appropriate disclosure was necessary to be given to the Public for the Public’s expectations differed from what the National Marine Band had to actually deliver. Audience would have appreciated the truth. The ethical issue here was that the Band did not acknowledge the expectations of the Public and that when the Band failed to deliver the relevant performance, it did not bother to apologize or notify the same to the Public. Instead, it tried to evade the whole issue altogether which was unfair as the Public expected to be told the truth. Therefore, lack of transparency was the major ethical issue in the case.