[I]n the course of 30 years [the Grateful Dead] managed to become the highest-grossing live band in the history of rock.
Yet in all of their years, they had only one hit ”“ 1987's “Touch of Grey,” which made it to number 9 on Billboard's Hot 100.
How did people even know to go to their concerts if their music wasn't being played on the radio? Incredibly, they gave their music away for free.
The Grateful Dead had a policy of allowing anyone to bring recording equipment to their concerts, record the show, and make copies for friends so long as they didn't charge for them. As with all other market phenomena, the result was unpredictable. Communities of fans sprang up to form clubs to trade tapes. Fans mailed shows from one side of the coast to the other, and a hardcore, devoted fan base developed. Some of the more rabid fans even devoted themselves to seeing every single show. By the early 1990s, The Grateful Dead, Inc., was grossing more than $50 million annually from ticket and merchandise sales.
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