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Most bands don't have this luxury. They make money because they are popular and are able to still sell out venues.

• bgentry 16y ago
  But the reason they are so popular and have a large die-hard fan base is that they've done it this way since the beginning. The band recently announced that 2011 will be the first year in their history that no major tour is scheduled. Sure, they started out at smaller venues (primarily playing at colleges around the country), but they have always been devoted to touring and making every live show different.
• MikeCapone 16y ago
  But how did they become popular? Is the way they did it now blocked for other musicians, or is it now easier than before to reach potential fans?
  • cyanbane 16y ago
    I used to trade CDRs with people from all over the US/World for each show via snailmail. (I recorded a few shows back in 97/98 on minidisk) The early tape trading CDR community centered around DMB is one of the most endearing 'net communities' I have ever been part of (google "Dave Matthews Band CDR Webring"). Some people might say the band killed that a little when they started releasing their own copies, but I think a lot of people accepted it because of the quality of those official copies (to this day they release old shows in much better audio that the tape traded copies). I have not really been part of the show trading community for about 7 or 8 years, but it was great fun traveling from city to city for shows and meeting people you had traded and discussed stuff with on the net. That is something that certainly can still be replicated by today's bands. This was also possible not only because of the music but also the band's charismatic singer. I think people wanted to trade shows just to see what Dave said in certain instances.