Ok, David Gans. Yeah, he's got some points, but both sides are right. Phil even fought the lawyers to keep them from stopping all trading. I got most of my SBDs from pals "close" to the org myself, but these are also found all over the place (Live Archive isn't the monopoly, just a very large and well-established and run server community).
The Internet is vast, however. Fathomless, actually. Anyone can put up a server and dump a hundred gig a month (maybe 50 shows, depends) and if you extend that to peer-to-peer, it gets bigger. Still, that costs money and kids don't want to pay. Noone really wants to pay unless they know it's for the cause. Back when Jerry was alive, people shelled out $60 for a ticket--but these prices were exorbitant because it really was "the greatest show on earth" (for those who saw and believed...).
Phish is also opposed to the widespread free show sharing, and I'm sure DMB management may have had a say in matters. Obviously they are keeping quiet to avoid negative publicity, but I think the decision will backfire and old-school heads will just stop buying anything dead-related: they've said they've "had enough" (and they have enough). I don't even know how many shows I have...but it's more than 50. I got less than 10% from online sources...maybe as many or slightly more are in tape/analog format, the rest were traded by just burning CDs. And almost all have some kind of defect, which makes it hard to get $15/cd for them. People like to pay about 5 bucks a disc. It costs 1/10th that to produce them...the rest is in marketing, inventory and other "middle man" types of costs. Internet sharing brings down costs, but it's still not free. I don't know how Live Archive stays afloat, given their popularity and I'm not really sure what's their biggest revenue stream.
I wonder what Phil thinks about all this. I blame China, really. I bet the millions being easily bootlegged is a factor. If I had a dime for every site in China I had to block...(I'd have about two bucks ;-}). They really are predators, but they're getting us back at our own trick (exploitation of the poor to provide cheap labor for the wealthy elite).
So, the AUD shows are definitely very much the hard work of the people and belong to the people. I'm sure Jerry wasn't thinking about keeping his grand-kids fed off his revenue and royalties, and at some point why can't GDP just find other young, promising bands to take under their wing and who says there can't be another Dead or Phish-like band with that kind of power and professionalism, magic and mystery, openness, courage and all those wonderful things we like in our favorite bands? Until they do that, they can't continue to milk the same sacred calf. That cow was slaughtered and now the calflings aren't so much playing guitar as they are wheeling for Jerry's estate. Remember the big stink about his will? This is all related. There is definitely a Greed Factor involved, and this is very much a part of the GDP legal teams. Which is why I wonder what Phil still has to say knowing he was outspoking in keeping the recordings free even when GDP shut them down the first time. I'm pretty confident to think that this would not have happened if Jerry were alive. However, they also made so much more money on tour that it might not have been an issue. That all companies are hurting right now is a sign of the times. Look at Merck laying off 7,000 people! And we're worried about the tragedy of Ramrod? But he was representative of what was good with the world, and you can't say the same about major pharmie companies. Or can we? (Where's my Vioxx? I'm out of Ritalin. Oh, there's the Prozac. ;-}
Ok so I just connected the Dead with Merck. Sorry about that, but it will happen again.
Alright, guess we have to keep sharing the old-fashioned way. Even though I have a rocket connection, I don't download nonstop like some people. I just have "way too much music" to listen to, and CDs are still faster and more personal and in a way more fun. I never know what's coming in the mail (and take my sweet time myself...also sorry about that but life is so friggin' busy sometimes when writing these silly long diatraibes ;-}).
Oh yeah I have my own personal perspective with this site but that's just my own perspective and that problem is sort of somewhat kind of being resolved but not quite there because the full solution is several steps, and few have the time or expertise to do this kind of trim work.
When we look at international file-sharing but also massive theft (Korea, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc, also Russia...notorious cartels making billions yearly off music and software piracy), we can see how lawyers might get a little edgy. They have little or no control in other countries, so the logical solution is just "take it down". This might seem like a good idea at first, but it is definitely a step down a spiral path to "has-been" even though I admit we're already getting there with the "GD" shows lately. They are still fun, but definitely that "milk it" feel is there and that "charm" isn't the same...maybe it was Jerry's spirit or something, but this I see in the whole world around me as we all fight for crumbs or just a breath of fresh air. We all can't continue to live like we are and music suffers along with all entertainment business. This is "disposable income" which can dry up as income is no longer disposable. I remember when I wasn't working...I definitely wouldn't shell out for another Dick's Picks, and now I'd rather give the money to fresher bands taking chances and working at the edge of survival, not entrenched power-houses who have led the way all the way to the most successful tours in history...eventually all gorillas get old and are beaten over the head by lots of little monkeys.
Ummm...I'd have to say GDs music will always be "alive and well", but their members won't. There are just way too many CDs in circulation for one Internet Archive being shut down (or altered, AUD vs SBD whatever). I'll still share shows and get shows and yes it's a bit inconvenient to not have these shows readily available, but I got most of the SBDs I wanted and I still have friends with shows I don't have yet (who are eager to trade for Slip shows, interestingly enough! ;-}). I think we can all find other connections for shows and think of this as a social-building exercise. To realize we have to communicate and learn how to grovel all over again is the most painful reaction of a response I can think of. It really hurts noone in real terms...it's only through perception that we allow ourselves to hurt. I was mortally wounded the day Jerry died (but then I got better ;-}). However, I think in those few weeks I really found out who my best friends were. Even those who didn't like the Dead's music called me with their sympathy because they know how much the music (and the man) meant to me (and others in my circle of "Dead-head" friends). It was a true tragedy. These shows are just a little hiccup in the digestive tract of one esophagus of the Net.Beast. In the grand scheme of things, it's not even a trifle trickle. The shows traded still physically vastly outweigh what was ever traded on Live Archive (my guess, I can pull stats out of my ass of course, but I've been cruising logs on more sites than I've been to Dead shows, and I can make pretty good guesses between the gaps). It's more the publicity that's a factor (negative of course, this can't be positive, even though Gans wants us to spin it that way).
Now I think of the Slip's "management" decision to stay off Live Archive and I'm curious if this does more good than bad? I really hope they learn to put out CDs faster...I try to buy them all when they come out (sometimes multiple copies, for friends, ones I've lost, I even have some dupes I'll probably just give away to people at random ;-})...but it seems GD Productions never had a problem with pumping out new material. It seems they do have a problem charging too much for CDs, so trying to pull easy-to-get material is only going to hurt their already dwindling fanbase.
I dunno...how many shows does Soulive have on Live Archive and how big are the shows they're playing? I think by looking at the spread and distro we also have a view into the most "active" component of the fanbase, so in this sense, trading does have exponential effect. These vocal advocates of music sharing are the most persuasive in their zeal to bring new people into the fold ("drink the kool-aid...go ahead, it's fine!"
). Rabid, ya know? If they lose that, they lose some of the spark or the "magic" that made people just drop everything in life and go follow the band around forever.
Now these people have jobs and is that a bad thing? Maybe so if they work for Merck. I think about this myself and wonder why I'm not working on the next commercial fusion reactor project (maybe I will). Now what do neutrons think about peer-to-peer sharing?
-Phrazz
