Comparison

Live Music Archive vs DeadSpread

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Live Music Archive

Stream a vast collection of live concert recordings from the Internet Archive and Phish.in. Discover music by artist, venue, or date, and enjoy features like offline playback, cross-device syncing, and a visualizer.

Highlights
  • Massive live music library
  • Search by artist, venue, date
  • Offline playback
  • Cross-device syncing
  • CarPlay integration
  • Concert visualizer
  • Lossless audio support
Features
Read full description

The world's live music, in your pocket. Stream the Internet Archive's massive collection of concert recordings, plus a huge archive of live Phish shows from Phish.in. Thousands of artists from the 1960s to today: Grateful Dead, Billy Strings, Goose, String Cheese Incident, and so many more. Discover. Search by artist, taper, venue, festival, date, or song. Browse recent shows or dive deep into decades of music. Listen your way. Let Infinite Shuffle keep the music going, queue up what's next with Play Next and Add to Queue, or hand off playback between your devices. Stream over Bluetooth and AirPlay, in lossless FLAC if you like. Set a sleep timer to drift off. Scrobble to Last.fm or Libre.fm. Take it on the road. CarPlay puts your shows right on the dash, and Siri starts them hands-free: just say "Play a show on Live Music Archive." See the music. The visualizer turns any concert into a live light show that reacts to every note. And the whole app comes in Light or Dark. Always have something to listen to. Download shows for offline play. Offline Refresh automatically swaps out finished shows for new ones, so your library stays fresh, even without a connection. Make it yours. Favorite artists, shows, tapers, and venues sync across your devices and your archive.org account. Track your listening history. Share concerts with friends. Terms and Conditions: https://livemusicarchive.app/terms Privacy Policy: https://livemusicarchive.app/privacy

About

DeadSpread

Access and stream a vast collection of live concert recordings from bands like the Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic. Download your favorite shows to enjoy offline. Discover music from various other jam bands.

Highlights
  • Stream live concert recordings
  • Download shows for offline playback
  • Access archive.org content
  • Discover Widespread Panic shows
  • Explore other jam band artists
Features
Read full description

Stream & download archive.org Grateful Dead Shows and PanicStream.com Widespread Panic shows along with others like Bloodkin, Drivin N Cryin, Jupiter Coyote, Moonshine Still and more.

Screenshots

Live Music Archive4 screens
DeadSpread4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: DeadSpread at none against Live Music Archive's 5. Live Music Archive's advantage is ratings volume (1.8K vs 103). On price, rating, review sentiment and update cadence there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Live Music Archive sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. DeadSpread asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.9 for Live Music Archive against 4.8 for DeadSpread. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Live Music Archive has 1.8K ratings behind it against 103, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 95% of Live Music Archive's written reviews are positive against 90% of DeadSpread's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Live Music Archive ships an update every 9 days, DeadSpread weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 11, 2026 and November 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Live Music Archive versus DeadSpread: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterLive Music ArchiveDeadSpread
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (1.8K ratings) — better4.8 (103 ratings)
Positive reviews94.9% of reviews — better90.5% of reviews
Number of ratings1.8K — better103
Update frequencyEvery 9 daysWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree — betterAd-supported
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS16.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size93 MB29 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperAstral Engineering LLCWalter Sanders

Customer experience

Live Music Archive

All ratings1,788 ratings
Positive98.6%
Neutral0.5%
Negative0.9%
Written reviews138 reviews
Positive94.9%
Neutral2.2%
Negative2.9%

DeadSpread

All ratings102 ratings
Positive96.1%
Neutral1.0%
Negative2.9%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive90.5%
Neutral4.8%
Negative4.8%

Bugs and requests

Live Music Archive

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes on launch for some users
  • Buggy offline download feature
  • Incompatibility with older devices

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add Carplay support
  • Implement an equalizer
  • Allow playlist creation
  • Add login and review functionality

DeadSpread

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Live Music Archive

One-time5
  • Nice Tip$0.99
  • Generous Tip$2.99
  • Amazing Tip$4.99
Show 2 more
  • Wonderful Tip$9.99
  • Astronomical Tip$19.99
None

DeadSpread

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Live Music Archive free?
Live Music Archive is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DeadSpread free?
DeadSpread is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Live Music Archive or DeadSpread?
Live Music Archive is rated higher. Live Music Archive averages 4.9 out of 5 from 1.8K ratings, while DeadSpread averages 4.8 from 103 ratings.
Do Live Music Archive or DeadSpread have ads?
Neither Live Music Archive nor DeadSpread shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Live Music Archive or DeadSpread?
Live Music Archive ships an update every 9 days, and DeadSpread weekly. Most recently, Live Music Archive was updated on November 11, 2026 and DeadSpread on November 6, 2026.

Other comparisons