The Grateful Dead have released their own dedicated streaming app. The Play Dead app is available via a partnership with live audio streaming service nugs.
The app is launching with an archive of 422 live shows, including 20 previously unreleased performances, with new releases arriving every Tuesday, curated by David Lemieux, the band’s longtime audiovisual archivist and legacy manager.
The app will also offer access to newly transferred and mastered high-res recordings from the Grateful Dead vault, streaming access to shows that have previously been released on CD only, and an archive of previously released live recordings presented in chronological order for the first time.
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“Play Dead is the most complete way we’ve ever been able to share the vault,” says Lemieux. “These recordings capture the band’s journey night by night, and bringing them together in chronological order, with newly transferred and mastered audio, gives fans an entirely new way to experience this music. There’s always more to discover in the vault, and I’m excited to share something new every Tuesday.”
“Play Dead kicks off the largest tape transfer project in the history of rock‘n’roll. We are pulling tapes off the shelf of the vault and transferring them at their highest resolution to date, and mastering in the studio for the first time,” adds Brad Serling, founder and CEO of nugs. “These tapes were in the room with the band each night, and Play Dead will be the official hi-res streaming home of the vault, browsable chronologically in the order the music was performed.
“Working with Grateful Dead Productions and Rhino, we are giving listeners unprecedented access to 30 years of live recordings, via one of the greatest live archives ever assembled, with new discoveries coming every single week.”
Play Dead is available as a standalone streaming subscription service via the Grateful Dead Store, or as an add-on for current nugs subscribers at a discounted rate. Standalone subscriptions start at $9.99/month or $99.99/year, while current subscribers can add the discounted package for $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
Other music available via nugs includes full concerts from Metallica, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Goose, Jack White and more.