The Flaming Lips Trading Post -> Taping Policies

The (unofficial) Flaming Lips Taping Policy

"Our attitude has always been - you can tape all you want - but we don't want to be involved.
In other words, we'll tell the clubs we're ok with it, but we don't have the time to go into any
special effort to hook you up to the soundboard or anything. Some clubs have policies of not allowing
tapers, because they tape the shows and try to sell them to the bands. We can't override that -
it's usually in the contract for the show that we're not even allowed to tape - that's why we
don't put too much effort into it. Our show is so difficult to make happen in the first place
that we have to put all of our energy into that!"

- Scott D. Booker on the Flaming Lips live taping policy (May 15, 2002)

Personally, I stick to stealth taping the Flaming Lips shows. It gives you a good chance of
getting your recording equipment in and leaving with a decent recording. To date, I have never
seen anyone overtly taping a flaming lips concert. Please remember, if the venue doesn't allow taping and you get caught they may kick you out. Sometimes you can ask them if you put your equipment in your car if they will let you back inside. My experience is, most times they will.

- Ryan Mulberger (August 31, 2003)

The Official Mercury Rev Taping Policy

Mercury Rev features Jonathan Donahue (of Flaming Lips fame). What's pretty cool is they like
bootlegs! We do too! So, they encourage and OPENLY allow kids to tape their shows. They say
they don't like video bootlegs, but the kids seem to videotape the band anyway and the band
doesn't make a fuss about it. So, this gives you a great chance to perfect your bootlegging
skills without all that nervous looking over your shoulder stuff. There's a good possibility
you can bring in microphone stands and all the other recording gadgetry you have (just call and ask the venue beforehand). The band says they will set aside room by the soundboard (see below), but my experience was their soundman said "setup anywhere you want." There was no designated "special" recording area. Their soundman did not offer me a soundboard line-out patch since they record all of their shows themselves. I would suggest sending in a copy of your show to the band as a goodwill gesture. Plus, there's a good chance you'll get some credit on their webpage.

This is what their website says:

"A message for anyone interested in making an audio recording of a live Mercury Rev show: please
feel free to do so, what's ours is yours. You may want to check with the venue beforehand to be
sure that they will allow it. We'll do our best to set aside an area somewhere near the mixing
console for you to set up. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a direct feed to the console.
Eventually, we would like to post some of these live shows on our site, so if you've got some
recordings that you'd like to share via our website, contact us."

webmaster@mercuryrev.com

(Taken from http://www.mercuryrev.com/content/Welcome.html)

Original Website Concept: Scott Bakal. Updated on August 31, 2003 by Ryan Mulberger.