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Instant Live Concert Recordings
WebGangsta writes "The AP is reporting that there's a new device out that allows you to record a concert... legally. It works because it's run by the venue, direct from the mixing board. After the show, concert-goers visit an on-site kiosk and purchase a 128MB keydrive (which may or may not be proprietary to the system). Then they swipe their credit card again to download the concert they just attended to the keydrive. The MP3 can then be shared with whoever they'd like (no restrictions on copying the show to friends)." We've had some previous stories about a different system with CD-R's available after the show.
Depends on the band really. Some bands like The Greatfull Dead used to let you hook right into the mixing board to record the concert...which is why there are so many good Dead bootlegs out there.
I think Phish lets you do this also...and others. But then again, this may be a thing of the past.
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
Why are concert recordings illegal? Is it like taping a movie at the theater?
Yes.
But it wasn't always illegal if it was for private use. An ancient concept called "fair use" would allow many people in the past to record things for their personal enjoyment. Allas, such a thing no longer exists according to official sources such as the RIAA, the MPAA and the US Congress.
TW
Pearl Jam has been doing something very similar for at least two years. My wife and I went to a concert here in Denver. Afterwards, we hit their web site and ordered the concert recording. We were immediately able to download an MP3. Later, we received a CD featuring the same concert with cleaned up audio.
It's a shame no one's giving PJ credit for this awesome idea.
--AC
Sounds awful. Most bootleggers (of the legal variety, I do not consort with thieves ... erm, yeah) would rather pluck off their own ears than listen to, let alone pay for, a crappy mp3 concert that they had been to live.
I've been active on etree, StG, and similar for years, and before that I traded hand to hand. General rule (not of thumb, it's just a rule): if it's compressed, it's crap. We don't want it, and we don't want it to propogate. Because, assuredly, some dope will take his mp3 keychain, and pop it into Nero or whatever they have these days, and print out his own CD. Which will then be traded, and there will be a very sub-standard concert floating around.
"What we were seeing is that a large number of people were taking their CDs home and ripping them to MP3s, so we thought it would benefit music fans to eliminate that middle step," Reilly said.
First of all, I've learned never to trust anyone else when it comes to encoding audio. Secondly, if you can download the concert immediately afterwards, there's obviously no quality check step to make sure everything came out okay.
128M for 110s of recording time comes out to approx: 160kb/s. Totally unacceptable for live concerts.
First off, it's "Jerry".
Secondly, there are other bands that do this: Pearl Jam, the Allman Brothers, and I'm pretty sure Phish, among others.
Despite all the sturm und drang over DRM'ed concert releases being the next big thing on the horizon, at least one band ignored the DRM bandwagon. Barenaked Ladies used the resources of their promoter Nettwerk (and not through their record company) to release MP3s of each concert during the first leg of their tour this year. You can download any of the bunch direct from their web site, for $13.99. What complicated, strings-attached scheme do they use to transfer the music? That's right, a friggin' ZIP file. Pay your money, pull down your concert, enjoy the MP3s. I'm proud to say I bought two of their shows, one I personally attended, and a second just because I heard other fans rave about the particular show. Trust us, RIAA, and we'll keep you wealthy with products like this. Don't treat us like friggin' thieves.
RW
How about a CD with CDDA audio?
Same quality. Sure, FLAC can fit 2x as much audio on a CD, but consider the number of CD players out there that play CDDA but not FLAC.
Better yet, how about 192kbps Vorbis?
And about this MP3 "crap":
In double-bind studies, self-proclaimed "audiophiles" were unable to tell the differece between a 256kbps MP3 (CBR, encoded with FLAC) and the uncompressed CD.
Now, of course, you don't want to transcode from one lossy format to another (or to another bitrate, for that matter). That's the true advantage of FLAC.
Congratulations on being the 1 millionth Slashdotter to completely misunderstand the concept of "fair use."
"Fair use" doesn't mean "I think it's only fair that I get to copy and use this." Fair use is a statutory defense to a charge of copyright infringement that is available primarily to those who use a portion of a copyrighted work (not the entire concert, program, etc.) for educational or journalistic purposes, and is especially effective when that use is non-commercial. Fair use protects your local t.v. newscast when they show you a 30 second clip of the band playing at your local arena, or when you quote some of the lyrics to a song in a review. It does not protect you wanting to make copies of CDs for your friends or taping entire concerts without the permission of the artist.
Phish has a system for this, and they have had it going for at least a year now. Plus, you can get it in either mp3 or lossless format (FLAC).
They do not tether DRM either, and still allow for audience to tape the shows with special taper tickets. Those can be freely traded, but the ones Phish provides is an honor system (what? a band that does not assume that their fans are out to rip them off? Someone call the RIAA)
This is already possible for some bands. After going to a Primus show recently (Tour de Fromage). I was able to pay to download the entire show as either flac or mp3 from primuslive.com. Also, for truly free live shows of less popular and often more talented bands at the Live Music Archive over at archive.org.
I know this is modded as Funny. I also know that someone is bound to do something like this. However, I've gotta ask: How does anyone win at this game when people have attitudes like this? Damned if you use DRM, damned if you don't. $10 for a digital recording of a concert I just attended is a very reasonable price to me. I think they have the right price point here; at $15, I would consider it somewhat expensive.
I'm not trolling here; I really would be interested in some /. opinions here. Because digital media can be pirated at near zero cost, all it takes is a couple of people to completely destroy a new technology. Personally, I think this is a really cool idea and would hate to see it sunk this way. It sucks to admit, but DRM is inevitable. The innate greed within people will always exist (both the suits who want to squeeze every penny and the vast majority of the public who wants everything for free, ethics be damned).
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