Bob Weir interview with Bill Lynch in the Charleston Gazette:
“Jam bands occupy a place that’s ground zero in the file-sharing demographic,†Weir said.
File sharing, he said, is not to be confused with tape sharing, which was never the same thing. From the ’60s through the ’90s, bands like the Grateful Dead encouraged fan taping at concerts. These tapes were later copied, swapped and occasionally sold between fans. As the band was never a strong presence on commercial radio, the free tapes helped introduce the band to new listeners.
“Tape sharing never impacted our record sales,†he said. “File sharing does. Record labels won’t even give jam bands a record contract. There’s no point. If you go to all the effort and expense, the work, to make a record, as soon as you put one out, it’s ‘out’ because everyone has it.â€
File sharing, he said, hurts the jam music genre more than any other. Without the ability to make money from record sales, bands have to devote all of their energy to their live shows.
…
“I talk with a lot of music writers and invariably they say the clubs are closing,†he said. “The reason they’re closing is there aren’t enough musicians out there to put in them. People aren’t going into music, because you can’t make a living at it.â€
Read it all here, and comment below, please.
Not sure I agree with Bobby here..especially after paying $450 for a table of 6 at Chastin in Altanta to see Ratdog play for an hour and a half. I am not sure he walks in the same “shoes” as the current touring jam bands….not that I do either.
I can’t tell you how many soundboards I downloaded off of the archive/web before the Dead took them down, but I also own almost every Pure Jerry, Dicks picks, DVD, vault release the dead puts out. I am not to the “ultra completeist” level, but I like supporting the band and getting quality releases.
In my particular case, when I legally file share something off of eTree or a fan site torrent (especially of a new band) it will only motivate me to bring myself and friends out to see the live. It would also encourage me to go to a festival where the band is playing at and subsequently buy their CD.
This may be an issue for teen/younger generation, but typically the type of folks that have jobs and listen to jam music are willing to send the money to support the bands…either by ticket sales and/or buying cds/merchandise.
I don’t see the reason to download pirated copies of a commercial release! The archive’org people pulled those shows upon requests from the artists; because they aren’t a bunch of thieves.
Hey Weir; whose fault is it; when RHINO pulls the plug on your own Grateful Dead “download” series? Stupid record company executives give people a reason to burn bootleg copies of items, which they can’t purchase legally at any price any more. IDIOTS!
EBAY is a source of phony Grateful Dead albums that aren’t even in your licensed catalogs. They are comple with jewel cases and home made ink jet printer covers. Many of those bootlleg shows are for sale to the highest bidders and the artists get nothing.
You wanna catch a thief, do you? I’ve seen more than one jerk-off openly selling their Grateful Dead tape collections on “craigslist” in exchange for a wad of dirty money. They do it right in your own backyard! Never mind your band policies – old or new.
I flagged the last offering from Santa Rosa. Only Weir and friends can really do anything about this rip-off scheme…
David,
Would be interested on your take on this….do you feel file sharing/eTree/P2p has impacted your personal album sales/projects or “enhanced” the busniess side of you art?