Much has been written about the sheer amount of Queen MP3 file sharing which takes place here.
The discussion has swayed between official and unofficial, released and unreleased, generosity and eliteness, rare and mega-rare, and finally, free-to-download and selling or charging for a product.
Lots of issues there for us to get our teeth into.
However, out of curiosity, do similar Sites/threads/trees/groups/hubs etc... exist for other bands or artists?
How are bands like "The Beatles", "Led Zepellin", "The Rolling Stones" etc treated? Are they the same as here? Is Queenzone unique (as far as access to downloadable material is concerned), or is the same sort of "service" available for others too?
What I have found is a pretty generous sharing of concert bootlegs from many other bands. When it comes to hubs and the like, it's quite easy to find specific places to share Rush, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and U2 (to name a few). (This does not even touch on places like easytree where anybody and everybody is shared for free.) The only rules these hubs have are meant to ensure sharing (not leeching) or to ensure the quality of the trading pool (no mp3s or mp3-sourced stuff). Also, I think the assumption is that if you are wanting concert boots, you already have the official material and don't need to share it.
To make an example out of U2 for a moment, they have played 4 shows on their new tour (the same as Queen) and 3 of them are already widely available on the net. I think U2's attitude (bootlegging is ok, just don't profit) creates a culture among the fans that fosters sharing. Queen was never that open about bootlegging, so fans tend to play it closer to the vest.
The only caveat I can add is that this is usually the trend when it comes to concert boots. How this applies to rare demos, etc, I don't really know.
The Smashing Pumpkins has a DC++ site which is easy to access. And you would not believe the amount of unreleased material they have.
Dream Theater has something like this group here - there's even a 'shared' easytree login available (as they don't seem to be taking new logins at the moment).
On the Dream Theater forum (on the OFFICIAL site), there is a corner where bootlegs are offered. They have full support by the band. However, there is a very strict policy on official stuff: it's banned.
For the rest, in the title of your topic you announce whether you share or request a certain show. I must say that this is working excellent.
A link to the bootleg corner: link
Wish more bands would have such an excellent system.