Topic: to share or not to share

[beroti_music]

Apart from the occasional dime upload, I never really shared my recordings.
I've traded in the past and I gave friends copies.

I have recorded about 350 shows so far. Mostly stealth audio and video.
I'm thinking about sharing them. What I don't like about dime is the amount of shows that turn into bootlegs later and are sold.

I'm wondering what people here do: do you share your stealth tapes and if so why and where?
If not, why not?

 

[sabre]

What's the big deal if somebody sells your stuff? You can't control what people do with your work, whether you just trade it to a friend or post the shows publicly for anyone to download.

What's the point of recording shows if not to share them?

[beroti_music]

What's the big deal if somebody sells your stuff? You can't control what people do with your work, whether you just trade it to a friend or post the shows publicly for anyone to download.

What's the point of recording shows if not to share them?

I tape shows to relive the memory and enjoy it myself.
Why do you tape shows? Do you share and if so, where?

[aaronji]

What's the point of recording shows if not to share them?

I agree with robeti: I tape mostly for my own personal pleasure. I have told some of my taper friends that I am a "selfish taper": I am happy to share, but that's not why I do it. I generally share all of my stealth recordings (assuming I ever get them processed) and all of my open recordings where the artist allows it. I also have a large number of "artist-approved, but specifically asked not to share" tapes. Those see essentially no distribution. Don't bite the hand that feeds you and all...

[rocksuitcase]

Sooooooo. Been taping since 1982. Long ago I decided I was not only doing this for myself, but "for the record", as an archivist, so to speak. I have recorded a few bands where open taping was so prolific, might as well only share if it is excellent quality- Phish, WP, GD, etc. OTH, they have uploaded 100% of my GD AUD recordings to archive.org. but none of my WP since they just recently became OK to post on the TS portion. Discussions with archivists for LMA, Matt Vernon, Vanark, Greenone almost to a person say, as long as it is unique, different gear, no other tapers, etc, might as well post it if the band allows archive.org posting.

To your question about keeping it from being sold. Ugh, so difficult. I am aware of many of my masters being available on guitars101 for one instance. That is basically a whaddyougonando situation.
If you are not the one doing the selling, the karma is on those folks.
What I've been doing is hosting current non archive bands on my google drive and use an e-mail list of interested people I've cultivated over the years (over 75 now).
Some people use hightail as their hosting service. I get a weekly e-mail from this guy who lists 10-20 links each posting. This only goes to people he knows, in fact, it just started showing up in my inbox without me asking!
I've seen several TS tapers stuff listed on there.

I hope this helps. And while I feel sharing the music is the important thing, each of us has our own comfort level, and possibly other professional interests which understandably prevent us from sharing.

[firemt66]

In the '90s I recorded from myself and to make copies for friends. since 2010 I upload on dime I don't care if people sell it, I won't even bother looking for my shows being sold anywhere it's not worth my time I didn't know there was other avenues for downloading live shows except for archives, dime, etree and Traders Den.. I would love to be on some of these tapers list for emails more ways to find shows the better!

[ballerusk]

Is it really profitable to be selling bootlegs in this day and age where most fans/people either download or stream concerts on Youtube? Or is CD/DVD bootlegs still popular in developing countries?

[rocksuitcase]

In the '90s I recorded from myself and to make copies for friends. since 2010 I upload on dime I don't care if people sell it, I won't even bother looking for my shows being sold anywhere it's not worth my time I didn't know there was other avenues for downloading live shows except for archives, dime, etree and Traders Den.. I would love to be on some of these tapers list for emails more ways to find shows the better!

PM me

[nulldogmas]

It all depends on the show. If the artist is on LMA, then I'll post it there. If not but I haven't heard that they have a problem with their recordings being shared, I'll post to DIME so the most people can get a copy. If it's a musician who I know would rather it not be shared widely, I'll stick it in Dropbox and share it with a few friends, or maybe post it to a fan Facebook group.

The widespread sale of DIME uploads does have me moving a few more artists from the second category to the third, though. My goal is not to do anything that the musicians themselves would be unhappy with, and a lot of musicians are rightfully displeased when their live performances show up for sale by some rando, so I may be going back to more person-to-person sharing in the future.

[gambra]

Is it really profitable to be selling bootlegs in this day and age where most fans/people either download or stream concerts on Youtube? Or is CD/DVD bootlegs still popular in developing countries?

I doubt theres any money in it other than a few misguided Rolling Stones or Dylan fans looking for recordings but not knowing its usually freely available. The site rockinconcerts is definitely autodownloading everything on DIME and then posting them for sale, my recordings have ended up there with even my text files just pasted. But theres such a huge volume of recorded shows out there though a pile of sources I doubt much is selling. Anyone in the know enough for live tapes will know where to get them for free.

But who cares really, no ones tapes are ultimately that special in the end. If you're not posting to DIME for whatever reason, fine, but at least get lists out there. Without sharing it what's the point, it'll just rot on a hard drive somewhere and no one will ever get to enjoy it.

[roffels]

I also have a large number of "artist-approved, but specifically asked not to share" tapes. Those see essentially no distribution. Don't bite the hand that feeds you and all...

Yep, same. But those are also a bummer - they're sometimes some of my favorite tapes, and I put a lot of work into them. But I'm going to respect the artist's wishes.

[aaronji]

^ Yes, indeed. Some of my best recordings, including several that I have listened to a gazillion times, live only in my computer/NAS, my portable player, and my wife's car (burned to CD, no less). Heck, I just recently made a (in my opinion) superb recording of a band that has close to 1500 shows on LMA, but was asked not to share it. Disappointing, to be sure, but it is what it is...

[daspyknows]

Is it really profitable to be selling bootlegs in this day and age where most fans/people either download or stream concerts on Youtube? Or is CD/DVD bootlegs still popular in developing countries?

I doubt theres any money in it other than a few misguided Rolling Stones or Dylan fans looking for recordings but not knowing its usually freely available. The site rockinconcerts is definitely autodownloading everything on DIME and then posting them for sale, my recordings have ended up there with even my text files just pasted. But theres such a huge volume of recorded shows out there though a pile of sources I doubt much is selling. Anyone in the know enough for live tapes will know where to get them for free.

But who cares really, no ones tapes are ultimately that special in the end. If you're not posting to DIME for whatever reason, fine, but at least get lists out there. Without sharing it what's the point, it'll just rot on a hard drive somewhere and no one will ever get to enjoy it.

I bet he sells 50 to 250 a weekk so it does add up.  If there was no money in it would he be doing it?  I doubt that.  As far as the CDs for a variety of bands go on their msg board sites and see how many are buying EVEN WNEN THEY CAN DOWNLOAD FOR FREE.  I got into it one one clown on a Pink Floyd site over that.  He said there are only 1000 made and they are an investment.  Like investing in Beanie Babies.   

[beroti_music]

^Indeed. Many Queen fans still buy bootlegs as well. Unbelievable.

[aaronji]

^ All of the bands mentioned (Stones, Floyd, Dylan, Queen) are older bands, likely with older fans. As anyone with parents can attest, some of them don't adapt to new technology very well. Many are probably unaware of the bit torrent sites or LMA and also have problems dealing with them. And share ratios are a bitch when you are only downloading.

A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail newsletter from a band pointing their fans to their LMA collection. It was surprising to see the reaction, as most of them were completely astounded to find out that such a thing existed. I already got 25 or 30 messages from random strangers thanking me for my recordings...