Fate of Grateful Dead Archive

["Nathan Georgitis" <nathan_georgitis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The board of Grateful Dead Productions, which includes the surviving
members, Robert Hunter, CEO Peter McQuaid and
others, is considering a deal with Microsoft that would hand over the
contents of the vault. Phil's November 29th post <Reddy
Kilowatt "The Commerical/Musical Future of GDP: A Grassroots Effort"
11/29/99 5:26pm> from the above discussion on the
matter:

Since Hunter has opened this discussion, I want to clarify my position. A
couple of months ago, our CEO approached us with a
proposal from a major venture capital firm to start a new company with the
vault as collateral. I won't go into the details, but I
will say that GDM is financially sound and not in need of fresh capital. In
fact, the proposed buyout could jeopardize jobs held
by longtime employees. I am and always have been absolutely against venture
capital money buying or "licensing" the vault or
Grateful Dead goodwill. This proposal is the reason for the serious rift
between the other board members and myself. I have
come to the very sad conclusion that the Grateful Dead is no longer a band
but a corporation whose board members no longer
have a common vision. After having been given a new life, I refuse to spend
it creating a new "business paradigm" with venture
capitalists who are trying to squeeze yet more money out of the remains of a
great experiment. It is not a difficult situation; GDM
can easily afford to gradually digitize the vault and with the right
deadhead to take Dick's place the releases could come out at a
good pace. Perhaps you all could urge the "boys" to simply put out your
favorite shows as fast as they can... For myself, I will
no longer be personally involved in corporate existence. After the
wonderful experience of my recent tour, I realize that the gods
have seen fit to enlighten me as to a potential life path, and I fully
intend to follow my weird.

Art is long, and life is brief... Phil

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