Dead Soundboards

Just wanted to weigh in on the whole Archive.org /Dead issue, this has become quite the hot topic among live music fans. You know the story is big when the New York Times is even covering it. This whole thing really seems to stand against what the Dead as an organization has always been about. Deadheads are probably the most loyal fans in all of music and to say all of a sudden 'Yes it's great to trade show, but we no longer want this website to make soundboard recordings available to you to download,' just doesn't make any sense to me. Most of these recording have been available for years and years, just now you have instint access to them instead of getting a 15th generation cassette of a soundboard in the mail.

This whole thing is certainly doesn't seemed to be aimed at the older Deadheads. They are the ones that shell out the money for the Dick's Picks and the other archive releases. I think they're going after the kids instead who probably don't have the money to buy up every release the organization puts out and are basically telling them if you want the good shit you're going to have to ante up. Seems like they're just getting greedy here. Don't get me wrong I think it's great they have they're own digital download series. I for one not only download shows, but I buy a good amount of the stuff the put out in the stores and on their website. It's just they seem to be approaching this all wrong. You're going to have fans that will only seek out the free stuff, but I would place a healthy wager on the fact that the majority of their fans are spending money on the official stuff.

Both Phil Lesh and David Gans (host of the Grateful Dead Hour) expressed they're dismay with the whole issue. You can read Phil's reaction at his website http://phillesh.com

As of right now it's being reported that only audience recording will be made available, instead of the initial streaming only policy. You'll have to find your soundboards somwhere else (namely bt.etree who's been flooded with them in recent days - grab them while you can).