I just got an email from a bootlegger. Well, I think it was a bootlegger. His official line was that he runs a "DIY label" dedicated to putting old punk/KBD stuff out on CD. Looks like one, sounds like one, smells like one. Anyway, he wanted to buy some of my (original) demo tapes, or high quality dubs with repros of the original cover art. I told him to fuck off and die.
I trade tapes and CDRs of unreleased choonz and out of print records because I love music. Bootleggers, no matter how noble their intentions may be, are thieves, and treat music and musicians with a great deal of disrespect.
What's happening when you buy a bootleg is that you're paying money to hear music performed by a certain artist. Out of your $15 or $20 the CD store you bought it from gets paid, the distributor they bought it from gets paid, the pressing plant that made the CD gets paid, and the leech who made the boot gets paid. You're paying for the performance, and shafting the performer.
What a bootlegger does is threefold: first they steal an artist's right to control his music when they boot it, then they steal the music itself when they press the CD or LP, and finally they steal the opportunity of the artist to profit off their own music when they sell it. In other words, bootleggers operate in a fashion very similar to most major labels, with one exception: there is no accountability whatsoever.
A major label can be sued for damages. Bootleggers are hard enough to find, let alone sue. Major labels are bound by contracts. Bootleggers are bound by greed. Major labels may fuck artists over, but they're nominally acting in an artist's best interest. Bootleggers fuck artists over without even that pretense. The only interest they have is enlightened self interest. Major labels may be thieving, conniving swine, but they're still several steps above bootleggers on the evolutionary scale.
I dunno about you, but that's a daisy-chain that I want no part of. If I pay money for music, I want at least some of that money to go back to the artists. I don't see how if you're unwilling to purchase an album on a major label, you'd be willing to pay money to bootlegger. They both use the same methods, but bootleggers are even less ethical.
I've heard the arguments made in favor of boots and against them. People argue that some bootlegs (such as "fan club" re-issues) are acceptable because they keep out of print music affordable for fans. That's a reasonable sounding argument, after all, why pay $35 for an original Mecht Mensch 7" when you can get the entire 7" repressed on a compilation LP for $10? The argument, however has a hole in it big enough to fly a fucking jumbo jet through. If the goal is to keep music cheap, why not just find someone who has the record and get them to make you tape? It's cheap, it's (reasonably) ethical, and you get the hear music that otherwise you wouldn't be able to.
Don't even bother to counter me with some bullshit argument about "convenience." It's not rocket surgery, and with a minimum of effort you can find someone who'll happily dub or burn you copy of that record. Want the record cover? Get 'em to make you xerox or email you a scan. Say it's not the same as holding that precious record in your hands? Neither's holding a crappy bootleg 7" made from a tape of an abused record with 500 covers whipped up at Kinko's on some loser's lunch break.
Something else pokes another big hole in the "keep it affordable" argument: There's a fairly recent bootleg of Die Kreuzen's first 7" and it appears on one of the "Killed By Hardcore" LPs. There's also a semi-recent boot of AoF's first 7". The Rebel Truth 7" was also booted, and doubtless there are dozens of other records that I just haven't noticed out there. Now, the songs on all three of those 7"s are currently available legitimately. Die Kreuzen's first 7" is on the Gone Away CD. AoF's EP is on the Core CD/LP and the month-old Complete Discography 2CD/2LP set. Rebel Truth have just about everything they recorded out on one disc from Grand Theft Audio. Fuck, there's a bootleg of the Ruts' Crack LP available that's even TAKEN FROM THE OFFICIAL CD REISSUE complete with the CD artwork.
What then, is the point in booting this stuff? To keep it affordable? $10-12 for a legit CD with 10-20 songs compared to $5 for a boot 7" with 4 songs? I can't see the value there. Are they doing it for the love of the music? Hah. For the love of the buck more likely.
For bootlegs of unreleased material, people argue that only the real fans who already own their other material will fork out the money for a bootleg, and they're probably right, but THAT IS IRRELEVANT. You're still depriving the artist of the right to control his music, the music itself, and the right to profit from it, and just like the other boots, it's simple enough to find someone with what you want on tape or CDR, and get them to make you a copy. It's about as complicated as tying your shoes, and about as inconvenient.
Yes, I am trading again.
Catch you on the flipside. Obik/obik@dementlieu.com
2003/03/19: Wow. I don't have a copy myself, but I've just seen a recent bootleg of the first Fix 7" on ebay (for $15 fucking dollars each, courtesy of RR*). Can we say absolute fucking shit? Bright orange vinyl is about the only thing this has going for it, if you happen to go for that kind of stuff. The cover is a picture taken from Ripper #7 (the whole Ripper interview is available online, complete with pictures, and even if it weren't, and there are THOUSANDS of copies of that issue of Ripper out there--they printed so many that it fucking drove 'em under, and they only managed one more, rather limited, issue after that), and the much-vaunted "liner notes" are the ripped from the semi-legitimate Cold Days LP and CD--both of which, I may add, are still widely available at a modest cost. I'd bet good money that the boot wasn't even made from an original copy of the 7", as RR claims, but uses the remix from Cold Days (someone care to confirm or deny?). And on top of it all, there are only 200 copies of this craptastic piece of profiteering shite--there were only 200 of the original, fuckhead! Admittedly, the original now goes for upwards of $1000, but why even make the pretense of making the music available again if you're just going to do it in an equally limited amount? I can't see any point to this beyond putting a few bucks in some dick's pocket. It's certainly not about making great music widely available.
For you, my loyal reader, I have a gift. You can download both sides of the ultra-rare first Fix 7" and make your own bootleg! Print up some stuff from Kill From The Heart, make a crappy sleeve at Kinko's and you too can profit from the hard work of others! It's like stealing, but without all the effort! And since we all know old punks aren't liable to sue, there's practically no risk involved! Ain't it fun?
* Please note that I am IN NO WAY IMPLYING RR DID THE BOOT. I'm just implying that he's a greedy bastard who doesn't mind filling his pockets by selling bootleg 7"s at extortionate prices. Unless he's borrowed money from the mafia or something, he doesn't even NEED the money that much--he's sold thousands and thousands of dollars of rare records, tapes, and masters on ebay in the last year.
RR has apparently suffered some harassment since I put this article up, due to the fact that people are absolutely incapable of reading large, clearly marked footnotes such as this. As a result I've hidden his identity behind a clever pseudonym and removed the link to his website. If you're intelligent enough to figure out who he is, I assume you're intelligent enough not to email him out of the blue and tear him a new asshole for bootlegging the Fix 7", since he didn't.
My tradelist is now available in two formats, the first your typical ugly, uninformative, one line per show traders list and the second one a long form with comments and tracklists.
If you are a member of any of the bands I trade and you want copies of what I have, or object to me trading it around, just email me.
This is a list people who are good traders--they send stuff promptly, it arrives in decent shape and it's graded well. You shouldn't hesitate to deal with them. If you're not on this list there's probably a reason for it, but there's always a chance that I just forgot about you. Email me if you think you deserve to be here. This list also hasn't been updated in several years.