Retitle - Bootlegs and Tour News

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

> > You're missing the point here a little. If a band wants to develop new
> > material on stage and release it as new material they can't because of
> > bootlegging. I'm not talking about varying the material a band can
> > play on tour, I'm specifically referring to the development of new
> > material for commerical release, many bands of which prefer to do live
> > rather than in the studio.
>
> It's strange that the Allmans, a band which encourages taping,
> developed many songs which eventually appeared on 'Where it all
> Begins' on stage before the album was even recorded.  Yet they then
> release that album, and I believe it sold pretty well.  What's my
> point?  I'm not sure, other than that bootlegging probably didn't
> hurt that album's success.  I guess this argues for the case that
> boots are mainly bought by rabid fans who have to have everything
> they can get their mitts on.

     The same could be said for Gov't Mule, Phish, and a host of other
bands.  I think the recent live Mule album was drawn in part from a fan
taper's recordings ... not sure about that.  And didn't the Dead play
"Touch of Grey" for a number of years before it made it to record--and
proceeded to sell _vastly_?
     Yeah, I think the bootlegging situation is more complex.  Clearly it
is _possible_ to develop material on-stage, allow it to be taped, and still
sell perfectly respectable numbers of albums.  Presumably the dynamic
depends on the nature of the band, the fans, and the record companies ...

> But I would disagree with you that a lot of bands try out new stuff
> in concert before putting out an album.  I just can't think of too
> many bands that have enough confidence in their fans to try a stunt
> like this.  Most bands want to play stuff the fans aleady know and
> are comfortable with:  3OC syndrome?

    Grin.  Which is why it's much more fun to see bands that are screwing
around with weird stuff in concert.  Much more fun if you don't know what's
going to happen on stage :)  Didn't HW play "Sputnik Stan" for a good while
before it came out on _Alien 4_?  It must have been taped, probably even
appeared on "commercial" bootleg CDs.  I'd be surprised if those things did
much damage to the sales of _Alien 4_ ...

    I  don't approve of "commercial" bootlegging, of course, but it seems
to me that the evidence suggests that overall fan tape-trading is
beneficial to bands.

Cheers,
Carl

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Carl Edlund Anderson                            * "Lever vi inte i ett
cea20 at cus.cam.ac.uk                             *  fritt land kanske?"
http://wjh-www.harvard.edu/~canders/hem.html    *
Dept. of Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic, Cambridge *  -- Pippi Langstrump
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