[Dixielandjazz] The worm turns - at long last

[Bill Haesler]

Dear friends,
Tom Wiggins and Bill Oakley (and a few other DJMLers) should love the
following news item which appeared in today's 'Sydney Morning Herald'
(Australia).  
This SMH report follows on from the experience in Dresden, Germany, in May
2004 by the Sydney-Zenith Jazz Band, reported to the list by Tom Wood and
Jack Wiard, where a CD with extracts of an evening's festival concert
performance was on sale, to the public, the next morning.
I can already hear the howls of pain from the big record companies'
over-paid executives and the music industry vultures, all trying to protect
their lucrative jobs and justifying the losses to their poor shareholders.
For once it looks like the artists will get the major share of  some CD
sales. 
Very kind regards,
Bill.

Music Technology.
Gig-goers to get live CDs at venue.
A local promoter, Smash Touring, and an American band is to bring the new
world of live concert CDs to Australians this month. When underground rock
legends DTK/MC5  play in Australia, gig-goers will be able to buy a CD of
that night's performance at the venue, as technology enables the
mainstreaming of what used to be the illegal act of bootlegging.
Backed by major US promoters, the concept allows acts to record a concert
and immediately sell it, with profits estimated at AUD$10-15 a unit going to
the artists.
Bernard Zuel.

This is a follow-on from a longer article in the same newspaper on July 3,
2004, included hereunder:

Grab CD of concert on your way out.
By Bernard Zuel

After decades of artists having their live music and income stolen by
bootleggers, the hunted have joined the ranks of the poachers, offering fans
the chance to relive their concerts only hours after they end.

Tested on several tours in the past year and very publicly trialled in the
May reformation tour of 1980s cult band the Pixies, the use of new
technology to record concerts and burn CDs that can be sold to departing
concert-goers is going mainstream.

This week the communications and entertainment conglomerate Clear Channel
announced it had signed major-label acts such as folk/pop singer Jewel and
veteran glam-rock band Kiss to Instant Live, a program making recordings
available at venues "roughly five minutes" after the concerts end.

If the figures from the Pixies shows are any indication, between 20 and 50
per cent of fans will buy a live recording of the concert they have just
attended.

Using a rival system, Disc Live, the Pixies (never a big drawing act in the
league of Kiss or Jewel) sold 16,000 copies of their live gigs in a
month-long tour. 

The profit figures already look rosy with some estimates that artists could
clear $10 to $15 from each CD sold.

Before internet piracy and downloading, before CDs even, the scourge of the
music industry were the bootleggers, shadowy figures who carried recording
equipment in deep pockets or who knew someone who knew someone with access
to the sound desk at a concert.

Those recordings soon made their way onto records and CDs (and more recently
downloadable files) that were sold under the counter, via mail-order or
online.

The problem was of course that the publisher, record company and artist (in
decreasing order of profit takers) saw none of the money made. Until now.

Acts such as the Who, to play in Australia later this month, already sell
CDs directly to fans within a few weeks of each concert.

As of this week no Australian record company, promoter or artist had yet
committed to either live disc format. The costs of establishing the
technology was cited as one deterrent, the relatively small size of the live
market another.

However, industry figures agreed it was merely a matter of when, not if,
instant live CDs are available in Australia.