How to capture the Roadburn Festival webcast to disk

[Colin Allen]

The sad part of this is that this is a discussion that has been had in the past......there seems to be a real, if misplaced, fear of "losing control".

Carl Edlund Anderson <cea at CARLAZ.COM> wrote:  On 24/05/2006 14:37, tim elliott wrote:
> And of course, the band could always make their own cd-rs of their concerts
> and sell them on the website (as many bands do) and
> therefore make money for themselves - not a record company - and
> keep the fans happy. I enjoy finding legal music on band websites that
> aren't available in music stores, and think that this could be lucrative 
> for the band also.

Indeed. As the Mighty FoFP so cogently observed, "The future is here", 
and as we know, it is the business of the future to be dangerous .... ;) 
On the other hand, the future needn't be _that_ dangerous. Not if, 
now that we're living it, we don't pass to much time looking at the past 
.... ;)

I think Hawkwind are _exactly_ the sort of band that would benefit 
legitmate, band-controlled, legal download sales. They have a broad and 
very dedicated fan base that spans a range of age groups. People travel 
long distances to see their concerts and go to great lengths to get 
difficult to find releases. Sure, there are casual fans that are happy 
with a "best of" disc, and bless 'em. But there are also fans, perhaps 
more likely to participate in discussion lists such as this, who want 
more -- and these are exactly the kinds of fans who represent a revenue 
stream for the band in terms of live downloads.

It's not economical, in all probability, to produce physical CDs for 
sale in shops or even by mail-order of every Hawkwind concert. However, 
it's perfectly possible to make money selling downloadable concert 
recordings made and mixed by the band (or under its auspices) of all or 
most shows (not to mention "best of the tour" packages). Bands who do 
this sort of thing keep more of the profits, while lower overheads mean 
it costs less to the fans than a standard CD release. Everyone 
important (i.e. the band, the fans) wins.

Honestly, I find this thread a bit bizarre. I regularly get email 
adverts from MuleTracks.com announcing new concerts for sale by 
download. PhilLesh.net keeps me informed of how I can *pre-order* 
soundboard CDs and get _free_ CD-quality downloads (that include as 
printable PDFs as inserts). Nugs.net is _awash_ in purchasable 
downloads and stash of free MP3 samples. How has Hawkwind -- the space 
warriors, the fearless technomads of the future -- failed to tap into 
this trend? If there was ever a way to beat The Man (in this case, the 
record labels) while still making a living from selling your creative 
output, and simulataneously bringing more music than ever to the masses, 
then this is it, the current state-of-the-art.

The point is, the band shouldn't have to --doesn't have to -- worry 
about fans, let alone, grubby bootleggers, running off with their sales. 
The technology exists to let band keep the cake whilst the fans eat it.

Cheers,
Carl

ps - appropo, has anyone read the new Ars Technica article on 
eMusic.com? I'm 
not a fan of buying lossy formats, but it's an interesting read.

-- 
Carl Edlund Anderson
mailto:cea at carlaz.com
http://www.carlaz.com/