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community weblog
Now Online: a Treasure Trove of 1000s of Secret Concert Recordings
[Kottke] For decades, a guy named Aadam Jacobs has been recording live music shows. His collection of over 10,000 shows since 1984 feature the likes of Nirvana, R.E.M., The Pixies, Björk, Depeche Mode, Liz Phair, Sonic Youth, The Cure, Phish, Fugazi, and so many more. With the help of archivists, the entire collection is making its way onto The Internet Archive.
Aabsolutely aamazing aarchive for aaudiophiles!
posted by AlSweigart on Apr 14, 2026 at 11:31 AM
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Melomaniac is a 2023 documentary about Jacobs.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 11:42 AM
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Oh wow I wonder if one of the two Pavement recordings is one I've been looking to re-aquire for years as I only had put it on mini disc and didn't keep the original from the internet back in the day. This is amazing!
posted by jzed at 11:45 AM
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I guess not as these were only digitised as part of this effort. Still super cool!
posted by jzed at 11:48 AM
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These are amazing and sound great. I checked a couple of favorites, and when I get some free time, I'll listen all day.
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:50 AM
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I wonder about whether he has violated the artists' copyrights.
posted by NotLost at 12:02 PM
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Holy moly. Wow. My second thought was are there legal issues with this?
posted by storybored at 12:04 PM
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I don't know why you all are so excited about this. The Doobie Brothers taught us this was wrong on What's Happening back in the late 70s. Did you learn nothing?!?
posted by ifatfirstyoudontsucceed at 12:10 PM
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If you can torrent, http://www.dimeadozen.org/ post around 50 bootleg recordings like this every day. They don't allow anything that's copyright so some shows will have tracks removed if part of an official (and copyright) live concert release.
Bootleg recordings can rarely be accused of having audiophile quality, but some soundboards come close.
posted by Lanark at 12:20 PM
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He saw They Might Be Giants four times.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:29 PM
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NotLost: "I wonder about whether he has violated the artists' copyrights."
He has said that if any artist objects, he will remove their historical recording -- and reportedly, only a few have.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:47 PM
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I wonder about whether he has violated the artists' copyrights.
AFAIK, live performances, unless they're formally released as albums, are not copyrighted per se. dimeadozen maintains a list of artists who've asked not to be shared, for example, but, apart from that, it's pretty open-ended beyond bands who allow/encourage taping.
posted by the sobsister at 12:50 PM
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Some pretty good stuff in there! I look forward to listening to these.
posted by Ashwagandha at 12:51 PM
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working through the TMBGs right now, as they're from when I first saw them live in 1988. Recording quality is of course a little rough but man, the energy level! Looking forward to sampling a bunch of artists' shows.
posted by martin q blank at 12:54 PM
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The Doobie Brothers taught us this was wrong on What's Happening back in the late 70s.
posted by ifatfirstyoudontsucceed at 12:10 PM on April 14 [1 favorite −] [⚑]
And in that episode, when Roj called the Doobie Brothers at their hotel, he uttered the Shakespearean line, "Which Doobie you be?".
posted by Kibbutz at 12:58 PM
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Some that jumped out at me: the Tracy Chapman recording is real clear, so is one of Vic Chesnutt, and a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds show leaps right into the song that will make Wings of Desire fans happy.
posted by Wobbuffet at 1:12 PM
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I'm hoping some, if not all bands have learned from the Dead that shows, once they're out there, belong to the fans, and that they only help a band gain new fans.
I'm sure many artists look back and wish they had as many time capsules as the Dead have. Long live bootleg recordings.
posted by OHenryPacey at 1:27 PM
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the sobsister: AFAIK, live performances, unless they're formally released as albums, are not copyrighted per se.
No, no, not at all correct. When a live performance is recorded, every performer has IP rights with respect to the recording. Sometimes those rights will have assigned to someone else as part of the contract, as for example in the case of a backing musician who isn't a band member. But they all have rights. I've been in a situation in which a company I was performing with recorded a live performance and then sought permission to distribute it to donors, which permission was denied by several of the performers.
That said, I think bootleg live recordings tend to work in favor of the artists (unless it's a poor performance).
posted by slkinsey at 1:37 PM
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He has a lot of The Mekons. This is a good thing.
posted by chavenet at 1:42 PM
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Further reading from last winter: https://chicagoreader.com/music/gossip-wolf/aadam-jacobs-collection-internet-archive-concert-recordings/
posted by me3dia at 2:00 PM
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Oh wow I wonder if one of the two Pavement recordings is one I've been looking to re-aquire for years as I only had put it on mini disc and didn't keep the original from the internet back in the day. This is amazing!
The quality of the Pavement shows is indeed pretty good, and it means their Space Ghost Jam is preserved for posterity!
(And bonus clip: Pavement cosplaying as the Beatles on the actual Space Ghost show)
posted by jeremias at 2:03 PM
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The Aadam Jacobs Collection has been known among tapers for a few years now, after this WBEZ profile in 2019 (which, incidentally, goes into some detail about what bands and clubs thought about his activities).
> If you can torrent, http://www.dimeadozen.org/ post around 50 bootleg recordings like this every day.
It's a rich treasure trove but there are some hurdles to get over if you're new to it.
fwiw each individual show from the Jacobs Collection in the Internet Archive is available via bittorrent as well as conventional downloads and the in-browser player.
posted by at by at 2:12 PM
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I wonder about whether he has violated the artists' copyrights.
Not the first thing that leaps to my mind when I learn about a treasure trove of recordings of shows that would likely be lost to history if not shared like this.
On balance the amount of money these artists are going to lose as a result of this is zero. But we now have a huge collection of concert recordings that can be enjoyed by people who never had a chance to see some of these bands, or for people who did see the shows to revisit.
Imagine if we could have recordings of plays and performances from Shakespeare's era or hear the first performances of works by Bach, Mozart, etc. How incredibly sad it would be if it had been possible for that to happen, just to be shot down by copyright maximalism.
If the artists complain, then they should be taken down I guess but how disappointing.
posted by jzb at 2:49 PM
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Copyright cases probably could be made against Jacobs - in addition to slkinsy's point about the individual performers having rights, many times musicians don't wholly own the rights to the songs they've written. But one thing about copyright is it doesn't technically need to be defended. If you don't defend a trademark or patent, you can lose the ability to have exclusive use of it, but copyright ownership is more flexible.
IOW, bands can ignore Jacobs and pretend he & his recordings don't exist without losing the right to sue someone shipping in bootleg CD's from Russia and selling them on eBay or whatever.
posted by soundguy99 at 3:49 PM
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When a live performance is recorded, every performer has IP rights with respect to the recording.
If you are selling the recording yes, but giving it away - they get a percentage of zero.
Bootleggers do own the copyright in recordings they make, but you can't just sell that without the performing rights to the songs.
posted by Lanark at 4:47 PM
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Amazing. There's some great stuff in there.
For anyone wanting to easily download just the MP3s or just the FLAC files, not both, there isn't an option to do that via the website UI, but it works if you manually give a list of the formats you want in the compressed download URL
E.g. to just download the MP3s & JPEGs
https://archive.org/compress/insert-recording-name-from-url-here/formats=VBR%20MP3,JPEG
posted by are-coral-made at 5:00 PM
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Alright, Pinback.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 6:32 PM
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What a wonderful thing to discover and a wonderful rabbit hole to go down. Thank you.
posted by dogbusonline at 7:54 PM
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10,000 shows since 1984
That's five concerts a week - - perhaps he took the two days off for his ears stop ringing.
posted by fairmettle at 10:06 PM
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I wonder about whether he has violated the artists' copyrights
Lord above, let time heal all wounds, and love conquer all. Rock on.
posted by eustatic at 11:58 PM
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there isn't an option to do that via the website UI
There actually is!
In the little 'Download Options' box on the right:
1. click the 'VBR MP3' link in the list
2. a grey widget with '(download icon) N files' will appear to the right, click that
Also, not sure if this has been mentioned, but people might like this interface for searching/browsing/playing the archive: https://aadam-radio.vercel.app/
Also, consider donating to archive.org - I'm not affiliated but I've used this site like crazy for stuff like this and also research for old computers/games/musical instruments/whatever and they're great!
posted by destructive cactus at 6:36 AM
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Lanark: "When a live performance is recorded, every performer has IP rights with respect to the recording.
If you are selling the recording yes, but giving it away - they get a percentage of zero."
Nope. 100% incorrect.
Chapter 111: Sound Recordings and Music Videos
1101. Unauthorized fixation and trafficking in sound recordings and music videos
(a) Unauthorized Acts.—Anyone who, without the consent of the performer or performers involved—
(1) fixes the sounds or sounds and images of a live musical performance in a copy or phonorecord, or reproduces copies or phonorecords of such a performance from an unauthorized fixation,
(2) transmits or otherwise communicates to the public the sounds or sounds and images of a live musical performance, or
(3) distributes or offers to distribute, sells or offers to sell, rents or offers to rent, or traffics in any copy or phonorecord fixed as described in paragraph (1), regardless of whether the fixations occurred in the United States,
shall be subject to the remedies provided in sections 502 through 505, to the same extent as an infringer of copyright.
(b) Definition.—In this section, the term "traffic" has the same meaning as in section 2320(e) of title 18.2
(c) Applicability.—This section shall apply to any act or acts that occur on or after the date of the enactment of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.
(d) State Law Not Preempted.—Nothing in this section may be construed to annul or limit any rights or remedies under the common law or statutes of any State.
Again, I don't think this is a big deal at all in this circumstance and others like it. And I also think artists who aggressively police this sort of thing tend to hurt themselves (there's a reason many of the bands that are aggressive blockers on YT are fading from the public consciousness). I just want to point out what the actual law is. As a performer who has made money on IP, I am more aware of these things than many others.
posted by slkinsey at 6:55 AM
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I just spent a blissful hour listening to an R.E.M concert from 1986. Thank you for your service, Adam Jacobs.
(But I'm still deeply intrigued about the copyright implications of this project).
posted by tafetta, darling! at 9:31 AM
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