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Grateful Dead Productions wants to pull MP3s

Posted by Hemos on from the crackin'-down-on-the-free dept.

rsidd writes "According to latest information Grateful Dead Productions have asked www.deadabase.com to pull MP3 files of concerts from their archives, or to face legal action. I wonder, does this have the sanction of the band, and if the band who pioneered free distribution of their music does this, what else is in store? " From the tone of the information, this sounds like something that isn't at the sanction of the artists, BTW.

4 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Banners are not the issue by gavinhall · · Score: 2

    Posted by hogfoot:

    It seems that most people think deadabase is being threatened because of the use of banners. The truth is that banner advertising was never an issue. We have been in contact with John Barlow and have given him access to our revenue information. Our costs to maintain the web/ftp servers are far greater than our income from banner advertising. I have also been informed that another website, similiar to our own, has received a threatening letter from the same law firm. I'm sure they will be posting information when the time is right. Hopefully this is not a trend that will continuing for very long.

  2. speaking as a Deadhead... by Anonymous+Coed · · Score: 2
    ...of many years, and who has many many hours of live Dead on mp3, I hope this has something to do with some naughtiness on Deadabase's part (ad banners?) and not a general crackdown on trading Dead shows. I really, really, really hope that. I find it hard to believe anything else, in fact.

    Of course trading tapes and DAT's is no different at all than trading mp3's. I think maybe where Deadabase got in trouble is that they tried to portray themselves as the "official site on the net" for downloading Dead shows, a big no-no.

    I will be really worried if they go after Sugarmegs.

    They can have my 4-6-69 Set II when they pry it from my cold dead fingers!

  3. Clear up some misunderstandings... by Anonymous+Shepherd · · Score: 2

    Hogfoot, from the deadabase website, has posted several responses in this thread to clarify things, and I thought it'd be useful to place them in the main forum for people to see.

    1) They trade in live recordings, not in mp3s ripped off CDs, and I quote:
    the mp3's we are distributing are legal recordings of live performances...exactly what people have been trading ever since the Dead have been around.

    2) Evidently the banners and profits are not the issue:
    We have been in contact with John Barlow and have given him access to our revenue information. Our costs to maintain the web/ftp servers are far greater than our income from banner advertising. I have also been informed that another website, similiar to our own, has received a threatening letter from the same law firm.

    3) The band itself isn't involved in trying to shut them down, evidently, and they've been in contact with John Barlow:
    we have spoken with John Barlow, and from what we could gather..the band is in totaly favor of mp3's.

    So further speculation should be perhaps that it is just upper management being 'misled' by the RIAA that this is piracy, when it was always sanctioned by the bad, or they fear loss of control of the music, or something...

    AS

    --

    -AS
    *Pikachu*
  4. grateful dead and mp3 by blkwolf · · Score: 3

    MP3 and similiar technoligies can do more to support the "artist" than any other distribution medium before.

    I believe it's that more than anything that has RIAA freaking out. For the first time ever an artist or group has a medium to distribute their music themselves and make it instantly availible to a world wide audience, cutting RIAA completely out of the picture.

    Your argument that I dont use MP3's because music is protected by copyright would be akin to saying I dont listen to music on CD's because alot of people have CD Burners at home now and can make their own copies, or tapes etc.

    It's not the medium that's at fault for the actions of a few pirate sites on the web and college kids trading music across their lan network. The truth is MP3 music "pirating" isn't any worse than "pirating" that has allways existed with other distribution formats of music.

    RIAA doesn't really care about pirating itself, in fact alot of times it helps them as someone downloads a new single on mp3 and says thats cool now I want the whole album on CD. You can see this in it's attempt to attack MP3 as a technoligy so hard.

    The true fear hear is that if MP3 becomes too popular, and widely accepted as a standard then music artists will no longer need the big label record company's at all. Groups like public enemy are showing others that there are alternatives to being locked into a 5 year contract with a label company that jacks up album and concert prices sky high and then takes the majority of the profit. RIAA see's this and thinks what happens when all those 5 - 7yr contracts we currently control our big money making artists with come to term? If MP3 is acceptible then those artists have a chance to finally leave and distribute their next album themselves via mp3 downloads and direct cd sales off their web site.

    MP3 doesn't take rights away from the artist it gives them way too many as far as RIAA is concerned.