Fan’s 10,000 Bootleg Concert Recordings Become Free Archive

For the past four decades, Aadam Jacobs has been attending shows – mostly in Chicago – and recording them. Now those recordings are available for free on the nonprofit online repository Internet Archive.

Audio archive:

• Jacobs’ 10,000+ recordings include early shows by artists such as Nirvana, The Cure, The Pixies, The Replacements, Depeche Mode, Sonic Youth and more.

How it happened:

• After a local filmmaker made a documentary about Jacobs in 2023, a volunteer at the Internet Archive suggested he preserve his collection.

• An archivist, Brian Emerick, makes monthly stops at Jacobs’ house to pick up boxes of recordings to digitize, which other volunteers then mix and master before uploading to the Internet Archive.

• Emerick estimates he’s digitized roughly 5,500 shows since late 2024, and will need a few more years to complete the project, as per Digital Music News.

Who owns the rights:

• Digital Music News quotes copyright attorney David Nimmer, who says that under anti-bootlegging laws the artists “still technically own the original compositions and live recordings.”

• But, he adds, given that neither Jacobs nor the Internet Archive are profiting from the project, lawsuits are unlikely.

• Jacobs says most of the artists he’s recorded are happy to have their work preserved, but he will remove recordings if requested.