"Experiments are rife in the music business these days -- and Boston will be a test market for one of the most novel of them. Clear Channel Concerts, the nation's largest concert promoter, has ambitious plans to record live CDs of its shows and sell them to patrons within five minutes after those shows end. Clear Channel is targeting Boston as the first site for the new plan, according to sources within the organization. "

I experienced this a few weeks ago when I attended a Robert Walter's show where the opening band was selling live CD's of their set.  We were sitting right next to the sound board and watching them make the cd's and commenting on whether this was some corporate attempt to co-opt a non-commercial medium for their own good.  We eventually determined it was, since it turns out the band (a talented but fairly generic hippy-noodler band) was sponsered by an energy drink company (the heavily logo'd SUV/trailer combo the band was touring in tipped us off to start.) 

Now it appears the biggest musical co-opter of all - Clearchannel - has caught the vibe.  I'm not sure how to feel about this.  I think the idea is brilliant, but I'm curious why its the corporate powers that are doing it and not individual bands - at least none that I've experienced.

Phish is the one band I can think of that gets full value out of their live recordings, by selling their live shows through the LivePhish site, but even they - as far as I'm aware - don't sell the recordings of the shows AT the shows.

Why?  I can't tell you how many times I've been to a show and immediately started plotting how to track down the recording which inevitably take a few weeks to make their way into the wider trading community.  If I could just walk out the door with the CD of the show I just enjoyed, and in the process support the band in a more direct way, then isn't everyone happy? 

Why aren't more bands doing this?

[via Slashdot]

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