The current controversy over illegal music being downloaded from P2P networks drowns out the fact that many musicians actually encourage their fans to record and distribute their live shows. So long as no profit is being made, the fans can do what they wish with these recordings.
I think this is a great deal, because I personally enjoy live music much more than studio recordings. Live music is where great musicians can really shine, and I feel that being able to put on a great show is a true testament to a performer’s talent.
Forty years ago, The Grateful Dead began their long and winding career, and started building an extremely enthusiastic and dedicated community of fans by encouraging people to record their live music, and freely trade and distribute the shows. Tape trading was an activity encouraged by many other bands at the time, and The Dead embraced it as the invaluable word-of-mouth promotion tool that it is. The success of The Grateful Dead is a testament to the benefits offered by tape trading.
Tape trading has evolved with technology over the years, to the point where tapes are no longer involved in the process. The scene has gone from sending tapes and CDs back and forth through meet-ups and the postal system, to exchanging digital files across the Internet. For the live music fan, this means that there is a wealth of free, legal music sitting on the Internet, waiting to be downloaded.
Where to Find the Music
Two of the easiest ways to find live shows online are to visit fan web sites for individual musicians, and general trading sites that maintain indexes of shows available for download.
Fan sites are unofficial web sites about specific musicians, created and maintained by fans. For example, Dave Matthews Band has inspired many different fan sites, many of which keep track of free downloads in their own databases, as well is in message boards full of traders. I found all of these sites with one simple Google search. Try it yourself on another band — search for band name here +”fan site”.
In addition to fan sites, there are also general tape trading sites that maintain databases of shows, along with where each one can be downloaded. One such site is db.etree.org. On db.etree.org, music fans can browse a lengthy list of artists that allow taping, and search for download links to individual shows.
How to Download the Music
By far, the most common method of downloading live shows from the Internet is with BitTorrent. BitTorrent is a technology that makes it possible to quickly download large files by spreading the load out among the network of people downloading each particular file. Since BitTorrent works well with large files, it’s a natural fit for the digital tape trading scene, which is constantly exchanging huge, high-quality audio files.
The process for downloading most shows is two-fold:
- Use a site like db.etree.org to locate a specific show, and then download that show’s “torrent” file.
- Start up your BitTorrent software, and open up that torrent file. Your download will begin. Most programs let you open a torrent file one of two ways:
- Use File → Open to open up the torrent file.
- Drag the torrent file into the BitTorrent window, and drop it there.
If you’d like to learn more about the details of BitTorrent, read “Introduction to BitTorrent“.
How to Play the Music
Tape Traders are a dedicated bunch, and they take their music seriously. Tape traders always strive to always have the best quality recordings, and therefore do not use MP3 files. MP3 is a “lossy” format, which means that MP3 files sacrifice a little bit of sound quality in favor of small file sizes and fast downloads. Most tape traders will not distribute recordings sourced from MP3 files, and ask that if you do convert a recording to MP3, you do not re-distribute it.
When you’re downloading live music, you’ll run into SHN files and FLAC files. Both are “lossless” audio formats that do not sacrifice any sound quality — downloads are huge, upwards of a gigabyte or two, but the sound is great.
There are some tools available to play back these lossless files. And if you’re looking to burn CDs, you’ll first need software that’s able to convert these formats to WAV. On the other side of the coin, you’ll need the same type of software if you want to copy a CD into a lossless audio file to trade over the Internet. Here are some software packages that will come in handy when working with lossless audio formats:
- mkwACT — Windows software for converting WAV files to and from lossless formats like SHN.
- ShnAmp — An add-on for the WinAmp MP3 player that allows you to play back SHN files.
- MacFLAC — Mac software for working with the FLAC audio format.
- xACT — Mac software for working with a variety of lossless audio formats, including the popular SHN and FLAC formats.
- Exact Audio Copy — Windows software designed to make prefect copies of CD audio.
Trading live shows is a great way to spread the word about your favorite artist. Some old-school tape traders criticize the practice of trading files over the Internet because it eliminates the human aspect of trading. Before the Internet, recordings were traded at meet-ups, at shows, and through the mail, where you had to actually find someone who had the shows you wanted. They’re right about this to an extent, so if you’re really interested in trading shows and decide to do it digitally, I encourage you to visit the various message boards and community sites set up by dedicated traders. You’re bound to meet interesting people with similar tastes in music.
