Launched in 1993 as a fan site dedicated to sharing free audio by Phish and other bands, Nugs turned pro in late 2002, partnering with bands to sell official live CDs, downloads, and eventually livestreams. In addition to their other innovations, who knew that Dead fans might lead the way in safe distancing practices, too? I spent the night conversing via Twitter and text with friends watching the show (a few actually there), and woke up the next morning with a post-show glow. I was at home watching in my kitchen on a propped-up iPad. My own revelation came in 2015, when the surviving members of the Grateful Dead performed in California for the first of five reunion shows. While livestreaming via radio has been a cornerstone of the music industry for a century, social media has transformed passive broadcasting into the active ecosystem of Couch Tour, allowing fans to build on-the-fly delocalized spaces where they can connect and crack jokes deep in the secret codes of their favorite bands. Grown from the jam-band scene, where taping and trading have been part of the culture since the early 1970s, a small but expanding tech-music industry now supports a regular daily schedule of audio and video streams from performers stretching far past the jam-sphere. Over the last decade, the Couch Tour phenomenon-where fans join together online to experience performances in real time-has proven itself as both a business model and community builder. With much of the concert industry grinding to a halt due to coronavirus concerns, a Twitter search for the phrase “Couch Tour” offers reassurance that live music has already found one comfortable way to exist outside physical venues.
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