Officially, Epic Records and Cactus Jack have spent millions of dollars scrubbing these leaks from YouTube and SoundCloud. However, archivists argue that they are practicing , not theft.

It was a chilly autumn evening when Travis Scott, the renowned rapper and music sensation, took to the stage at NRG Park in Houston, Texas. The crowd was electric, buzzing with anticipation for the highly anticipated Astroworld Festival. Little did they know, their excitement would be etched in the annals of music history.

The Astroworld Internet Archive is part of a growing movement of — from the George Floyd Uprising Archive to the Covid-19 Digital Memory Bank . When mainstream platforms prioritize liability over memory, fans, witnesses, and concerned citizens become the keepers of history.

Much of the footage originated from the official Apple Music livestream or was copyrighted material belonging to Live Nation, the concert organizers. Additionally, high-quality recordings of the musical performance itself constituted pirated content under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).