Velvet Underground
Bootlegs occupy a special niche in the library of any hard-core rock ‘n’ roll fan: a copy of Dylan’s “Great White Wonder” or “The Lost Lennon Tapes” confers a certain serious status on a record collector. But in recent years, the format has exerted great influence on the mainstream music industry as well. Why? Many a band has been signed on the strength of its live show, only to spend weeks and thousands of dollars holed up in three rooms trying to eliminate every last happy accident from its set. But the bootleg removes the ability of the artists or their handlers to take those moments back before they reach your ears. The qualities that consumers look to bootlegs for–rarity, exclusivity, spontaneity, and intimacy–are being infused into more and more label product, in the form of “official” bootlegs, intimate live recordings, and bonus material for box sets.
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Artists themselves also fought back: Paul McCartney kicked off a new phase in official bootlegging in 1991, when he pushed for the release of his MTV “Unplugged” sessions to thwart potential unauthorized reproduction. His set, subtitled The Official Bootleg, opened the floodgates for more sanctioned (and heavily rehearsed) recorded “events,” right up through Jay-Z’s acoustic hip-hop set with the Roots in December. Other artists took an active stance on the issue, too: to sate the voracious demand for their bootlegs, Pearl Jam (who allow live concert taping) issued 25 double-CD sets from its 2000 European tour and later 47 sets from an American one. Nirvana, on the other hand, announced in 1992 that they would simply no longer perform unreleased songs in concert.
