COPYCENSE

“The Grateful Dead–the business–is testing the loyalty of longtime fans of the Grateful Dead–the band–by cracking down on an independently run Web site that made thousands of recordings of its live concerts available for free downloading.

“The band recently asked the operators of the popular Live Music Archive to make the concert recordings, a staple of Grateful Dead fandom, available only for listening online, the band’s spokesman, Dennis McNally, said Tuesday.

“In the meantime, the files that previously had been freely downloaded were taken down from the site last week.”

Jeff Leeds. Deadheads Rebel Against Web Crackdown. News.com. Nov. 30, 2005.

See also:

BoingBoing. Barlow on Death of Grateful Dead Music Sharing, Fans Protest. Nov. 29, 2005.

Internet Archive. Grateful Dead Concert Recordings on the Internet Archive. Nov. 22, 2005.

Updates:

Associated Press. Everyone Is Grateful Again. Wired News. Dec. 1, 2005. (“What a short, strange trip it was. After the Grateful Dead angered some of its biggest fans by asking a nonprofit website to halt the free downloading of its concert recordings, the psychedelic jam band changed its mind Wednesday.”)

Susan B. Shor. Dead Keeps Concert Sharing Alive. TechNewsWorld. Dec. 1, 2005.

Internet Archive. Good News and an Apology: GD on the Internet Archive. Dec. 1, 2005.

Richard B. Simon. Grateful Dead Downloads Likely To Be Restored at Archive.org. Relix News. Nov. 30, 2005.

Attribution: OpenWyre.com first discovered news of this policy change through a posting in Library Stuff, edited by Steven M. Cohen.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.