[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by gprsh924

My two favorite bands are OAR and Dispatch. They are both rock/reggae jam band types that gained their fanbases in the heyday of Napster through downloads. They never would've gained the fans they did if they people did not file share. Both these bands encouraged this and allow recordings at their concerts so more people can have access to their music.

OAR is still together while Dispatch broke up a few years ago. At their farewell concert they had 100,000 people and this summer they played three benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden. They were the first independent band to sell out the Garden. I was in attendance for the last show and it was unbelievable.

Awesome, another OAR fan! I have everything they have recorded, and have managed to see them live twice. What an amazing band to see in concert.

Totally agreed though, my exposure to them was via Napster. A buddy of mine went to college at Northwestern, when he came back for a break he brought back some OAR CDs. He had seen them in concert somewhere. At the time, I couldn't even find their stuff for sale locally. I downloaded everything, then had a local music store order me their CDs. With them being the ultimate drunk band, they were constant at our parties, and soon there were more of my friends buying their CDs. So, thanks to free music on the internet, they sold quite a few CDs.