Over the last several years, it has become apparent that the transfer
of music through the internet will eventually become the primary means
by which performers will promote and ultimately distribute their media.

One of the interesting by-products of this move to internet distribution has been the free share of fan-produced live recordings through networks such as bit torrent (www.dimeadozen.org), direct connect, and ftp/http downloads. The ultimate realization of this phenomenom is the huge archive of live material shared, with artists' consent, at www.archive.org.

Among the fans of Björk, the internet distribution of her live material has been a reality since the early days of low bandwidth distribution. Such fan sites such as etoile polaire, the dwave ftp, and the Björk trading group set the stage for the current high bandwidth distribution of lossless audio and DVD's of fan produced recordings at the Björk Hub.

As Björk now embarks on her first tour in nearly four years, many
realities have changed in the world of live music, fan recordings and
internet distribution. The rapid free share of unofficial live recordings has essentially eliminated the market for illegal bootleg selling, and has created an atmosphere where the artist and the recordist can work cooperatively to archive the material, promote the artist's official product, and satisfy the demands of a fan base who seek a particular artist's output beyond that available in the official catalog.

Within the last two years, the policy in the bjork.com 4Um has permitted the free share of fan-produced unofficial recordings. In this atmosphere, the Björk Hub has thrived in its goal to archive all available unofficial recordings, catalog the archive, and share those recordings among the dedicated fan base in a cooperative and friendly environment.

It is in this context, that the Björk Hub sincerely requests that
unobstrusive, discreet fan recording be permitted during the anticipated 2007 Björk Spring Tour. With artist permission, fan recordings are generally of a much higher quality, since the recordist does not secrete the equipment in fear of security, and the surrounding fans are often cooperative in their behavior. Additionally, any attempts to bootleg any recording from the tour (as occurred with multiple recordings of the 2001 and 2003 tours) will be completely frustrated by the free share and easy distribution among the fans.

We hope that this sincere request will be considered and approved.

How about that then!