Cooler Deadheads Prevail

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a couple of days now, but the crisis among deadheads seems to have worked itself out. The post-Garcia Grateful Dead ordered a non-profit Internet archive service to remove the group’s perennially traded (bootleg) live concert footage from its site. Well, Jerry must have turned over in his grave, and the rabid fan outcry (via an online petition) precipitated a complete about-face.

Live recordings, made from the concert soundboards, were excluded in the pact. Dead bassist Phil Lesh posted an earnest apology on his website. Nonetheless, we haven’t heard the last in the digital rights management debate.