Bootleggers Beware
 

Last night in IndigO2 in London at a Prince aftershow party, a German national was found illicitly recording Prince performing
He had a microphone sewn into a baseball cap with a wire down his back to an inline filter and a high quality recording device
Police were called and a further search found a recording of the main show in The O2
The person had in a bag, tickets for all the remaining Prince shows totally approximately £7,000 in value
All the tickets were cancelled with no hope of a refund
Police in Germany have been asked to conduct a search of the mans residence there
He is expected to be charged this week
Gives you an idea of how hard the industry is cracking down on piracy of live shows, even if you are just recording for yourself

Wow, you would think with the extreme decline of packaged-goods sales of legit studio product, bootlegs would be even tougher to produce for profit now.
Then again, Prince fans are a pretty "collectorish" crowd and he has been heavily bootlegged in the past, so perhaps there is still a good market there.
Guess it's good to find out an artist's taping policy first, eh?

Prince isn't a fan of bootleggers. Most of his live stuff on youtube has been taken off. At a recent show, just before the release of his new album, he ended up playing an off key version of one of the tunes, just so bootleggers wouldn't record what the song actually sounded like.

That's why Prince is jesus

Thanks for the info!

Hmph.

If you are lame enough to bootleg any band.............

Must be great stealing peoples music and work instead of paying for it

Ask SY what they think of bootleggers

Sy are ok with taping (as long as it is a no-profit thing).

http://www.sonicyouth.com/gossip/sho...ghlight=policy

dunno if that's the best thread about it, but it's quite common knowledge that they have no problems with that.

is home taping killing music? or will music continue despite bootlegers etc?

Well, Radiohead actively promote bottleging and still sell records by the trackload. As far as live music is concerned, bootlegers have been almost unofficial historians for many a band. Bootleging official albums is different, that goes to attack the artist's wallet directly and it shouldn't and isn't condoned. Buy the fucking records, if you like them so much.

its more about money than damaging music in some way, unless your lars ulrich that is.

Problem is a lot of people recording shows do intend to sell them

People only have so much disposable income and bootlegs do impact adversely on album sales

How on the one hand can someone say they are a genuine fan of a band and on the other rip off their work?

i dont care if the album sales get affected.

That doesn't make sense at all. And there are myriad examples of bands that have been bootleged live but still sold millions of records. If you also do some more thorough research, you'll find the the great majority of artists have qualms about the downloading of official material, rather than their live output, which in any case they wouldn't dream of regularly release themselves. For the record, I don't think that I need to own the audio of every single gig a band I like has played.

Yes, the most bootlegged band is Led Zeppelin so...

Some bands, particularly when starting out, have encouraged bootlegging of gigs in order to increase exposure

Some bands even put out free downloads to achieve the same ends

Some bands also sell mllions of albums despite bootlegging and piracy as you state, but are they the exception or the rule?

It doesnt alter the fact that bootlegging is theft and illegal


Spoken like a true fan........

do you seriously think that because i dont really care if a band sells millions of records or not that i am not a fan?

What you actually said was "i dont care if the album sales get affected."

So if album sales drop so low the band gets dropped by the record company as economically unviable and there are no more albums you wont mind?

spoken like a true cop

i think your taking this way to seriously.

i dont think music gets affected by bootleggers and bands being dropped from labels has very little to do with bootleggers. i take it your not part of any of the trade blogs on this site? i got some good ones, i'll send you them.

[quote=ThePits]Some bands, particularly when starting out, have encouraged bootlegging of gigs in order to increase exposure

Some bands even put out free downloads to achieve the same ends

quote]

That smacks of desperation, but to each their own. In any case, how can a poorly recorded version of a song be threatening to the overall sales of the polished version? Also, if it wasn't for bootlegers the world over, we would have rarely been able to hear the other side of The Velvet Underground's story, to name one band, the side that had them blowing up amps and terrifying audiences. All their official live albums are the fruit of dedicated bootlegers, so there.

[quote=sarramkrop]
Poorly recorded?

Hmm you might want to check out the guy at the top of Canal St Market, Camden who was recently busted by Trading Standards and the BPI

The recordings he was selling, and in some cases dvd's, were very good quality

Funnily enough he is a former crew member of Siouxie and the Banshees

One of the guys caught at the Prince aftershow had a couple of thousand pounds worth of pro recording kit concealed on his miserable carcass and the recording of the main Prince arena show that we listened to was as clear as a bell

[quote=ThePits]
those home taping is killing music and cinema bootleg films really worked on you didnt they?

so prince might not sell a few extra cd's, which by the way where given out free at the gig, i am not going to stress about that.

blown out of proportion.

this is just because prince is a cunt.

[quote=jon boy]
I didn't say that. What's going on with the misquoting?

Now I'm getting confused. Who quoted who?
The only thing that makes sense, is that Prince is a cunt.

I don't know anyone who would purchase illegal bootlegs and not purchase the studio album.

You keep talking about people bootlegging for a profit, but who is gonna buy from them when you got the real thing on Amazon.com for $10?!

And if the people are going to give away/trade bootlegs: I don't know anyone who could survive on the live version only. Everyone I know would want the studio version, which would probably lead to illegal downloading, which is entirely different than bootlegging.

Edit your post and delete the part that says "[quote=the pits]" and your quote problems will be fixed.

So you condone theft?

At least I am not a thief

Jon Boy, I would be grateful if you would send me those trade blogs it would give me another perspective on things

As for the the "home taping is killing music/cinema" etc I actually see the damage bootlegging and piracy does first hand to bands, especially ones starting out

Alex's Trip, selling bootlegged live recordings is still a big market and yes people make a living out of it

The live bootlegs usually go for for about half the price of a legit album to some of the more desirable live gigs with special guests going for up to 5 times the price

Alex told it exactly like it is.

The question is then who are all the people the BPI and Trading Standards bust every year for bootlegging, not the regular form of piracy, and who are making money from it?

you sound like no fun to be around.

can you explain in greater detail how the damage is being done? are you against soul seek and other d/l sites etc?

FACTS:

I like ThePits. always rational and rarely hostile. I'm sure he has a good reason for siding with His Purple Majesty.***

Prince is a douche (musical genius, but still a douche).

Live bootlegs (mostly) sound like shit and I would NEVER pay for one. even if it was studio quality....I wouldn't pay.

if I knew that a band had a problem with me listening to live recordings, I wouldn't try to "rip them off". I would most likely lose interest in them however.










***that said, bring truncated back YOU BASTARD!!!

But none of that explains how it is going to decrease album sales. Just because a live bootleg is cheaper doesn't mean that fans aren't going to buy the studio albums. There may or may not be a lot of bootleggers still out there but that doesn't prove anything.

The people who give a shit about any particular band are probably going to buy an album before going to see them live. Then they are probably going to pay for a ticket to see them live. At which point, if they so choose to have a less than studio quality recording of the show they just paid to see, they can choose to purchase/trade/obtain a live bootleg. I don't see how it is going to decrease album sales.

Please dont think I am siding with the purple pain, after 6 shows I am sick to the back teeth of the him

As for truncated I plead not guilty

However, stuff an envelope full of used 50's under the bench outside London Zoo in Regents Park and I might be able to negotiate her return.......

1) FORGOTTEN. I have disassociated you with The Artist Formerly Known As Douche.

2) yeah right. like you would be cool with SOMEONE ELSE knocking her up.

3) do you accept Hasbro?

As you have never been around me I will refrain from commenting on the "fun" line

OK, with album sales down by between a third and two thirds, depending on the record label, over the last ten years, income to support and develop new talent is at an all time low

A large part of that decline is due to piracy

An A&R department in one label I know of had its budget slashed by 25% last year

Within the figures and estimates for piracy comes what is being discussed here, i.e. the bootlegging of live gigs

So its not all of the problem but a part of it

The same as bootleg band merch leeches money that is increasingly relied on to support production costs for live shows

A person recording a show for their own private use is one thing, selling it is another so lets be clear on the difference

Its selling the stuff that does the damage, and yes people do sell bootlegs and they do make a living at it

The bottom line is less income at the record companies = less new bands and artists getting vital support to reach an audience bigger than their local pub

If you require an even more detailed explanation let me know

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to floatingslowly again.

i think your looking at one thing you dislike and blaming a lot of problems on bootlegs. i dont suppose the internet d/ling and ipods would have anything to do with lessening album sales would they? its just technology changing things. its a big wide world out there.

Legitimate downloads are included as sales in the figures

Its the illegal downloads that do the damage

The thing I dont like about it is simple, I have seen so many talented artists who cant get a break due to lack of funding giving up after years of bashing their heads off of corporate walls

Makes you wonder how many bands of truly great potential have been lost