Rock Band Phish Reels In Download Profits

Phish, the jam band whose open taping policy made it one of the country’s biggest live acts, is again sidestepping the record industry to cash in on the online music revolution.

Livephish.com offers a rare service: soundboard-quality downloads of performances within two days of the concert. Fans pay $9.95 for MP3s or $12.95 for a computer file format in which no sound quality is lost during compression.

In the first four months after the site’s launch on New Year’s Eve 2002, the service generated $1 million, said Brad Serling, whose company runs the site as a joint venture with the band.

Since Livephish’s launch, many of the band’s young, digitally adept fans have proved willing to pay for an improved version of what is already available at no cost. Sound quality is better, and fans can access the equivalent of three CDs of music just 48 hours after the show.