ChopNov 21, 2023

Now that I’m home from vacation, it hit me once again that #Phish released 11/14/97 instead of 11/13, 11/19!!!, 11/26, 11/28 (the 128K SBD leak could use an upgrade), 11/29, 11/30, 12/2!!!, 12/3!!, 12/12, 12/13, or 12/31.

I get that 11/14 is somewhat under the radar and maybe that’s why they chose it. But there is a damn good reason why it’s not talked about much — because it’s not nearly as good as most of the rest of the tour.

Show threadMr. Completely
@chopaganda post touring retirement income plan: save cypress and a bunch of the late 1.0 heaters, in the meantime release mids that sound great compared to current performances
Nov 21, 2023 at 4:28pmWeb
Show threadCaptain Twinkie BucketNov 21, 2023
@mrcompletely @chopaganda Shapiro and Phish Org’s retirement plan. He has probably spend a lot of time with Dave Lemieux figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Show threadMr. CompletelyNov 21, 2023
@phimius @chopaganda if so they haven't adopted any of the practices that work for the GD archival catalog, but they also have the advantage of owning a bunch of golden age SBDs that haven't been leaked to the public
Show threadCaptain Twinkie BucketNov 21, 2023
@mrcompletely @chopaganda yeah, but the band is still touring. So there’s new content all the time to live off of. As well as tour and dry goods profits.
Show threadEvdudeNov 21, 2023
@phimius @mrcompletely @chopaganda my biggest gripe with the archival series is that there is simply zero cadence. There is no reason why there should not be 4 archival releases for LP+ subscribers dropped each quarter.
Show threadMr. CompletelyNov 21, 2023
@Evdude @phimius @chopaganda the reason there aren't regular releases is that the service is profitable without them. I'm not privy to any inside info but that's how these decisions are made. There's no market pressure to improve the catalog so the catalog doesn't improve.
Show threadCaptain Twinkie BucketNov 21, 2023
@mrcompletely @Evdude @chopaganda it’s really telling that the biggest drop of archival releases was 2020-2021 while there was no touring. But they weren’t able to get a gorge ‘98 kind-of release during that time.
Show threadEvdudeNov 21, 2023
@mrcompletely @phimius @chopaganda makes sense. Obviously LP+ is great for listening to current shows / tours as they happen…I would (I do) subscribe mostly for that. It’s just a damn shame that they can’t tighten the archival program a bit. I see no reason why current phish and a strong archival program can’t co-exist. If anything, they feed each other by keeping the fanbase consistently and actively engaged.
Show threadMr. CompletelyNov 21, 2023
@Evdude @phimius @chopaganda so the problem with making archival releases profitable (even just enough so they're stable) is obviously pirating. The GD approach is to make the physical object desirable 1) by making it nice, materials wise and 2) limited in availability, creating a collector market. Item 2 also creates cost containment which is important for boring reasons. Phish has just never really tried this, even though the target demo is now where the GD market was a decade ago 🤷
Show threadEvdudeNov 21, 2023

@mrcompletely @phimius @chopaganda I’m mostly talking about digital archival releases on LP+. I can’t imagine pirating is a big issue when those shows only live on a single platform (I supposed people can still buy the shows and DL). As someone who doesn’t really buy physical media, I just want a consistent 3-4 shows a year with my subscription.

From a physical media perspective, they clearly have exactly zero strategy. Interested to see how they handle it.

Show threadMr. CompletelyNov 21, 2023
@Evdude @phimius @chopaganda sure. In that case the key point is "they don't have to, so they're not gonna."