Handbook sections
Handbook sections
The handbook is split into four topics based on the question you're trying to solve: how to get into a concert, how to enjoy it without harming yourself, how sound works, and how to find recordings or old pages. Each topic shows where to start and where to go next.
A good concert isn't just the music. It's also a ticket you can refund and ears that still work the next day.
Selection criteria: the question comes up for an ordinary listener, the answer can be checked against a law, an international standard or a format specification, and the advice requires no paid services and promotes no specific companies.
Tickets and refunds
Where to buy, what to check before paying, and how much money you can get back (rules for events in Russia).
- How to buy a ticket without losing money
Eight steps with a checklist, from choosing a seller to getting a refund when a show is canceled.
- Refund questions answered
The 10-, 5- and 3-day deadlines, illness, postponements and cancellations, named tickets.
Safety and hearing
How loud concerts get and what counts as safe.
- Reference
Decibels, LAeq, the 100 dB limit and the weekly allowance of 80 dB for up to 40 hours.
- Reading list for your first concert
The essentials worth reading before you head to a big venue.
Venues and sound
What a venue can do to keep sound safe, and what's up to you.
- The six WHO standard measures
Sound limit, monitoring, acoustics, hearing protection, quiet zones, staff training.
- What's new
The handbook's update feed.
Recordings, filming and archives
Recording formats, photo and video rights, finding old pages.
- Archived address: photo gallery (in Russian)
How to find archived copies of pages and what to consider before publishing someone else's concert photos.
- Handbook archive
All articles by date and topic.
Related sections
- How-to articles
How to buy a concert ticket without losing money, plus a list of upcoming articles.
- Questions and answers
Short answers on ticket refunds, concert volume, recording formats and filming.
- Reading lists
Reading paths: before your first concert, when plans change, and for record collectors.
Sources
- Fundamentals of the Legislation of the Russian Federation on Culture (Art. 52.1)
- Russian Government Resolution on ticket refund rules (September 2020)
- WHO. Global Standard for Safe Listening Venues and Events (2022)
Information is current as of the preparation date. Ticket sale and refund rules, as well as venue policies, change over time. Before you buy, check the law in force and the organizer's terms.