> I was never a fan of the band, but didn't the Grateful Dead at some
> point dump their record company and encourage their fans to share
> bootleg recordings? Whatever they lost in royalties was amply
> compensated for by revenues from live performances. It seems to me the
> Dead anticipated the current state of affairs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead#Tapers
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grateful_Dead_Records
Pretty much covers it.
The Dead ran a very savvy business that made a lot of money - and kept a lot of people employed. But it was based on almost incessant touring and a hyper-obsessive fanbase. Selling out Madison Square Garden or a 50K person football stadium 4 nights in a row, 2-3 times per year *for each venue*, is not something many bands can do.
With Garcia dead the tour money dried up, as well as all that merchandise associated with the tours, and many people employed by Grateful Dead Productions lost their jobs. Recently they have gone after websites that offer up high quality soundboard recording downloads for free because a lot of their income right now is through.....CD sales of live recordings.
Matt
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