Bruce Springsteen is giving fans the opportunity to buy official recordings from his High Hopes tour.
The site live.brucespringsteen.net has been launched via nugs.net who have previously worked with artists including Pearl Jam, Metallica and Phish on their own live downloads.
Now The Boss has joined – and the site’s founder and CEO Brad Sterling said he initially approached Springsteen’s management company in 2009 with the idea but got nowhere.
He tells Backstreets.com: “I called out of the blue and asked if this was something Bruce would be interested in doing. They politely said, ‘Thanks, but no thanks. It’s not something Bruce would ever go for.’”
But Sterling reveals Springsteen and his manager had a change of heart when they saw the amount of unofficial content online.
He continues: “It was Bruce looking at YouTube and seeing fan-generated content from his recent shows, as well as archival stuff. He was like, ‘We can do better than this. We own the masters!’
“What’s great is, he wasn’t saying, ‘Fuck those guys – take that stuff down. Screw YouTube.’ It was, ‘If this is happening, we should be doing it officially.’”
A total of 30 live gigs are currently available to purchase on MP3, lossless, HD-audio and CD. And Sterling says there’s more to come. He adds: “It’s very exciting to think about the different eras that will be covered. And what’s really interesting is where the tapes are coming from. What’s in the vault, what isn’t. Not all of it is in their archives so they are sourcing material.”
Springsteen launched a box set of his first seven studio albums this week via Columbia Records. Included in the package is a 60-page book featuring rare photos, memorabilia and press clippings.