If not for the Internet, you would be waiting for either 90 seconds of coverage on the 11 o’clock news, or the morning paper to find out about Led Zeppelin’s tribute to Atlantic Records late founder Ahmet Ertegun.
Led Zeppelin broke up when I was 13, at a time when music news was even more rigidly controlled than any DRM purveyor today could imagine in his most vivid dreams. Instantly knowing the set list from their London show? Only if someone took notes and called at international rates after the show.
In 2007, plenty of interest among music fans manifested itself in numerous blogs. Billboard Magazine, once one of those outlets that owned music news, blogged about problems getting in the show.
However, music publication NME came through with the set list from the two hour concert. In a way this showed how far media coverage has come with the Internet, and how far it has to go.
Though NME followed up with a solid review, there was no stream to follow of the show. No audio, no video, no chance for some horrid, clever person to (horrors!) record this performance.
A once in a lifetime reunion should have had a greater reach than its audience. If the much-expected DVD of the concert does emerge, that would make up for this for a lot of fans. We shouldn’t have to wait for a DVD, not when modern multimedia streaming and content distribution networks could have made the show a lot more immediate to what would have been a grateful online audience.
