Phish and the NetThe proliferation of online music-delivery sites is making it increasingly easier for consumers to find new and interesting music over the Internet. Major-label recording artists are taking advantage of this by marketing specialty items to enhance their conventional catalog of releases, while fans are fulfilling the promise of the Web by using it to create and foster communities of like-minded listeners. No other group personifies these trends more than Phish.
Originally based in Burlington, Vermont, guitarist Trey Anastasio, bassist Mike Gordon, keyboardist Page McConnell, and drummer Jon Fishman tour continually and have built their following on the strength of their performances rather than through mass-media exposure. Now, after 15 years, these Elektra recording artists have sold an estimated 4 million records worldwide and have legions of Web-savvy fans.
Phish's latest record, Farmhouse, is its 11th release on Elektra Records. But the band doesn't let its discography stop there. Phish continually charts high in Emusic.com's weekly Top 10 of the most downloaded music. The online offerings include two full-size releases: Halloween 1990, available on a song-by-song basis or in two big chunks (as Set 1 and Set 2); and Phish (aka The White Tape), a compilation of rare early recordings.
Because Phish allows fans to tape its concerts, there is a rich community of tape traders. Augmenting this are full-time Internet broadcasters of live material, including Phishcast (http://xpager.ndis.umn.edu/phish.html) and Phish Philes (http://phishphiles.livephish.org).
As one might expect, the band's "official" site (www.phish.com) is useful but somewhat commercial in nature-here you can link to a merchandising site known as Phish Dry Goods. However, sites built by "Phish heads" provide the vital grassroots information that fans need, such as weather conditions, housing ideas, and seating diagrams, as well as tape-trading trees, concert set lists, and information on upcoming releases.
One of the more well known fan-made sites is the page offered by Andy Gadiel (www.gadiel.com/phish), which provides tour and ticket info (with links to the venues themselves), as well as Phish-related news items from a variety of media sources, band interviews, and feature stories. Gadiel's excellent Link O' Day page offers additional hours of amusement. A