As of this writing, I know of no other publication covering or reviewing online bootleg concert recordings. Today that changes. Welcome to The End and The Future of Recorded Music. Since I believe concert recording and sharing is the most important development in music since the inception of the LP, this column will focus primarily on covering concert recordings available on-line. Every day more fans are learning how to record and share recordings of their favorite bands. Increasingly, more bands are also becoming open to the practice. Still, concert taping is typically treated as a hobby for just a fringe group of live music enthusiasts. Music magazines and websites (this one included) are still focused primarily on the album – a format that is becoming increasingly unnecessary and anachronistic. With this column, I will keep a sharp focus on how our musical landscape is changing, thanks to emerging trends and technologies.

Sometimes I yearn for a day when albums are gone and all we listen to are concert recordings. This is unlikely to ever happen, but everyday, more concert recordings become available, and the album is rendered increasingly irrelevant. Two relatively recent developments in technology – digital file-sharing, and the widespread availability of cheap digital recording technology — have had profound implications for the music industry; interestingly enough, the latter of which has been strangely overlooked. It’s been more than a decade since all of my friends started downloading Mp3s over the internet, and nearly as long since my college friends recorded their first demo with a PC and a cheap computer microphone. Today, the vast majority of young music consumers never buy CDs or records (if they buy anything at all). Just about anyone can easily record a home demo, or even an entire album on a shoestring budget. Recording a concert now is similarly cheap and easy. Yet, music critics remain fixated on the album, treating it as if it were the be-all-end-all of musical expression. Any deadhead could tell you how wrong this contention is.

Of course, live music fanatics have never been limited to Grateful Dead fans, as I plan to show in the upcoming weeks. Hopefully, this column will expand the world of concert taping and sharing beyond niche communities. While it may be too much to hope for a utopia where online file-sharing and concert recording has broken the grip of labels, mass media, and tastemakers who determine what we listen to, with luck, we can move further in that direction in the future.

As you have probably figured out by now, I love online concert sharing. Since I started downloading shows, I have been listening to concert recordings nearly every day. Some days, that’s nearly all I listen to. I’ve found myself falling even more in love with bands that I already loved. I’ve heard live performances of never recorded songs and live versions that blow their studio counterparts out of the water. Even when the live version is not as good as the studio version, it is still frequently thrilling to hear a song in its earlier, less polished stages. Thankfully nearly all of my favorite artists make bootlegs available in some form. Any band that is worth a shit gives you something special live, and now you don’t always miss out if you weren’t able to make it to the show.

That being said, jumping into the world of concert downloads is not easy. Unlike albums which are well-reviewed, promoted, and commercially-available at your favorite music stores, downloading concerts and listening to them requires some work and patience. Finding the right places to download concerts is not always easy. What’s more, because we’re dealing with a huge number of largely unplanned fan recordings, the shear breadth of material available can be daunting at first. Thankfully for any of you Inyourspeakers readers who have found their interests piqued, this column will make it easy for (almost) anyone to find and listen to quality concert recordings of their favorite bands. Put simply, we will do the work so that you don’t have to. Stay tuned for next week’s article on how and where to start the live downloading frenzy.

Author’s Note: Online concert sharing is not the only digital music development out there. I certainly don’t pretend to know everything, even with regards to concert taping and sharing. Email me at josephbogen@inyourspeakers.com with your tips / suggestions / ideas. If you have an issue, a taping site or even just a recording that you think we should pay attention, I want to hear about it.