It has often been reported that Dave Matthews Band's liberal taping policy played a major role in the early spread of their music. Fans used Internet newsgroups to join tape trees and request copies of their favorite shows. This online interaction allowed fans to play an active role in spreading the word about DMB , but how did this "free" publicity actually cost the band?

In the rest of the recording industry, bands such as The Who helped create a standard practice of releasing live albums to generate revenue and help prevent widespread bootlegging. DMB was going the opposite route. How were they making up for the lost revenue? Merchandising. As this week's Davespeak will show, as late as March 1994, Dave was still asking the crowd to visit “Michael” in the back and buy some “crap.”