Grateful Dead
Dit verhaal over Jerry Garcia, de leider van de legendarische band Grateful Dead, is een beetje een buitenbeentje in mijn blog. Alhoewel.... mensen die me kennen weten waarom ik het plaats. Het gaat over delen, generositeit, ziel hebben voor je medemens, zorgen voor elkaar. En niet moeilijk doen over geld.
Garcia hanteerde zeer bijzondere principes: gelijke betaling bijvoorbeeld, ook voor de crew members. Hij zorgde zelfs voor een eigen ziekteverzekering. "Als je anderen goed behandelt behandelen ze jou ook goed".
Maar ook stond hij toe dat mensen hun muziek opnamen en verder bewerkten. Dat deed de band - in the long run - alleen maar goed. Veel artiesten hadden spijt dat ze hun IP oftewel intellectual property angstvallig achter slot en grendel hielden.
Ik ben zelf ook vaak bezig met concepten waarbij geld lekker kan stromen naar die plakken waar dat nodig is, en wil niet in de valkuil trappen van "hebbehebbehebbe". Dat vervuilt de ziel.
Muziek is immers delen!
Jerry Garcia Proved That Being Generous Could Actually Make You Even More Money In The Long Run:
In the 1970s everyone in the music industry thought both Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead were nuts to allow fans to tape their concerts. They even made it convenient for fans by adding what became known as “the taper’s section” where high quality equipment and microphones could be set up.
Turns out The Grateful Dead definitely got the last laugh. Ever since Jerry Garcia’s death on this day in 1995 The Grateful Dead have been able to make a ton of money by releasing a number of those high quality taped concerts on both audio and video for the past 29 years as part of the very popular “Dick’s Picks”, “Dave’s Picks”, “From The Vault” and numerous other examples.
Where other popular bands of those times like Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Chicago, and many others went out of their way almost to the point of almost paranoia to keep fans from taping or filming their work would end up being a huge mistake in the long run.
Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin made the comment a few years ago that he regrets there isn’t more filmed footage of Zeppelin in their prime, and how he wishes now that the band and their manager Peter Grant had been more lenient in that regard.
Jerry Garcia was truly one of a kind. He was the absolute star and main attraction in the Grateful Dead, yet he made sure every band member was paid the same. Including replacement members like Brent Mydland was made the same amount of money per show as Jerry did. Jerry also loved his road crew and made sure they were well taken care of. Not only paying them very well but also The Grateful Dead were one of the very first huge bands to offer their road crew medical insurance and 401k health benefits. So it’s not shocking at all that the band’s show always sounded and looked very professional since Garcia knew the model that if you take care of people they will also take care of you.
It was also Jerry’s generosity that kept him on the road when he should have been taking time off to deal with his addictions and his failing health. He was responsible for The Grateful Dead as a business and the livelihood of thousands of people. Had he taken time off it would have affected the financial situation of many people, so he stayed on the road to keep that huge overhead going.
We will never see the likes of a Jerry Garcia ever again. His musical talents, generosity, and humbleness were truly second to none.
29 years later he’s as missed now as he ever was.
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