The Long Strange Gathering Of Some Vibes

If you want to understand how much the economics of media have changed, nothing illustrates it better than the music industry. And a good example of that is the Gathering of the Vibes, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in Bridgeport, CT’s Seaside Park this weekend. To call it a music festival doesn’t do it justice. Its organizers call it a “vacation.” Children of the 60s might call it a “happening.” Most people just call it “the Vibes.”

The most remarkable thing about the Vibes for me has been to watch how it transforms Bridgeport, a city that once was one of America’s most golden, but more than any of Connecticut’s old industrial towns, never quite made the transition to a post-industrial era. So to see how it comes alive and changes its vibe a few days every summer is remarkable. Equally remarkable, is how it symbolizes the economic shift of music as a medium.

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The Vibes, which was originally conceived as a music festival reuniting former members of the Grateful Dead to commemorate their late bandleader Jerry Garcia, has blossomed into a cottage industry that supports craftsmen, food vendors and musicians alike. The economics of the Vibes has to do with people spending money on the experience surrounding the music that inspired it, not on purchasing the music itself.

That’s a big change from the height of the Grateful Dead economics, which was epitomized by their Europe 72 Tour, which represented a turning point for rock bands of that era, because the Dead lost money touring, and only did it as a form of promotion to sell their albums.

Today, music industry economics have come full circle. Most bands make more money touring, performing -- and merchandising -- their music then they do selling it. Nowadays, they practically give their music away for free. In fact, that’s exactly what the Vibes promoters have been doing this weekend to anyone with a radio receiver capable of receiving a signals from Bridgeport public radio station WPKN, which broadcasts the entire festival under its “Radio Vibes” banner. Over-the-air, that is. As one WPKN deejay pointed out, online listeners can only hear interviews and discussions about the festival, but cannot stream the actual performances themselves. The reason for that, obviously, is because it’s so much easier to pirate the content when it’s streamed.

In the post-Napster era of music, the economics of the industry continue to evolve. PHISH concertgoers, for example, receive free, permissible downloads of recording of the performances they attend as part of the price of their tickets.

One thing that will never change is that people want to listen to music and will pay for it -- directly or indirectly -- when they want to listen to it.

1 comment about "The Long Strange Gathering Of Some Vibes".
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  1. Glenn Jewett from Services1223, August 1, 2015 at 3:37 p.m.

    Joe, you missed the mark a tad because while the '72 Europe tour was a loss, it was intended to open up Europe for the Dead, who until '72 were practically unknown outside the US. Of the Bay Area bands, Jefferson Airplane, with "Surrealistic Pillow" had the jump on record sales and Janis with Big Brother made it with "Cheap Thrills". Quicksilver Mesenger Service never got over the hurtle and even the "forced reunion" "Solid Silver" album was an attempt by Capital Records to recoup losses on the earlier albums. The Dead were in hock from "Axomoxa" because like kids in the candy store they had trashed the "studio time" limits and experimented with overdubs and endless variations with total abandon.
    Remember ticket prices too. We could go to the Carousel Ballroom on Market and Van Ness and see three bands, the Airplane, the Dead and Quicksilver for $4.00. Split between three bands, each musician was lucky to get $100 for a nights work. That lead the Dead, to begin doing the entire three sets themselves, so they didn't have to split the gate. Hence the "legandary" four hour concerts which became their hallmark. Of course you also have to count in the contribution of Owsley, who could drop off new equipment at the rehersal studio without the band having to "budget" any investment. Another big difference with the Dead was the purpose of touring. Every other band of the times would have their tours underwritten by the recording companies in support of an album release. The Dead on the other hand, toured to build their audience and to "work on" new material without an album even in the planning stages. As an example, "Touch of Grey" was originally played publicly in the late '70's but did not appear on an album until 1985's "In The Dark". That was also the first Dead song to hit Billboard's Top 100.
    As regards the free distribution of the music, Jerry used to say, "I never play the same song the same way twice, when I'm done with it they can have it. They'll buy the records anyway." The result was the building of the first "social marketing engine" with "tapers" sold special tickets right behind the soundboard.
    The only non-commercial concerts ever done were the Egypt concerts at Giza and the Dead literally had leased aircraft carry friends and family just to play at the pyramids, even using the great pyramid as an echo chamber. That was a total writeoff.
    Some of those years, the Dead did between 100 to 157 shows a year. For over ten years they were never out of the top ten grossing bands for concerts, while never the number one band. One year the Stones would roll their juggernaught out, the next, Bob Segar, but they were never out of the top ten, year after year. Taking that whole set of years they were the top grossing band for the period.
    And such times were had.

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