I say this all with great appreciation for the donations to the Mockingbird Foundation that have been made from the proceeds of LivePhish sales. That is a truly generous gesture from a very charitable band.

But what happened last night was inexcusable. It has nothing to do with how hard it is to stream video, which I will admit is technologically challenging. The LivePhish.com website was unavailable for an extended period. Not just the stream, the website. People couldn't even get to their stash to begin to try to watch the video. This was a failure at serving simple HTML. This indicates either a high level of incompetence or unpreparedness for the interest in the most anticipated show of 2014. Or both.

What we pay for when we buy a webcast is a live stream, as the show is happening. An archived stream doesn't make up for it. A code for a new stream doesn't make up for it. What will make up for it is if this never happens again. And if Phish can't ensure that, they should stop selling streams for top dollar, because the product isn't worth it.