How much would you happily pay for a live recording of a gig you went to?

[behindthenotes]

This is the weekly discussion on our site. We wanted to see what you guys think...

If you went to see your favourite band, how much would you happily pay for a live recording of the gig?

Surely a professional recording is better than a crappy bootleg. But what's it worth? Does it depend on the ticket price in the first place? With the technology to make recordings available straight after the gig, should all concerts come with a recording included?

[jerry]

Originally Posted by behindthenotes

This is the weekly discussion on our site. We wanted to see what you guys think...

If you went to see your favourite band, how much would you happily pay for a live recording of the gig?

Surely a professional recording is better than a crappy bootleg. But what's it worth? Does it depend on the ticket price in the first place? With the technology to make recordings available straight after the gig, should all concerts come with a recording included?

Are you talking touring/pro band or local band? A lot of bands are doing this already, I bought a two CD of a Who show I went to a couple years ago for about 20 bucks, sounds great too.

[James Hart]

Peter Gabriel did a small 'Greatest Hits' tour at the tail end of his 'Growing Up' tour. They recorded all of the shows and released each as a limited edition 2 CD set as a web only purchase from his website. I think I paid $35 after shipping and such for the one I took the wife to for her birthday. It's the 'Holmdel June 20th 2003' show.

That said, I have countless hours of jazz, jam, r&b and rock shows that are downloaded for free from artists I enjoy with open taping policies. some 'crappy bootlegs' are simply amazing pieces of music history!

[mdiddium]

I think it might be a good idea to include a free recording of the show with the cost of your ticket. With many large festivals and tours seeing low attendance numbers, it might account for a boost in ticket sales (or at least an added incentive). For a lot of fans, a direct board feed will suffice, which means there isn't a whole lot of cost in hiring a huge recording crew (since the FOH crew could easily do a separate feed), and blank CDs by bulk are in the cheap for sure.

To record the concert at a more professional audio quality level, I think that a lot of bands would do well by selling the CDs on their websites (like the aforementioned Peter Gabriel, what a great business man!). For bands that don't have that kind of demand or clout to sell the live concerts on CD, then free downloads also work great.

However, if I had to pay for the recording, I think I would "happily" pay up to $20 for what would most likely be a two disc set, whether it was directly after the concert or online after the CDs are produced.

[Dr_Funkdamental]

Id kick out for it. I know I would have gladly paid for the Vic concert I saw in Towson, MD. He did one lick that made every person in the room get the stank face. I doubt he'll ever hit it again lol. I would have just paid for that song LOLOL.

[acleex38]

Mule Tracks - I've paid $13 for a show I attended just to confirm that it *wasn't* that good a Gov't Mule show. That's the last time I'll pay for a show that wasn't that great, but I've kept buying better Mule shows since then.

[SoComSurfing]

Pearl Jam did this a few years back. I think I paid $20.

[Fo' Shizzle]

I've got a really nice bootleg of Wilco in Dallas last year. I would have paid $20 for it...........I didn't have to.

I downloaded it from their site a week after the show.

[superbassman2000]

i got the phish concert i went to from livephish.com and i believe it was ten bucks--i thought that was fair

[T-MOST]

No more than the general price of a Live CD.