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Grateful Dead Clarify Stand on Live MP3s

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the free-tunes dept.

Maver1ck writes "Seems things weren't as stange as they appeared last week. The Grateful Dead will, under strict guidelines prohibiting commercial use, still allow free MP3 downloads of live performances taped by fans. They just won't allow banner ads, sales of user data, sponsorship or any other "profit" from the exchange. Law firm press release is at PR Newswire. Still begs the question of paying for all that bandwidth..." Is it wrong to pay S&H to have a friend mail you a tape? Or to send him a couple bucks to cover a blank CD-R to have him burn you a concert? Bandwidth is a bit more expensive than postage though...

1 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. S&H, Media costs, etc. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3

    I used to do a little Phish trading in the past. And generally it IS considered wrong to exchange money in any form, whether it is to cover the costs of media and S&H or not.

    When using the snail mail this is usually handled by one trader sending the other blank media and return package with the postage already paid.

    This method covers everything but time and resources withouth any money being exchange, but time and resources simply can't be compensated for.

    I think this is pretty fair. I think the bands that allow taping of there live shows are doing a very cool thing for the fans. But, I don't believe anybody should profit off those recordings unless the band is getting a piece of the action.

    Bands generally benefit from tape trading - especially smaller/lesser-known bands, b/c the tapes allow a wider audience. I think the internet could increase this benefit by orders of magnitude.

    The problem of course being paying for the bandwidth.. I wish I had a solution, but I don't. The bands that could afford to distribute their live shows themselves off there site, would be large enough that they wouldn't need the exposure. And, the small bands probably couldn't afford to do it themselves. Fans will do it, but as this GD has pointed out, the have to do it without any financial gains.

    (sorry, that turned in to a rant - and sorry about the AC posting - I'm at work, and don't remember my password ;) )