Over the past few years, as this whole web 2.0 thing has really grown and progressed, we’ve seen a number of new sites launch that are specifically geared towards live music fans on the web. In a sense, all of them exist to help fans track and follow their favorite touring bands/artists in a variety of ways, but with a focus on their live shows rather than their studio output (which is amply covered by a slew of Music 2.0 sites and services).
While a lot of these sites have not yet emerged into the larger music business landscape, there’s no doubt in my mind that web technologies in general will continue to affect and disrupt the live music space, as they’ve already been doing quite drastically with the recording industry. Back when I was able to dedicate more of my free time to Live Music Blog, I was really interested in exploring this space in depth. Although Justin and I have occasionally posted about some of these sites — mentioning iLike.com and ShowClix or talking up the latest feature from JamBase — we’ve never really focused on them directly as a key topic. We’d like to change that. Since we are a site dedicated to live music, it only makes sense to look at the related web services and sites that serve all of US as a community of fans. I’d like to finally re-visit my original idea and dig a bit deeper into all the sites and services that form what we call “Live Music 2.0.”
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Billboard tells us that Wolfgang’s Vault will open it’s entire concert catalog beginning in November, offering paid downloads and an annual premium membership on top of their current streaming services:
Leading up to the Nov. 3 “Cracking the Vault Day” blowout, Wolfgang’s Vault — which recently logged its 100 millionth streamed show — is offering a small amount of new shows twice weekly. The site just put up a Grateful Dead concerts (from May 15, 1970 at the Fillmore East in New York City); future releases include Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt (Oct. 2), Hall & Oates and Boz Scaggs (Oct. 6), Santana and Chicago (Oct. 9), Lou Reed (Oct. 13), Miles Davis, Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra (Oct. 16), Twisted Sister and the Ramones (Oct. 20), the Byrds, Dolly Parton and Waylon Jennings (Oct. 23), Cheap Trick (Oct. 27) and Mountain (Oct. 30). Newly streaming shows from Dylan and Pink Floyd will also become available on Oct. 30.
They’ve got a pretty serious collection over there. Good news for live music fanatics!
Fleet Foxes after seeing their show recently at The Independent, and I will continue to be obsessed with them for the foreseeable future; their music is just so meditative to me. It’s extremely relaxing and something I’ve spent a lot of time listening to over the past couple months as my real-life has been more than a bit busy.
Prepare to not know where you are. Prepare to be completely yanked out of the casing, borders and firmament of your bones and prints. You will find yourself naked in the middle of a barren woods, or with a light covering of bedclothes flapping in the frosty, kick of a wind, looking sideways and likeways in all directions, rubbing the sleepy fog from your eyes and wondering what had just happened – how you got between a peaceful night in and a twisted version of your own personal bit of fantastic, perplexed carnivalesque solemnity. You’ll not be frightened.
Uhm, sure. We’re not in a position to disagree with that intro.
Fleet Foxes Concert, Studio Paradiso (San Francisco, CA) – 4/17/08 [Wolfgang's Vault]
Billboard is reporting that Wolfgang’s Vault has struck a deal with Universal Music Group that will allow a selection of archived concert recordings to be sold digitally for a fairly reasonable price: $9.98 for any concert longer than 30 minutes, $5.98 for shorter sets. All of the concerts will still be available for streaming.
Nearly 500 vintage concert recordings from Fleetwood Mac, the Kinks, Santana and Billy Joel are now available for download purchase through a new arrangement between Wolfgang’s Vault and Universal Music Group.
I’m glad to see that the archives won’t really be going to waste. For some folks that saw some of these concerts back in the day, how cool is it that they can now purchase the show to help regain that memory. In a way, I wish that I could have more of a record of my concert going experience nowadays that I’m catching bands in clubs that aren’t necessarily recording their own sets. One of the thrills of getting close to the jamband scene was the realization that you could probably find a recording of what you were witnessing in some short time after the show. You can find a torrent of the show you saw, download it, rip it to mp3 and load it on your iPod, and you can seriously relive all of the memories and thoughts that occurred to you as you were at the concert. I love that.
Wolfgang’s Vault Opens For Downloading [Billboard.com]
