"escapee" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 02:53:37 GMT, "Doug Kanter"

opined:



That formula worked nicely for the Grateful Dead. It puts a lot of faith
in
the willingness of people to support something they appreciate, even if
they're not required to.


Um, huh? How do you explain the attendance at other jam band concerts?
This
was not a calculated formula. Not everything is sneaky. Michael Moore
really
does not want to see our country go to hell and since he is already
wealthy WAY
beyond anything he could have imagined, he doesn't care if people see the
film
free. He was prepared, when Disney backed out of distribution, to put it
online
for all to see, not making a red cent.

How did you interpret what I said as negative, or think I was implying
sneakiness on the part of the Dead, or Moore? The Dead welcomed fans with
tape recorders at their concerts. They made it abundantly clear in
interviews that there was no way recordings (professional or amateur) could
duplicate the remarkable sound they created in concert, and expressed faith
in the idea that fans would reward the band's generosity by continuing to
attend concerts. They were right.

On a smaller scale, Moore is doing the same thing. The news here (Rochester
NY) mentioned yesterday that theatres are still 1/2 to 3/4 full for the
movie, which is quite unusual 2-3 weeks after a release. I don't know if
it's easy to find the downloads, but even if it is, it hasn't affected
attendance much.