What the Dave Matthews Band did right
I am a huge fan of the Dave Matthews Band. They have differentiated themselves in the music industry (see Raymond’s post) through some innovative, out-of-the-box thinking.
Aside from the fact that they continue to produce exceptional music after 13 years in the game (and of course the fact that Dave is South African born), the band continues to gain popularity through outstanding, industry-renowned live performances and the largest online follwing of any musical ensemble, worldwide (see Nancies.org and The Warehouse).
There is a very specific, very unique reason for their success…
From day one, when they where still playing dingy gigs in Charlottesville, Virginia, the band has ENCOURAGED fans to record and redistribute their live acts, even offering to plug their recorders into the band’s mixing desk (this has obviously changed as the band got bigger, but fans are still most welcome to record at big events too). This endorsment of “bootlegged” recordings meant that fans were able to go home, listen to the stuff, distribute it to friends and family, post and trade it online, and, well, you can just imagine the effect. Problem was, people started charging for bootlegs, angering the band and driving them to release more live albums. They have, however stopped the sale of bootlegs and now only endorse free bootleg distribution.
Soon the band would find themselves touring towns and cities they’d never seen before but were already heroes in thanks to bootlegs. And the studio album sales kept rolling in.
This post is really just an observation. The Dave Matthews Band have not suffered for their unusual approach to the sharing of their material, and it could be argued that it may just have been the key to their phenomenal success.
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And hooray to them for encouraging bootlegging! I for one was absolutely thrilled to find online (via Limewire) a recording of a song they performed in Boston when I heard them live on December 16th 2002. Long live music sharing!