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Counterfeit, pirate or bootleg?
If you buy CDs at flea markets or car boot sales, you may be buying counterfeit, pirate or bootleg products. Does this matter? What do you need to know?
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So you plan on bulking up your CD collection cheaply at a car boot sale or flea market. You don't like paying high prices in the stores and you wonder how traders can sell their wares so cheaply.
You might however find yourself buying not the genuine article but counterfeit, pirated or bootleg CDs. But what's the difference? And what is the moral viewpoint on each of these types of product?
The first thing to say is that they are all illegal. Depending on the legal jurisdiction where you buy counterfeit, pirate or bootleg CDs, you will possibly not be committing an illegal act yourself, and almost certainly not if you don't realize that you're not buying the genuine article. The trader however should know better.
A counterfeit CD is one that is manufactured illegally by a third party not connected to the record label and imitates the original as closely as possible. The ideal for the counterfeiter is that their wares should be physically indistinguishable from the original.
Pirate CDs do not mimic genuine CDs. Often they are compilations or repackaged versions of the original material. Many buyers are not too fussy, and some might jump at the chance to buy an album that they have never heard of by their favorite artist.
Both counterfeit and pirate CDs contain copies of the original studio or authorized live recordings. Bootlegs on the other hand contain material illicitly recorded at concerts. Sometimes the recording quality is very poor because of restrictions on microphone positioning so as not to be seen.
Morally there is no doubt that counterfeit and pirate CDs are bad because the purchaser gets an inferior product and the producer receives no reward. There is no feature of either that could possibly be seen as redeeming in any way.
Bootlegs are another matter. Many live performances go unrecorded, and so-called 'live recordings' are often doctored in the studio, or compiled from several concerts (and sound checks!), so a bootleg may be the only record of a significant event. Indeed there are many famous bootleg recordings of artists such as Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles. However, the artists do not get paid, so the moral ground is definitely shaky.
Conclusions: Counterfeit = bad. Pirate = bad. Bootleg... Jury still out!
Publication date Tuesday April 20, 2010
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Discussion on this article's topic...
Erik, Sweden
Piracy is only on Eastern coast of Africa. Thats sharing what we do with music -- these were the words I heard from one of my mutual friend. And I guess he has the point.
Monday July 12, 2010
Revital Candiotti, Miami Fl, Usa
hi, thank you for contacting !!!
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www.mycountrylyrics.com
you can allso call me at 786 556 1600
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I am looking for recording company tnat can pot my lyrics to motion... you can see sam of my lyrics at
www.mycountrylyrics.com
you can allso call me at 786 556 1600
I am looking foet to spik to you soon...
Monday April 19, 2010
George K., Honolulu, USA
There is a solution to piracy with no harassment and more money for authors and file sharers alike: the ideosphere. A brief rundown in 5 paragraphs is at: http://2and2.blogs.experienceproject.com/280644.html The adjacent post even shows an example with current music industry amounts to illustrate the concept.
Monday April 19, 2010
Bpayne, Yo Ass, Up It All
yo shun, I don eva by no muthafuckin records, I download all dat shiit, an I be glad i did an shit cuz when i get dat shit I be like If I'd a paid fo dis shit Id a be mad as hell shun
Monday April 19, 2010
Peter Smith, Newport Beach, Ca, USA
Bootleg recordings, or particularly bands that allow/encourage fans to make live recordings, help to focus, paradoxically, on the importance of live performance. They encourage the audience to value the unadulterated, unique quality of a raw performance as opposed to the over-worked studio version - and showcase a performer who can produce what the fans appreciate live, every time, which is what "live" (as opposed to tech) music (IMHO) should be all about.
Monday April 19, 2010
Bernie Scott, St. John's, Canada
I don't purchase illigal music as least not that I know of. I buy all my music in record stoores. However if I had the opportunity to buy a bootleg recording of Deep Purple I would buy it. I have copies of most of their albums on vinyl, laser disk, reel to reel,cassette,the "horrible sounding" cd,and vhjs and dvd as well. So somebody make some money from me.And I supported my favorite group. But when I walk into a record store and see for example The Rolling Stones greaatist hits on sale for $9.99 and other Rolling Stones cd's for $24.99 and these being abput 25 or more years old, I think..Somebody has made a ton on money off this stuff over the years. Isn't it time for the prices to come down? It is not only the Rolling Stones. I just used them as an example. So In my opinion I believe the industry to some extent has created this problem. People don't want to pay the high prices so they download the stuff like crazy. They don't care about the labels or the packagaing.They just want the music.....They don't care about the packaging it comes in. So some of the problems, the industry has caused.
Monday April 19, 2010
George Geddes, Glasgow, UK
Many of the people who buy bootlegs will be completists who have all the band's legally available stuff, so they are not depriving the artists of income in that sense. On the other hand, people who *knowingly buy counterfeir or pirate recordings...
Monday April 19, 2010
N. Mardi, Groningen, Netherlands
It should not be forgotten, however, that a whole scene of music thrives from the bootleg market. There have been bands like the Grateful Dead around for decades, offering tape enthusiasts and mere fans a soundboard to position their equipment on. The resulting records can in the hands of the right people with the right equipment easily make up for a listening pleasure that no editing process afterwards could make better. The jam scene continues to this day in the likes of Umphrey McGee, The String Cheese Incident and many other, lesser known bands.
While the bands earn not a single dime from these tapes, they earn recognition though. And recognition, yet again, might lead to an increase in sales - or at least a few more people enjoying the sound a band has created.
Interestingly enough this phenomenon is no longer unique to the jam scenes. Several bands have experimented with live shows and a basically on-the-fly recorded live album. In the wake of record companies realizing the impact of the internet and the pirating issue, such ideas might help the music scene as a whole.
While the bands earn not a single dime from these tapes, they earn recognition though. And recognition, yet again, might lead to an increase in sales - or at least a few more people enjoying the sound a band has created.
Interestingly enough this phenomenon is no longer unique to the jam scenes. Several bands have experimented with live shows and a basically on-the-fly recorded live album. In the wake of record companies realizing the impact of the internet and the pirating issue, such ideas might help the music scene as a whole.
Monday April 19, 2010
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