Mary Minow has a fun interview with the librarian responsible for editing and annotating the upcoming book The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics and discusses how the Dead’s policy of allowing free taping of all their shows helped the band, and also how that aesthetic does or does not translate into the world of print.
The marketing model of allowing free distribution of the music just flew in the face of all the common wisdom. In a way, the file-sharing programs that are the target of such vilification from the mainstream music business world today are the direct descendants of the Dead’s approach. That said, they have been (rightfully) quite cautious in allowing this project to go forward as a print-on-paper book.