Bootleg: Beyond The Setlist. The Music is The Merch
Notes on live music, connection, and the emerging future, by Bootleg founder and CEO Rod Yancy
🎤 Sound Check
Working in the music industry it’s not hard to look around and see where it is broken.
Artists struggling to make a living from streaming, fans paying inflated ticket prices to middlemen, and whole systems designed to profit off the music without truly supporting the people who create it.
One of the clearest signs is that artists today seem to be selling everything but music.
It wasn’t long ago that you’d go to a show, and if you loved the band, you’d buy the CD or tape on the way out.
That purchase was more than a transaction, it was how you carried the experience with you and how your fandom solidified.
Streaming and social media changed the equation.
We’ve all witnessed the shift in real time: artists building businesses around clothing, lifestyle brands, and side hustles, while the music itself has been reduced to a marketing tool.
Don’t get me wrong, artists thinking like founders is a good thing. But it should be in addition to selling music, not instead of it.
Bootleg is empowering artists to own their live catalogues and sell them directly to fans. We’re giving fans the chance to once again leave a show with the music in hand.
The music is the merch.
And when you zoom out, the trajectory is obvious.
Live shows are more important than ever, fans crave tangible ways to hold onto those experiences and artists deserve to be paid fairly for the work only they can create.
In that landscape, Bootleg isn’t just a good idea, it’s the natural next step.
⚡️ Live Wire
The industry’s moving fast. I’m just trying to stay tuned in, and share what I hear along the way.
💡 One Penny Per Stream?
Big news out of Congress: the Living Wage for Musicians Act is back on the table. The bill would create a fund that guarantees artists at least one cent per stream, paid directly to musicians. The fund would be fueled by modest increases to streaming subscriptions and a 10% cut of ad revenue. It’s a response to a broken model where millions of plays generate little more than pocket change for the vast majority of artists. A shift like this wouldn’t solve everything, but it would start to level the playing field and put more money back in the hands of working musicians. Still, it’s encouraging to see lawmakers finally pushing for meaningful change on the streaming side of things.
🔗 Read the full story 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
My first piece with Rolling Stone Culture Council was published this week and I'd love for you to read it. I talk about how creative leaders can stay human amid the AI revolution.
The Bootleg team is in Nashville for the next couple of weeks meeting with artists, labels, managers, and investors this week, then attending AmericanaFest and continuing conversations next week.
If you’re in town and want to connect with our team, shoot me an email. Would love to link up.
🎵 Fade Out
For too long, music has been treated as background noise or bait for something else.
But the truth is that the music itself still matters most. Fans want to hold onto it. Artists deserve to be paid for it.
That’s the future we’re building with Bootleg.
We are bringing the focus back to the art, and creating a system where the connection forged at a live show doesn’t end when the lights come up.
The music is the merch, and it always will be.
With gratitude,
Founder & CEO, Bootleg.live