I know the Grateful Dead turned their vault into an on going money maker but first they had to create a vault. They had that shit every where, people's house, barns, all over the place. It's still coming in.
What condition do you think GNR have all that stuff? Well documented, cataloged, stored properly for preservation with security, lay your finger tips on whatever you need? (Somebody in camp would probably either laugh or cry at that question.
) Or are we talking Axl's garage the last time we saw it or Zutaut's storage locker? Mountains of shit in boxes, who knows what's in those piles or their condition. Key pieces missing that nobody knows where they are.
I think the evidence lies in what we think we know they have like miles of footage, soundboard recording, etc. Gilby said he went through a bunch of tape when he put together the live CD. And what they put out, or rather lack of, and when. Maybe all those anniversary sets put out were late for the reason they had to find all that stuff. Maybe we didn't get what fans think would be a better release because they can't find it, didn't know they had it or it's damaged. Or they didn't think to keep it. They did borrow from a fan's collection.
I'm thinking it's not all that great. I'm thinking they had nobody on archiving for a very long time. It might have gotten better since they have been in that mystical vault in the last couple years. But I'm thinking anybody who goes into the vault is looking at a nightmare.