The 18th of February of 2001 was witness to a bright shiny beacon on an internet hill. Well, maybe not a bright beacon; it was more like a collection of photons from a monitor screen.
What began as an experiment in beating low-brows selling concert recordings for ill-gained profits, the Madness Trading Ring (on Yahoo! Groups) brought together fans of the British pop band Madness to exchange and trade non-commercial gig recordings. No money exchanged hands, which was the point of the Ring. The fans shared and shared alike for the sheer love of Madness music and the types of audience recordings you’ll never see with a “Virgin Records†label affixed to the CD.
From the world over Madfans flocked to the MTR, and nearly overnight the fledgling list had single-handedly cost the illegal bootleggers exactly 2.15 million pounds sterling in eBay auction profits. Some estimates from industry insiders put the total closer to 2.15 billion. Either way, the efforts of the MTR were sending the illegal bootleggers to the front of the line on the government dole.
Thus is the power of an online community of like-minded concert recording enthusiasts. Power to the people, as it were. Take that, you dirty pirates. Walk the plank and all that buccaneer lingo.
Not to be shackled to a single purpose, it didn’t take long for the Madness Trading Ring subscribers to begin using the list to trade their duplicate records and Madness paraphernalia. I remember fondly the day a promotional bike horn for the “Driving In My Car†single passed forth from one altruistic fan to the happy hands of a true diehard collector. I knew then we were truly a dedicated and slightly pathetic lot. We’re a happy pathetic lot, though. And at least our pet hamsters aren’t named “Gandalf†or “Neo.â€
The branches and shoots didn’t end with just collection-building. The Madness Trading Ring quickly became the premier clearing house for Madness fans to share news, articles, information, reviews, and just about every tiny tidbit of cerebral nuttiness from sources “rumourâ€, “insider†and “official.†If you want the skinny on the world of Madness, the fans of the MTR almost always have an answer at the ready for you.
The Madness Trading Ring of today retains all the juicy flavour of its original inception, the first stop for Madness fans to find that elusive audience recording of our lads on an abbreviated stage at the Spread Eagle in 1979. From there it’s become so much more, a cooperative online community where fans become friends. With members from all corners of the globe, from Great Britain to Australia, the US to Spain, Italy to Japan, Argentina to France, and all places near and far betwixt (not to mention Malta!), the Madness Trading Ring is always looking for the next friend to join the ranks.
We’re talking about you, so what are you waiting for?
Kev and Steve,
MTR Management.
