Site sells recorded concerts

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Bruce Springsteen’s generous gesture to snowbound followers this winter was the first time many music fans became aware of Nugs.net, a website that offers concert experiences to those who can’t make it to the arena.

Phish, Metallica and Pearl Jam also sell recordings of their shows through Nugs. The website’s emergence illustrates the growing importance of the live music industry at a time recording sales have sharply fallen, giving acts with strong live reputations a new revenue stream.

“As the future unfolds, I think every touring act is going to have to do something along these lines,” said Marc Reiter, who manages Metallica and Red Hot Chili Peppers at Q Prime.

The website’s roots date back to the 1990s when two friends who grew up in the Philadelphia area, Brad Serling and Jon Richter, created it to share their recordings of Grateful Dead concerts. They reached out to the band for permission and the response, basically, was “what’s a website?”

By the beginning of the century, their recordings had become so popular that the band’s lawyers gave them two choices: shut it down or go into business together. Serling worked briefly for the Dead.

Nugs officially became a business when the men offered copies of Phish’s 2002 New Year’s Eve concert for sale. As its only client at the time, the site grossed more than a million dollars.

“That’s when we knew we were on to something,” Richter said.

Nugs has expanded to stream audio and video of live shows on a pay-per-view basis; Metallica streamed a concert through the site the night before the Super Bowl. For a monthly or yearly subscription, Nugs also grants unlimited access to a library of more than 10,000 shows.

Springsteen offered a free concert recording for a limited time after he had to postpone a New York City show due to snow. More than 100,000 copies were downloaded. His concert downloads generally cost $9.95, with CD copies $23 and audiophile options also available.