We’ve had our first visit from a representative of a music industry entity, in the comment section of the Squeeze recording. Read here.
This is a post that I emailed to Bjork’s management, and posted in the bjork.com 4Um earlier this year. I feel it pretty much summarizes the current position with regard to the free share and trading of unofficial live recordings:
Over the last several years, it has become apparent that the transfer
of music through the internet will eventually become the primary means
by which performers will promote and ultimately distribute their media.
One of the interesting by-products of this move to internet distribution
has been the free share of fan-produced live recordings through networks
such as bit torrent (www.dimeadozen.org),
direct connect, and ftp/http downloads. The ultimate realization of this
phenomenom is the huge archive of live material shared, with artists’ consent,
at www.archive.org.
Among the fans of Bjork, the internet distribution of her live material has
been a reality since the early days of low bandwidth distribution. Such
fan sites such as etoile polaire, the dwave ftp, and the Bjork trading
group set the stage for the current high bandwidth distribution of lossless
audio and DVD’s of fan produced recordings at the Bjork Hub.
As Bjork now embarks on her first tour in nearly four years, many
realities have changed in the world of live music, fan recordings and
internet distribution. The rapid free share of unofficial live recordings
has essentially eliminated the market for illegal bootleg selling, and has
created an atmosphere where the artist and the recordist can work
cooperatively to archive the material, promote the artist’s official product,
and satisfy the demands of a fan base who seek a particular artist’s
output beyond that available in the official catalog.
Within the last two years, the policy in the bjork.com 4Um has permitted
the free share of fan-produced unofficial recordings. In this atmosphere,
the Bjork Hub has thrived in its goal to archive all available unofficial
recordings, catalog the archive, and share those recordings among the
dedicated fan base in a cooperative and friendly environment.
It is in this context, that the Bjork Hub sincerely requests that
unobstrusive, discreet fan recording be permitted during the anticipated
2007 Bjork Spring Tour. With artist permission, fan recordings are
generally of a much higher quality, since the recordist does not secrete
the equipment in fear of security, and the surrounding fans are often
cooperative in their behavior. Additionally, any attempts to bootleg any
recording from the tour (as occurred with multiple recordings of the 2001
and 2003 tours) will be completely frustrated by the free share and easy
distribution among the fans.
We hope that this sincere request will be considered and approved.
And a summary of the nyctaper site:
“My site exists as a experiment in a new paradigm of promoting artists, and encouraging fans to support them. I do this at a substantial cost to my own pocketbook because I believe in live music, I can afford it, I get to attend many excellent concerts, and believe that ultimately sites like this will help artists adapt to the use of technology to spread their music and further their careers.
Its discouraging, but ultimately not surprising, that a representative the music industry would take such a negative approach to my site. However, I continue to be motivated by the incredibly positive reviews of fans, and most importantly the cooperation, encouragement and participation of the artists themselves many of whom take an active role in the distribution of their music through my site.”
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