Bootleg: Beyond The Setlist. Choosing Gratitude
Notes on live music, connection, and the emerging future, by Bootleg founder and CEO Rod Yancy
🎤 Sound Check
Holidays always offer a moment to pause. It’s a time to reflect, to breathe, and to reconnect with what matters and be grateful for everything, even in all its imperfection.
We all know the world can feel overwhelming. There’s no shortage of chaos, injustice, and disconnection. But moments like this remind me to return to gratitude. To choose, intentionally, where I place my energy and attention and to pour it into the things that bring life, hope, and connection.
In a time when so much seems designed to divide us, I’m grateful to be part of an industry that does the opposite. Music, and especially live music, brings people together. When we’re at a show, shoulder to shoulder with strangers, we’re not thinking about their beliefs or background. We’re just there, united in a shared moment of sound, energy, and feeling.
Right now, I’m thankful for the privilege of working to protect and preserve something as sacred as live music. It’s more than entertainment. It’s a portal to presence, to memory, and to our shared humanity.
May we use this weekend to reflect on the things that connect us. And may we each continue using our energy to help build a better future, wherever we feel most called to do so.
⚡️ Live Wire
The industry’s moving fast. I’m just trying to stay tuned in, and share what I hear along the way.
🎶 Let’s Keep Music Human
Timbaland recently launched a new AI music company called Stage Zero, introducing its first fully artificial artist, T-A-T-A — a collaboration with the generative platform Suno designed to create “hit music without the hassle of human artists.” This is exactly the kind of thinking that misses the point. Music isn’t meant to be optimized or outsourced. It’s a human ritual: raw, real, and sacred. Live shows, shared energy, and imperfect beauty are what make music meaningful. We’re not here to replace artists with machines. We’re here to preserve what’s real, and use technology to deepen connection, not simulate it. That’s what we’re doing at Bootleg, and we need more people starting companies to serve human creativity, not replace it.
🔗 Read the full article at NPR
⚖️ Senate Preserves States’ Power to Protect Creators
While the conversation around AI-generated music continues to heat up, the U.S. Senate just made a significant decision with major implications for the music industry. By blocking a proposed federal moratorium on state-level AI regulation, lawmakers have preserved the ability for states to continue developing and enforcing protections for artists. In a moment when generative AI tools are rapidly advancing (often without consent from creators) this matters. Artists deserve safeguards over their voices, likenesses, and work. At Bootleg, we believe innovation should protect creators, not exploit them. This ruling is a step in the right direction.
🔗 Read more at Digital Music News
🎟️ Backstage Pass
At Bootleg, we help artists capture and sell high-quality audio recordings and photographs from their shows so fans can collect and relive the moment, and artists can keep earning beyond the encore.
What’s Moving
☀️ Summer Concert Season Is Here
It’s officially summer, and tours and festivals are in full swing. We’re excited to announce new partnerships soon that will give fans the chance to own their memories from some of the most iconic shows of the season. One we’re especially proud of: our collaboration with Woodsist Festival, a boutique music experience happening in New York. If you’re attending, you’ll be able to grab official Bootlegs from select performances at this truly special event.
🎵 Fade Out
In a time of rapid change in technology, in culture and in the music industry it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But if there’s one thing music has always taught us, it’s how to come back to presence. To the rhythm. To the moment.
This summer, as we show up for the artists and shows that move us, let’s remember what we’re part of: not just a business, not just an audience, but a living, breathing ecosystem of connection. The more we root ourselves in what’s real, the more powerful our future becomes.
Thanks for being on this journey. The best is still ahead.
With gratitude,
Founder & CEO, Bootleg.live