As always seems the case, a publicized effort to shut down a website has turned people that have never heard of it on to it.
It was recently reported that Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana, and other legendary rock n' roll heavyweights are suing Wolfgang's Vault for illegally offering thousands of rare audio and music performances for free streaming on its website.
The owner, William Sagan, purchased well-known concert promoter Bill Graham's assets from Clear Channel Entertainment for $5 million USD 3 years ago.
He began streaming the hundreds od audio and video clips that Graham collected over a 30-year period this past November.
Bill Graham's real name is Wolfgang Grajonca, hence the site's name "Wolfgang's Vault."
"Sagan simply doesn't have the legal rights to exploit and profit from the extraordinary success of these musicians," lawyer Jeff Reeves, who represents the artists, told the Los Angeles Times.
"We have never given permission for our images and material to be used in this way," said Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead.
The suit seems straightforward enough, and I tend to agree with the artists but, what sucks is that the archive that Bill Graham amassed is both brilliant and stunning!
Even as write this article I find myself amazed by what they have available for streaming on Wolfgang's Vault.
For example, I live here in San Diego, CA and it's well known that some legendary artists have passed through here over the years but, there's one lesser known venue that's hosted a lot of those artists and has long since been forgotten.
On July 31st, 1974 Carlos Santana played a concert at the Balboa Park Bowl in Balboa Park, and it was amazing. I wasn't there of course, I still had a few months to go before being born but, now I feel like I was. The sound quality is dead on, no hiss, no fuzz, and no background interference.
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