Long before Limp Bizkits much hyped free tour, The Grateful Dead were staging free concerts around the Bay Area. Unlike Limp Bizkits offerings, in which the band still gets paid (thanks to a reported 1.8 million dollar sponsorship by a willfully ironic Napster), The Grateful Dead never had the benefit of a corporate sponsor. Nor did they want one. When people started taping and trading their live shows, the bands policy was always along the lines of Go right ahead just keep it free.

Free love, free tapes, free concerts The Grateful Dead seemed to embody the community spirit that programs like Napster enable. Right? Not quite. Guitarist Bob Weir, now touring with his own band, Ratdog, may still advocate live tape trading but even he admits that there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Benjy Eisen: What do you think of music file sharing programs such as Napster?

Bob Weir: Well, you know its nice to see people sharing music and all that kind of stuff. Something has to be worked out because if musicians cant make a living making music, then theyre going to get other jobs and then youre not going to have music. Still, my hearts with that with the people being able to share the music and all that kind of stuff.

You know, if you go to the Marxist model From each according to his ability, to each according to his need - the Napster model only goes halfway. It goes From each according to his ability and then it shuts down. So its not a complete system. Its not a regenerate system. And what Ive heard in defense of that system is Well how are the musicians going to make ends meet? How are they going to make a living? And the only answer is But dont you see? Thats the only answer I have ever gotten - that and, you know, Oh, people will come to your concerts.

But really, what if youre a guy whos a writer but isnt really a guy who performs? But youre a gifted writer? Youre fucked! What if you dont want to be on the road all the time? What if you have a family? Youre fucked!

[Note: Rob Derhak from moe., who is standing nearby, chips in: Exactly man!]

So there needs to be a little more hammering on the paradigm, shall we say? I make music for people and it is my great joy to give it to people. If I werent kinda well set - and Im in a band of guys who live pretty much hand-to-mouth so I can speak for them - more work needs to go into this way of doing things. Like I say, my hearts there.

Benjy Eisen: Does it make a difference if its a live track that an audience member recorded?

Bob Weir: If its live music, you know thats a whole other story.

Benjy Eisen: But theres no way yet of regulating whats recorded live and whats taken from the studio.

Bob Weir: If its studio tracks, you know, for instance we just went into the studio for most of last year, spent a lot of money making a record. If thats pirated to a fare-thee-well, then the band cant afford that. No band can. No band can afford to put that kind of work and those kind of resources into a record, and so what youll get are toss-offs.

But the live stuff, man, once we played it, we played it for people it belongs to them. Expressly. You know, those are my feelings. I was invited to join a discussion on this topic thats going on at Harvard Law School because really whats happening to music right now is going to happen to the entirety of intellectual property really shortly. So music is the canary in the coal mine here. Something has to be worked out. There are people who are hardcore Its gotta be free folks and Ive got to say theyre misguided.

Benjy Eisen: There are some programs coming out now in which you can download MP3-like files for free, but theres a commercial, attached to the file, that pops up on your computer screen and they pay the artist through that.

Bob Weir: Right. I dont like that that much. And you know what its going to have to boil down to in the end is this: Honor what you love. Honor what you love.

Benjy Eisen: Do you think that people will do that?

Bob Weir: I dont know. Well see. I would like to have faith that people would do that and Im willing to give it a go, believe me, but really Ive got dick to lose compared to younger artists. Its them and its the future of the art form that has my concern. Because guys have been around for awhile and seen a lot and stuff like that and believe me, we lived through the Digger era in the sixties, and seen stuff work and seen stuff not work. You know, I guess its kinda up to us to weigh in a little bit and impart what wisdom weve garnered over the years. And theres no panacea that I can see except that the people come to the awareness that you have to honor what you love.