“Some of these recordings, on crappy little cassette tapes from the early ’90s, sound incredible”: Meet the fan who has recorded over 10,000 gigs and is now letting everyone download the audio

A Chicago-born music enthusiast who has amassed live recordings from more than 10,000 gigs is planning to publish them all online for free.

The individual in question is Aadam Jacobs, who began his hobby in 1989 when he smuggled a pocket-sized dictaphone into a Nirvana show. In those days, taping performances was largely frowned upon by promoters – indeed, in the pre-internet era, recording and then selling C90s to fans proved a handy sideline for many an aspiring entrepreneur. Yet Jacobs had no interest in profit, and over time he became a beloved fixture of the Chicago live scene—the “taper guy.”

Over more than three and a half decades, Jacobs has built an archive of over 10,000 tapes, and now a corps of volunteers is helping to digitize, mix, and master them so they can be uploaded to the Aadam Jacobs Collection at the Live Music Archive.

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You can browse what has already been saved on the Internet Archive. As you can see, it’s largely indie rock, with a scattering of other genres including folk and hip-hop. Among the bands Jacobs taped back in the day are classic-era Pixies, REM, The Cure, and My Bloody Valentine.

But what condition is Jacobs’ collection in? Surprisingly, given their age and the equipment used, not too bad, according to Neil deMause, who is one of the volunteer engineers on the project.

“Especially after the first couple years, he’s got it so dialled-in that some of these recordings, on, like, crappy little cassette tapes from the early ’90s, sound incredible.”

At present, the volunteers are about halfway through Jacobs’ mountain of cassettes – and before you ask, yes, it is all legal and above board, as Jacobs is not profiting from the exercise. He’s happy to remove recordings if musicians involved genuinely don’t want them online, but only a couple of artists have asked so far.