Carousel corner.(THE MUSIC)(Sound recording review)

Every once in a while one simply stumbles across something which, in spite of one's efforts to stay "on top" of events, releases, and trends--the self-anointed tasks of all critics, that fills a gap in musical or cultural history, offers an unparalleled experience, and is too lovely by half. My recent and belated discovery is a web site chock full of Bill Graham's concert tapes from the '60s onward, fashioned at the sound board of various venues, most commonly his Fillmore West and East concert halls.

www.wolfgangsvault.com is divided into a couple of enterprises. First, for those of you into purchasing nostalgia and/or collectibles, Wolfgang's Vault offers an impressive array of vintage and non-vintage replica concert posters, t-shirts, ticket stubs, and what have you--have your credit card handy. But the real treasure is the huge collection of full concert recordings, from the original Quicksilver Messenger Service or King Crimson line-ups to balls-to-the-wall performances from The Who (1968) or Springsteen (1978), all configured for streaming audio, which automatically senses your connection's bandwidth and serves up the appropriate streaming bit rate. Best of all ... it's free. Yep, the only item you surrender is your email address. Otherwise, you simply click on one of the 330 concerts of your choice and let 'er rip.

I grew up--well, as much as anyone can who's a lifelong captive of pop music--in San Francisco in the '60s and '70s and haunted the City's concert venues, Longshoreman's Hall, the original Fillmore Auditorium, The Matrix, the Carousel Ballroom (later rechristened Fillmore West), and Winterland, as much as a student's budget would permit. This was a time of a Brobdingnagian musical explosion with local or locally based groups including Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Youngbloods, Country Joe and the Fish, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Santana, It's A Beautiful Day, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Steve Miller Band, Moby Grape, Doobie Brothers, and many more. All have one or more concerts in Wolfgang's Vault. But the Vault isn't limited to Bay Area acts. You can also find Black Sabbath, Billy Idol, early Elton John, the Mothers of Invention, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Cream, and a host of others.

Yes, for one unrepentant hippie, Wolfgang's Vault is one delightful trip after another down the callow halls of youth. But it's also great music, performed live by historic bands who mattered then and matter now. If nothing else I'd suggest dialing up, say, It's A Beautiful Day from 1971 or Fleetwood Mac from 1975, as the perfect complement to another day slugging it out in the cubicle. Besides, once the stream is buffered (a hour's worth buffers in seconds with a broadband connection), you can pause it to take or make that all-important phone call. The site has started offering some concerts for downloading at $9.98 each.

The Death of Internet Radio? In a bizarre twist to a sordid tale of corporate machinations and government capitulation, this past March the Copyright Royalty Board, which decides the rate at which both artists and recording companies are reimbursed for broadcast music, announced the royalty rate for internet radio broadcasts. Royalty rate setting is a topic reeking of arcana, yet it is vitally important to both the artists and the netcasters. Simply put, over-the-air broadcasters, which would include media giants like Viacom, Clear Channel, and Westwood One, pay no performance royalties. This is on the theory that airplay benefits the recording companies and artists by publicizing their product. Net broadcasters, however, would pay a per song per listener rate because their transmission is digital and, therefore, in the opinion of the recording companies, subject to the royalty requirements of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1995 (DMCA). The result of this difference in consideration is that under the new royalty rates, retroactive to 2006, constitute an enormous cost, in most instances exceeding the annual revenues of virtually all netcasters. Prior to the CRB's rate announcement, netcasters paid a percentage of their gross revenues as royalties. Under the new rule, however, even a behemoth like AOL Radio would be liable for over $20 million in royalties for 2006 alone. If allowed to stand, the CRB's rates will effectively silence internet radio.

In some measures the recording industry's (represented by the Recording Industry Association of America [RIAA]) victory is sweet revenge for being outmaneuvered years ago by over-the-air broadcasters (represented by the National Association of Broadcasters [NAB]), ...