Most readers of this site already know about the Live Music Archive–the concert archive off-shoot of the larger attempt at a an all-encompassing “Internet library” that is Archive.org.
But I’d also suspect that most folks have heard the LMA most often associated with jambands of the Grateful Dead variety. The association is definitely is not inaccurate (as the Grateful Dead’s and other jambands’ concert recordings certainly make up the bulk of what’s hosted on the LMA).
But the archive is no longer limited to the bands like String Cheese Incident, moe, and Disco Biscuits. Because the archive is open to any band that is open to non-commercial file-sharing, many other types of bands have taken notice and have begun to see audience tapers not as a threat but as a useful resource for generating buzz, fan interest, and a community around non-profit file-sharing.
I frequently pen a “live from the ‘Live Music Archive” post to highlight a particular gem of a show, but this post is more about highlighting bands that you might not expect to have concert recordings on the LMA or that you might not consider a typically “taper-friendly” band.
By the way, if you’re wondering why I’m including all of this in a series about streaming live music, the LMA now offers streaming as well as downloading of the concert recordings. This is a great feature so that you can check out sound quality or decide if you really want to use the bandwidth or hard-drive space for downloading a given recording (sidenote: not every show will offer the option for streaming; that typically depends on the band’s policy and when the recording was uploaded; I’ve noticed some older gems that are only available for download in certain formats and not to be streamed).
So other than the usual suspects of jambands and groovin’ jazz groups, here are a bunch of bands with concerts on the archive that are more frequently associated with other genres (the numbers in parentheses are the number of shows available):
Andrew Bird (69); Animal Collective (4); Ben Kweller (11); Ben Lee (13); Bob Schneider (64); Buckethead (33); Butthole Surfers (27); Calexico (6); Carbon Leaf (175); Cowboy Junkies (119); Cracker (93); Dan Bern (20); Death Cab For Cutie (34); Del McCoury Band (68); Drive-By Truckers (211); Elliott Smith (58); Fishbone (6); G. Love And Special Sauce (72); Godspeed You Black Emperor! (34); Gomez (46); Hank Williams III (80); Jack Johnson (106); Jason Mraz (275); Low (6); Maroon5 (30); My Morning Jacket (90); Of A Revolution (464); Rogue Wave (11); Rusted Root (42); Ryan Adams (78); Spin Doctors (90); Spoon (35); Supersuckers (16); Tenacious D (31); The Decemberists (26); Willy Porter [Band] (33); Xavier Rudd (39); 311 (73)
And here are some of my favorites (which run the gamut from live electronic dance music to heavy guitar rock or groove-laden jazz):
Brothers Past (388); Derek Trucks Band (493); Disco Biscuits (651); Future Rock (34); Garage A Trois (30); Grateful Dead (2,827); John Brown’s Body (40); KVHW (89); Lake Trout (25); My Morning Jacket (90); New Riders Of The Purple Sage (44); Sound Tribe Sector 9 (396); Steve Kimock Band (439); Soulive (163); The New Deal (142); Tom Hamilton (7); Toubab Krewe (23); Zero (275)
Of course, you can always go to the “Browse all” page and check out the constantly-growing list of bands that have shows hosted. Lastly, if you’re completely a “newb” to the archive and how it works, check out the FAQ section.
sidenote:
(in case you missed part 1 of the series, check it out here: “Stream the day away part 1: because great live music need not require a ton of extra HD space!”)
Happy streaming and downloading!
