Yesterday the Grateful Dead’s archive was removed from public access at archive.org. From the announcement:
…the Internet Archive has been asked to change how the Grateful Dead concert recordings are being distributed on the Archive site for the time being. The full collection will remain safe in the Archive for preservation purposes.
Here is the plan:
Audience recordings are available in streaming format (m3u).
Soundboard recordings are not available.
The howling has begun, and the sense of entitlement that has always concerned me is in full flower.
Many are quoting the famous Jerry Garcia statement, “Once we’re done with it, you can have it,” or words to that effect.
I think we need to get a little perspective here.
First of all, when Jerry said that – and he said it more than once, so we know he meant it – tape trading was an important aspect of life in the Deadhead community. It was a one-to-one affair, for the most part, and although there were some social pathologies in evidence, it was largely a manifestation of our love for the music and our desire to enlighten the world and turn our friends on.
That is a far cry from what is happening now. The internet Archive and all the other online distribution sources are high-speed, mass-distribution systems that make the best quality recording available to all who know where to look for them. That is a good thing, of course, culturally – but there is an economic element to this that must be taken into account.
I’ve read a ton of angry posts in the last 24 hours, from people who are convinced the greedy Grateful Dead are doing this to preserve their champagne-and-Porsche lifestyles. “I’ve given them thousands of dollars over the years, for tickets and CDs and t-shirts,” I read. “How dare they take away my instant access to all their music just so they can make money off it?”
A couple of weeks ago there was another round of layoffs at GDP. A few more people – friends and fellow Deadheads – lost their jobs because GDP isn’t making enough money to keep them on board. I heard that one of the casualties of this last downsiziing was Ram Rod, who was a member of the GD road crew from the beginning. I really don’t think anyone took lightly the decision to let that brother go.
“They are doing this in order to protect their download business,” is another cry I’ve heard. Well, yeah, and in what universe is that an unreasonable position?
I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I have a job on the periphery of the Grateful Dead organization, but I am not privy to their decision-making process and I don’t depend on them for my income. I help to promote their official releases by playing them on the radio, obviously, but I also play a lot of unreleased music (and I’ve gotten some of that unreleased music from archive.org).
I have sympathies on both sides of this issue, but I am also detached enough from it to have a perspective that I hope you’ll at least consider.
There’s a petition online directed at GDM and promising a boycott. “Now it appears doing the right thing for the fans, has given way to greed.”
I think it is worthwhile to ask ourselves if there isn’t some greed on the other side of the equation.
update: Another petition
Update 11/26: another petition – much more kindly worded.
Update 11/28: Given the violence of the response my post has gotten (on other blogs, on rec.music.gdead, etc.) – which to a certain extent proves my point about the bad attitudes of some Deadheads – I suppose I need to make explicit what I thought was pretty clear: I am not blindly supporting the GD organization’s decision here. I think they’re within their rights to shut off the high-speed free download service, but I also think it is not likely to give them the result they seem to be looking for. Nor has anythiing been said about discouraging smaller-scale trading of soundboard tapes.
And of course, the complete absence of an explanatory word from the organization is (although pretty much par for the course) a big part of the problem.
To those who have blithely asserted that I have no right to comment since I can get whatever I want from the vault, my “collection is complete,” and I have no need for archive.org myself, I need to say: sorry, none of those things is true. I have gotten lots of great music from the archive for the radio show, and I haven’t had access to the vault since Dick Latvala passed away six years ago. I’d also like to suggest that pure self-interest is not the only possible point of view, and assassinating the character of people who disagree with you – especially since it’s possible they don’t really differ so much – is not terribly constructive.
This is a complicated situation. That’s all I’m sayin’.
Update 11/29: RollingStone.com news item quoting this blog, w/ Dennis McNally saying, “David Gans’ comments were dead — you’ll pardon the expression — on.” I wonder what that portends for the official announcement.
Update 11/30: Jeff Leeds of the New York Times calls me for comment after talking to Dennis McNally. “Deadheads Outraged Over Web Crackdown“:
David Gans, who is the host of a syndicated radio program, “The Grateful Dead Hour,” said in an interview yesterday that the battle is rooted in the band’s “historically lackadaisical attitude toward their intellectual property.” He added: “When they were making $50 million a year on the road, there wasn’t a lot of pressure to monetize their archives.” Now, however, it may be difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. While the move to revise the Live Music Archive may deal a blow to what many fans considered an organized library of material, “the idea that they could stop people from trading these files is absurd,” Mr. Gans said, adding: “It’s no longer under anyone’s control. People have gigabytes of this stuff.”
Update 11/30: Phil Lesh has posted a statement on his web site:
It was brought to my attention that all of the Grateful Dead shows were taken down from Archive.org right before Thanksgiving. I was not part of this decision making process and was not notified that the shows were to be pulled. I do feel that the music is the Grateful Dead’s legacy and I hope that one way or another all of it is available for those who want it . I have enjoyed using Archive.org and found it invaluable during the writing of my book. I found myself being pulled back in time listening to old Grateful Dead shows while giggling with glee or feeling that ache in my heart listening to Jerry’s poetic guitar and sweet voice.
We are musicians not businessmen and have made good and bad decisions on our journey. We do love and care about our community as you helped us make the music. We could not have made this kind of music without you as you allowed us to play “without a net”. Your love, trust and patience made it possible for us to try again the next show when we couldn’t get that magic carpet off the ground. Your concerns have been heard and I am sure are being respectfully addressed.
- Phil
