Over on Uncle John’s Blog, I posted a message from AOL’s GD Forum Store proprietor Geoff Gould regarding the state of his business.
An excerpt:
The Grateful Dead have been very good to me over the years. When my company was making Phil and Bobby’s axes (and a couple for Jerry he didn’t play) they helped keep us afloat. Over the years since the GD Forum first appeared on AOL and then on the web, we have worked together to bring the community many unique chat events and interviews. The GDF Store was actually the first functioning online commerce store selling GD Merchandise back in the Fall of 1995, and the GDM folk provided us with much great gear over the years. It’s been an honor serving the community, but times have changed.
Enter the “business is business” crowd.
Over the last couple of years, the GDM as well as the JG Estate stores have adopted a marketing plan of offering ‘exclusive bonus discs’ that has basically cut our sales anywhere from 60% to 90%. It was probably intended to get more market share away from sites like Amazon, and not aimed at me (I hope!) but the result is undeniable nonetheless. Like I said, the GD has been very good to me, and after reading Phil’s comments, I have to hope I was not targeted by these practices, but merely affected by the collateral damage.
It’s hard to say for sure, but this sure feels like the last holiday season for us
Maybe you could take a browse at Geoff’s site and see what sort of bargains he’s got…
I have to think that there are fair number of people who are like me. I never was to much into the taping scene and I stopped going to shows altogether in ’91. But my interest in the Dead has rekindled of late and I’ve bought several items of Grateful Dead merchandise including the 2nd boxed set of studio releases.
So when I happened upon archive.org there were two uses I saw for it immediatly. The first was to investigate the other jambands on the scene and check out a lot of the music that I’d been missing. (I live in St Thomas which makes going to shows other than my own a BIG problem) The other was to grab some of those moments that i knew were out there but wouldn’t have ready access to. So far all I had downloaded was the Milkweg 81, the 11-17-78 acoustic set in Chicago (The Uptown show that evening was my first ever dead show AND my 21st birthday) and i also picked up a Deer Creek ’89 because I remember it having a REALLY JUICY bird Song to close the first set.
The bottom line is that nothing I was doing on Archive.org was in any way going to affect my spending with GD marketing other than perhaps keep me paying attention.
So then all this stuff starts going down and by the time I’d even noticed it all seemed to be resolved in what seemed to me to be reasonable compromise.
Then Weir opened his mouth….
I receognize the rights of musicians (well songwriters actually) to control their own creations but WHAT A BONEHEAD!
nuf said…thanks for listening
I have given the whole episode a lot of thought, and my feelings have been quite fluid. Those feelings now essentially mirror those of Paul Dirks above, but let me add a few thoughts.
1)There is no doubt that GDM or GDP messed up. First, that statement by McNally about community was utter nonsense. Then, Weir spews some gibberish about covering other people’s music. He does hint that it is all about money, because they plan to release a lot of the concerts. Had they been honest right off the bat, the reaction would have been less harsh. Alienating your own customer base without forethought is not good business, period.
2) The reaction has also been ridiculous. First of all, if you really need to download a soundboard recording, YOU CAN GET IT, “you just gotta poke around.” The compromise itself was,I truly believe reasonable, they just screwed up the message. The concerts and comments are all there to be researched, to be enjoyed, to be reminisced over.
3) Most importantly, everyone needs to CALM DOWN! This is not the fault of the GRATEFUL DEAD. In case anyone has forgotten, that band stopped playing over 10 years ago. JG is no longer with us. His music still is, but he is not. Nor is Pigpen, Brett, nor Keith. It sounds like this was a decision by a desperate corporation which has seen a downturn in income resulting in layoffs. Phil and Mickey apparently were not even consulted. Instead,they brought in some bean counters and some lawyers to see if they could increase their revenue. Is it really hard to understand how such people, with no real appreciation or knowledge of their customers, would screw things up? And Don’t get mad at Bobby. Obviously, he was fed some legal and business bullshit that he couldn’t quite understand and couldn’t articulate, even if he could comprehend it. Of course he messed up by insulting us and laughing off the petition, but he has never been the brightest bulb, nor the sharpest tack in the box. Don’t get mad at Bobby, maybe pity is the more appropriate emotion.
4) Finally, the boys are no longer hippies hanging out at 710. They are not even the free-wheelin guys making great music in the seventies. Nor are they the guys making tons of money in the 80s and 90s, when their lack of business acumen didn’t really matter. If you cannot accept the fact that those days are gone, then the problem is yours not their’s. Folks, it is time to accept reality and move on. Just be “grateful” that there are still plenty of us who remain passionate about the music and guys like David Gans who care enough to keep bringing the music and information to us.
The trip ended long ago– just keep enjoying the music and the memories.
PEACE