u235

HEADLINE: the remaining skeletons in the Grateful Dead have decided to have a "Metallica" moment. Really I don't listen to them, I tried when I was in High School because they were so popular, but it just wasn't for me. Still it's surprising that a band that thrived on the faith and love of their fans are is now turning it's back on them just for the money. The heart of this issue is file sharing.

To precisely identify the issue the Dead have put the screws to a popular website (Live Music Archive) that had available for download a shitload of personally taped Dead concerts. Further, these aren't bootlegs - no sah - the Dead used to encourage the taping and sharing of concert tapes among fans (so long as no one charged money).

So what's changed? Well Jerry is actually dead, but that's besides the point. I mean technically these were fan-tapes, which were legit. And no one was charging for the down loads. So where's the rub? It's the green, baby, the green.

See the remaining members of the band, who are still touring as "The Dead" sell full-length recordings of performances for about $15 a pop. And the boys aren't digging the competition. Oh they gave some sort of bullshit excuse about how the physical sharing of tapes "builds" a community while the anonymity of computer downloads doesn't - but the "anonymous" community decided to become less anonymous and start a petition which shows just how invisible they really are.

"One-to-one community building, tape trading, is something we've always been about," Mr. McNally said. "The idea of a massive one-stop Web site that does not build community is not what we had in mind. Our conclusion has been that it doesn't represent Grateful Dead values."

Values. Heh. Funny.

Still it's like the kid with the finger in the dam, the stuff is already out there.... and Dead fans LIKE to share... So. What are they gonna do to stop that?

ps If the Category fits.... :D