Grateful Dead leaves the Internet Archive, sort of

Lots of hippies screaming bloody murder, because of this statement on the Internet Archive:

The Internet Archive has worked with tapers, tape traders, funders, admins, and over 1000 bands to build a great non-commercial music library that is freely accessible. Technically and policy-wise, it has been invigorating as you can probably appreciate. We have made changes in the past and we will make changes again.

Following the policies of the Grateful Dead and the Dead communities we have provided non-commercial access to thousands of great concerts. Based on discussions with many involved, the Internet Archive has been asked to change how the Grateful Dead concert recordings are being distributed on the Archive site for the time being. The full collection will remain safe in the Archive for preservation purposes.

Here is the plan:

Audience recordings are available in streaming format (m3u).
Soundboard recordings are not available.

Additionally, the Grateful Dead recordings will be separated from the Live Music Archive into its own collection. The metadata and reviews for all shows and recordings will remain available.

We appreciate that this change will be a surprise and upset many of you, but please channel reactions in ways that you genuinely think will be productive. If we keep the bigger picture in mind that there are many experiments going on right now, and experiments working well, we can build on the momentum that tape trading started decades ago.

Working together we can keep non-commercial sharing part of our world.

Thank you for helping find balances that work for all involved.

-brewster
Digital Librarian and Founder

-Matt Vernon
Volunteer GD Archivist

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