Taping and Bootlegs
Dave Matthews Band allows audience members to record most live shows and permits non-profit trading and streaming of the audience recordings. The band cites college students trading these tapes in the early 1990s as a key reason for their current fame. Up until February 23, 1995 the band allowed tapers to plug directly into the live desk at shows but after profiteering on these often high quality tapings, the taping policy was changed to only include microphones. The band and its management also worked with the US federal government in 1996 to launch a crackdown on for-profit bootleggers, which resulted in large-scale arrests of those responsible for illegally manufacturing and selling copies of DMB material. To further combat bootleggers, the band released their first live album, Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95, to satisfy the demand for live recordings.
In recent years it has been common to see several sources per show, sometimes as many as five or more.
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