The Counting Crows Trader (formerly the Counting Crows Bootleg Database) was built in June and July of 2001, finally going public July 10, 2001 at the now retired, aa-design.com as an offshoot to my quasi-popular Counting Crows Video CD distribution site (Everything After August, 8-22-00, VH1 Storytellers and MTV 10-Spot). The Network has grown in popularity over a relatively short period of time, becoming affiliated with Digital Counting Crows and AnnaBegins.com (thanks goes out to them) and now, incredibly enough, CountingCrows.com itself! Now, more then a year later, the site is coming up on 300 members covering about 90% of all Counting Crows shows ever done. And, with each new show the DB is growing nicely. Further more, the site can now be reached from the direct URL of  www.countingcrowsdb.com and www.CountingCrowsDB.com, something I'm quite proud of.

I created the Counting Crows Trader Network in such a way that it wouldn't act as just a normal Network of just show information, but rather an active Network that allows for users to actually get these shows from others who have them (via B&P or trade). It seemed a lot of people made their bootleg lists available online, but they were scattered throughout the internet, which made looking for one particular show a real pain; this is where the Network comes in. You simply navigate to the show you want and select a user or users to email about getting a B&P or trade of it. Simple enough.

The Network isn't all too complicated to run. The entire site is static (except adding and modifying listings) so load time should be that of a normal page (quick). The site allows for you to add your bootlegs in a hopefully easy manner for everyone. You enter your name, email address, B&P and Trade preference, your location (to ease long distance trades and B&Ps) a username and password (so you can change your listings whenever), and select from the entire list of Counting Crows shows (email me if you know of one I don't have...I should have 99% of them). The site also allows for users to rate each other (kind of way to track bad/good traders if you will). The site also protects your email address from bots that surf the internet for email addresses, so don't worry about listing it. You won't get any spam, I made sure of that. Only people that want to trade or B&P will contact you. Users can also go into Away mode which will allow for your list to stay but wont let people email you for a B&P or trade (say if you're busy or something).

The Counting Crows Trader Network was redesigned in February 2002 after I grew tired of the original look; then re-designed for the linking with www.CountingCrows.com.  I find this new design to look much more streamline and professional; as I hope you will too. With the new server page loads should be as fast as ever, and on top of that we're still dealing with static pages so it should be very quick compared to other dynamic Networks out there.

I hope for continued growth for the Network; I will continue to strive to make it the best it can be and I hope the members of the Network continue to trade and B&P this great music. Enjoy the ride!

  Dan Jones
  Trader Network Admin