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Dead Stay Alive With New Deal


Kanada Kev

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Promising comment by Kreutzmann at the end of this article :D

Dead Stay Alive With New Deal

Rhino to control the band`s music,business interests by Brain Hiatt

The Grateful Dead have put their legacy in the hands of reissue specialists Rhino Records, signing a long term licencing deal that entrusts the label with overseeing all aspects of the band`s business, from T-shirts to live recordings.The deal is the latest in a series of arrangements in which record companies expand their reach beyond recording music into other intellectual property, including a 2005 deal between Korn and EMI that gave the record company a stake in all of the band`s revenues. "I think this is the first step in our future," says Rhino vice president of A & R and marketing Jimmy Edwards,whose company had already been working with the Dead on live albums and reissues. "With declining sales, it`s not good enough just to sell CDs anymore.We have to start being more involved with artists and their legacy."

For the surviving members of the Dead, the deal marks a welcome respite from running the day-to-day affairs of the group,which they say contributed to tension among them. "The whole business has been something of a headache for a number of years--the hell with it," says guitarist Bob Weir. "Our work is not done here; we have to

oversee it,but it`s going to be a lot easier."

The band members----who retain creative control in the deal, which has a term of ten years--also hope that Rhino will lend a new visibility to their catalog and brand. "We didn`t nearly get into the

licensing potential that`s there when we were doing it for ourselves," says drummer Bill Kreutzmann. "I don`t see anything wrong with putting a really cool Grateful Dead logo on something that`s neat,whatever it is." And Weir says he`s open to a number of possibilities - even a Grateful Dead musical. Still, the label intends to proceed with restraint."We are sensitive to the legacy," says Rhino exectutive vice president Gregg Goldman. "We would never pitch to the Grateful Dead that they should do a deal with a fast food company or a soda company."

Plans are already in place to move the Grateful Dead`s archieve of 7,000 to 10,000 analog tapes of shows from their current home in Marian County,California, to a Warner Music vault in Burbank. Rhino hopes to release some new live recordings this year and is already in regotiations with other bands about similar deals.And the band members, who last toured together in 2004 using the name the Dead (they retired the Grateful Dead name when Jerry Garcia died, in 1995), are considering some new shows this year according to Kreutzmann. "We need to get back to playing again," he says. "I need to focus on that,and not being a businessman."

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I think that this has already been posted...

I did a search and didn't find it anywhere. I know that the Rhino news came out a number of weeks ago, but I hadn't seen the comments by Kreutzmann.

The title caught my eye too (ouch) and thought that this was some sort of collaboration with The New Deal :)

Later . . .

Kanada Kev =8)

np: GD 9-3-80 "Bertha"

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Only Bob Weir would have the poor taste to mobilize support for a Grateful Dead musical.

He was working on that musical about Satchel Paige for a long while. Don't know what ever happened to that. A GD musical? Nope, i think that would be pathetic. Leave that shit for ABBA, Billy Joel, and Queen.

Later . . .

Kanada Kev =8)

np: ph2003-02-15 "Harry Hood"

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