Opening the Concert Vault

It’s not often music fans find an opportunity to screw over Clear Channel, but businessman Bill Sagan did just that. Four years ago, Sagan bought legendary concert promoter Bill Graham’s archives on the cheap from the media giant, and he’s continued to leverage every piece of material in the collection.

For us, it’s only getting better. Sagan’s fan-friendly Wolfgang’s Vault entity this weekend launched “The Concert Vault,” a streamable collection of 300 historic rock concerts. This collection contains not only BGP-promoted events but also concerts from the legendary King Biscuit Flower Hour radio show.

The fun is only just beginning: Sagan & Co. promise to release more shows and plan to revamp the site by March 2007 with a bevy of new features. Perhaps even more interesting will be watching to see how Wolfgang’s Vault implements advertising and deals with the numerous copyright issues that lay before it. Either way, this is a major groundscore for fans of the classics. Stay tuned for more…

More on Wolfgang’s Vault:
–Rockin’ the Web: The late music promoter Bill Graham’s trove of souvenirs and recordings strikes a chord online [L.A. Times]
–Who Are You: Photographers, poster artists and a collector clash over copyright law [metroactive]
–Who’s Bill Graham? The Patriarch [Hidden Track]