The Mockingbird Foundation announced today that it has formally adopted Phish.net – including the account, domain, and services therein – as an ongoing project, to be continued and developed beyond the band’s own history as an important resource, recognizable to Phish fans and significant in both the band’s and their fans’ history. The technical and financial adoption began last August, just as the band was closing shop. Frontstage changes will begin this summer, marking and celebrating the fifteenth year of Phish.net.
The Foundation has the proven focus and established structure necessary to help Phish.net not only to endure but to develop. It hopes to draw from some of the most interactive and innovative developments on the web to improve the site, initially through changes in the Phish.net structure, and eventually through an integration of the two sites and the introduction of new services therein. Fans interested in contributing content, design, programming, or funds to the effort are invited to contact members of the board through the Foundation website.
Phish.net began as a mailing list in 1990, developed into a Usenet newsgroup in 1991, and emerged as a pivotal website in 1992. The core participants from those settings developed the information from that website into intellectual property already protected and disseminated by the Mockingbird Foundation, particularly through it’s highly successful 928-page book, The Phish Companion, now is its third printing and second edition.
The Mockingbird Foundation is the leading provider of historical information about the band Phish and its music. The Foundation has been operated entirely by volunteer fans of the band, without any salaries or paid staff, since its inception in 1996. It fundraises for music education for children by celebrating the music of Phish, through comprehensive books, innovative recordings, creative donation premiums, and special events for the Phish fan community. The second edition of The Phish Companion – the Foundation’s 928-page authoritative encyclopedia – is available from major book outlets as well as through www.mbird.org.
Phish was a rock band that started in 1983 and performed its last show in August 2004. For more information about Phish, see http://www.phish.com.