With Play Dead, a new streaming service launched on Nugs, the Grateful Dead unlocks 424 concerts – including 20 previously unreleased – from what its creators already describe as “the largest tape transfer project in the history of rock”.
Deadheads can now stream 424 concert recordings, many of which are coming to the platforms for the first time, via Play Deada subscription service hosted by Nugs. The platform, set up with Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino Entertainment, offers a wide selection of cult concerts in high resolution, according to Billboard. Kicking off with twenty previously unreleased vault recordings; the collaboration will not encroach on the group's physical releases, which remain the responsibility of Rhino.
A project in progress since… 2000
The idea has been simmering for a quarter of a century: already in 2000, the Grateful Dead teamed up with Brad Serling, founder and CEO of Nugs, for a similar project called Project Bandwagon, which remained on the shelf. Technological advances that have occurred since then (high-speed streaming, iPhone and others) have finally made possible the collaboration with Rhino and the group's official archivist, David Lemieux, whose team set about digitizing multi-track tapes, magnetic tape reels and DAT cassettes.
In the wake of tributes to Bob Weir
The announcement is part of the succession of tributes paid to the group since the death of guitarist Bob Weir. John Mayer, who shared lead guitar with Weir in Dead & Company, launched a weekly listening party dedicated to Dead fans on Sirius XM. For her part, actress Chloë Sevigny has put into production a film dedicated to Deadheads.
