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Bootleg recording - Official bootlegs

Bootleg recording - Official bootlegs: Encyclopedia II - Bootleg recording - Official bootlegs

Many bootleg albums have since been released officially by the copyright holder; for instance in 2002 Dave Matthews Band released Busted Stuff in response to the Internet-fueled success of The Lillywhite Sessions which they had not intended to release; The Beatles' release of their Anthology albums effectively killed the demand for many Beatles bootlegs previously available; and Bob Dylan has released an entire bootleg series, which as of 2005 had seven "volumes" (but only five discrete releases). Frank Zappa released tw ...

Bootleg recording: Encyclopedia II - Bootleg recording - Official bootlegs

Bootleg recording - Official bootlegs

Many bootleg albums have since been released officially by the copyright holder; for instance in 2002 Dave Matthews Band released Busted Stuff in response to the Internet-fueled success of The Lillywhite Sessions which they had not intended to release; The Beatles' release of their Anthology albums effectively killed the demand for many Beatles bootlegs previously available; and Bob Dylan has released an entire bootleg series, which as of 2005 had seven "volumes" (but only five discrete releases). Frank Zappa released two series of Beat the Boots recordings in 1991 and 1992, remastered from bootleg tapes. The Smashing Pumpkins' last official album, MACHINA II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, was distrubited to fans on vinyl and released independently as a gesture of defiance to Virgin Records, who the band felt didn't give them the support they needed.

A few artists like Peter Gabriel, Jimmy Buffett, Pearl Jam and Duran Duran have responded to the demand for bootleg concert recordings by experimenting with the sale of "official" bootlegs made directly from the unmixed soundboard feeds or on-the-fly multi-track mixes, and thus superior to surreptitious audience recordings which are typically marred by crowd noise. These releases are generally available a few days to a few weeks after the concert.

In the mid-2000s, improving technology in high-speed CD reproduction made some of these "official boots" available to audience members immediately as they leave the concert; however, a key patent in the process (that of dividing the single recording into discrete digitally marked tracks) was bought by media giant Clear Channel Communications, which has led to complaints from smaller competitors and uncertainty on the future development of the technology in the United States.