The Mockingbird Foundation and Backbeat Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Corporation, today announced that they have reached an agreement for a new edition of The Phish Companion, the definitive guide to the band and its music. The Third Edition will give fans an updated hardcopy reference guide, and will be accompanied by book-related mobile apps and e-book editions. It will be available in the Spring of 2013, and will cover Phish’s history through the end of 2012, with pre-orders beginning late fall 2012.

The print and electronic versions of The Phish Companion’s Third Edition will continue the mission of the nonprofit, fan-run Mockingbird Foundation, which was incorporated to develop, disseminate, and protect collected data about Phish for the benefit of charity. The Foundation’s proceeds will fund music education for children through a highly competitive, two-tiered application process that has so far provided more than 220 grants in 43 states totaling over $700,000. “There are also special grants addressing music programs impacted by natural disasters and communities impacted by Phish tours,” as explained by Board President Marco Walsh. “Due to low overheard – no salaries, staff, or office – the Mockingbird Foundation is able to disburse more than 98% of its gross receipts to charity.”

As with previous editions, “TPC3” will be written and compiled entirely by volunteers through Phish.net, a community-driven history project begun in 1991 and adopted by the Foundation in 2000. “For more than two decades, Phish.netvolunteers have developed the gold standard of information about the band,” said Executive Director Ellis Godard. “Far beyond mere lists of facts, a record of what the band has performed live involves thousands of creative decisions related to song titles, song transitions, song notes, show notes, presentation, and the annotation of teases, quotes, and jams, among other matters.” The resulting proprietary database already serves more than a dozen websites through an API library, as well as various partners’ mobile apps through licensing agreements.

Previous editions of The Phish Companion (in 2000 and 2004) drew from those same resources but in their entirety, and topped 920 pages and 4.2 pounds. “The Third Edition will feature a completely new design, a more portable format, and a more strategic selection of contents, while incorporating nine years of additional history, as well as related content developed and researched by the Phish.net team over thousands of man-hours since the publication of TPC2,” said Group Publisher John Cerullo.

For more information about the Mockingbird Foundation, please visit mbird.org. For more information about the band, please visit phish.com and phish.net. For more information about Backbeat Books, please visit backbeatbooks.com.