You can now listen to more than 92 minutes of 1977 Grateful Dead shows, but there's a catch: The hour-and-a-half track is simply a supercut of the band tuning their instruments.
Fun, right? The whole thing is oddly mesmerizing, but one wonders: "Why did this need to happen?"
Creator Michael David Murphy explains:
"Tuning '77" - a seamless audio supercut of an entire year of the Grateful Dead tuning their instruments, live on stage. Chronologically sequenced, this remix incorporates every publicly available recording from 1977, examining the divide between audience expectation and performance anxiety.
Give 'er a rip:
Universal just bought up the group's catalog — including the classics "Casey Jones," "Truckin'" and "Touch of Grey" — as the remaining members celebrate the Dead's 50-year anniversary.
"Young people may know the name Grateful Dead, but not be as familiar with their music," UMPG North America president Evan Lamberg said. "If you're not putting yourself into relevant areas where your music can be discovered, your music could be lost to the younger [generation]."
Billboard reports that UMPG will handle global administration for the band's song catalog in a deal signed with the band's publishing company, Ice Nine (six band members and the heirs of three deceased members claim rights to the catalog, and Warner Music's Rhino Entertainment handles the band's recorded masters).
The partnership includes film and TV-synchs but limits placement in commercials to songs not written by the band's primary collaborator, Robert Hunter, who has veto power (primary songwriter and band leader Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995).
"We will bring them everything for them to review," Lamberg said. "And we will learn more about what they want."
He hopes that "this deal might get some conversations started out there among other iconic artists who haven't done global deals."
