Ben Bloom guitarist for the Polyrhythmics, Unsinkable Heavies, and Rippin’ Chicken posted this on Facebook. Sums it up beautifully.

I want to thank all the “tapers” out there who continually get out after all the great live music there is to capture. As I’m sure many of you have, I grew up on bootlegs and capturing a live performance and sharing it freely is probably the most rightous thing anyone can do to help support the live music community and help encourage new or old music fans to check out something that they may have otherwise missed. My life has been made richer by all of the muiscal experiences I get to live out via “live recordings” and I know there is a ton of effort, dedication, diligence and flat out work that goes into making this experience a reality for me , others and our future generations of musicians, and music fans. Thank You , Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for helping original music reach beyond the moment. The legacy of all musicians is in large part shaped and preserved by your dedication, and I for one am eternally greatful. -B

Here’s the pitch.

In my opinion, live music is where it’s at. Love it.

Recordings of live music, done well, make me want to see more music. “Hey! They have a cd and t-shirt, I should get some stuff.” Margins on merchandise at shows are better than any retail deal. This is a model of promotion that the Grateful Dead and Phish used to become profitable bands without having Top 40 hits.

So, allow recording of shows. Fans will spread the word, and with the Live Music Archive, have a place where people can discover it. Over 1000 bands are hosted on the archive.

Check it out.

Free. Under your control. Safe.

Free: archive.org is a non-profit digital archive of media. They host media including books, out of copyright recordings, and the Live Music Archive. Of A Revolution uses the archive to host the media they stream from their website, and one show in particular has over 2 million listens (http://www.archive.org/details/oar2006-01-14.mix.flac16).

Under your control:The Live Music Archive is moderated and has a strict policy of only hosting recordings of bands that allow taping of their shows. They also will enforce any limits the artist sets. Some examples are no soundboard recordings, only band authorized uploaders, or setting blackout dates on material used for commercial release.

Safe: archive.org has backup servers so that all content is protected in multiple locations. The archive’s mission is the preservation and sharing of digital media, to be this century’s Library of Alexandria, but redundant.

for more information you can read this.

http://www.archive.org/about/faqs.php#115

So please, email etree@archive.org with permission to archive your concerts. Then people like me can upload the shows we record to the archive, and have it available and preserved.

Thanks,

Steve