Dead Traders: A Textual Analysis of Websites Trading in Grateful Dead Bootlegs.

This article examines the practice of music trading and asks what the online discourse of music-trading fans tells about music consumption and file swapping. The development of peer-to-peer (P2P) Internet networks facilitated an unprecedented upswing in the amount of noncommercial music trading. Long before this technology was front-page news, Deadheads embraced P2P technology and were some of the biggest early consumers. Among those fans who care enough to trade the Dead's music online, Deadhead community norms were predictably and clearly enacted. There is a growing rejection of the MP3 format, a technology that still seems so twenty-first-century to many music fans. Other sites, such as Deadshow.com and Sugarmegs.org, offer RealPlayer streaming audio and/or MP3 downloads.