The World’s Greatest Collection of Vintage Concert Recordings
There’s only one place you can hear Bill Graham introduce the Allman Brothers at the Fillmore East, Steve Miller ask for more PA volume at Winterland, or Peter Gabriel bring up unannounced guest Robert Fripp to join him onstage at the Bottom Line in New York. It’s the same place you can listen to the greatest live music of all time in full concert format.
It’s not heaven, though it may feel like heaven to rock music purists. It’s the Concert Vault, the world’s greatest collection of vintage concert recordings.
Where does it come from? In 2003, Wolfgang’s Vault acquired master recordings from the archives of Bill Graham Presents. These live concerts were recorded at legendary venues like the Fillmore East and Winterland between 1965 and 1999. In early 2006, we augmented those Graham recordings by acquiring the archives of the King Biscuit Flower Hour, the famous syndicated rock radio program that broadcast live concerts from the 1970s and ‘80s. We also added the Silver Eagle Cross Country archive of country music concerts in 2006. In 2007, the Record Plant and Dawson Sound catalogs were added, and in 2008 we added the Daytrotter and Noise Pop catalogs for the best in indie rock from the past few years with concerts and live in-studio sessions that are every bit as compelling as the legendary shows from the Fillmores.
Since then we’ve greatly expanded our jazz offerings with recordings from the Newport Jazz and Great American Music Hall collections and have beefed up on American roots music with our Ash Grove and Newport Folk catalogs. Keep your ears open for more additions to the Concert Vault in the near future.
Legendary Concerts Available for Download and Free Online Streaming
Since we launched it in late 2006, the Concert Vault has offered high-quality streams of all of our concerts for free. To start listening, all you have to do is create a free account by registering with a valid e-mail address. Then, besides listening, you can personally rate each concert, maintain a Favorite Concerts list, create your own Playlists, and meet kindred souls in the Comments section on each concert page. Currently, registered users are allowed 10 hours of free streaming every month - upgrade to a WVIP membership for unlimited, higher-quality streaming and loads of other benefits.
Reasonably priced, unrestricted downloads. Our download service is what you would expect from us: great quality music delivered to your hard drive at fair prices so that you can take these priceless concerts on the go. Over a thousand concerts are available for download at the Vault, and more shows are made available for download every week - so stay tuned!
How do you do it? We’ve transferred these aging, but well-preserved, tape archives to the highest-quality digital formats using the best tools available, and we have carefully catalogued everything.
The Concert Vault is fully licensed by BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC, and we pay these performance rights organizations every time you listen to a concert. The license fees make their way back to the performers that made the music. Download revenues are also shared with performers and publishers as appropriate. One of our top priorities will always be to make sure that the artists are compensated for their performances.
