From: bbehlen@soda.berkeley.edu (Vitamin B (Brian Behlendorf))
Newsgroups: rec.music.cd
Subject: Re: Bootleg Mastering -- Is it as easy as it sounds?
Date: 29 Jul 1992 04:07:56 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Association
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

In article <malcolm.712367489@wrs.com> malcolm@wrs.com (Malcolm Humes) writes:
>schweda@iastate.edu (Christopher Schweda) writes:
>
>I actually see a lot of bootleg cds that look like they are made outside the
>US but which I suspect are just made to look like imports so it's harder to
>track the bootleggers and so stores can represent them as rare imports. 

Most are made in Italy, where copyright laws are a joke.

>I think it's not too difficult to track where a cd was pressed. Don't they 
>usually include the pressing plant and some reference number stamped in the 
>disc itself? 

Not always: of course, if you know the guys running the plant, you can get 
them to just not add those codes, or you can do what I've seen done on a
couple of my bootlegs, which is they actually _drilled_ holes into the
center clear plastic ring to elimanate those codes.

I think the most likely way people get caught is if the guy running the
plant actually listens to what they're pressing (as a test, say).  A friend
of mine looked into this once, as he had an awesome Westwood One radio
show he wanted to press.  They asked him to sign a statement declaring that
publishing of the material in no way infringed on copyright laws, or
something like that.  That's when he backed down :)  But I'm sure others
have signed those statements;  on a couple of the discs I have the tracks
are given pseudonyms (very amusing ones sometimes!) and the actual artist
is almost NEVER mentioned on the disc itself. You can print the inserts
yourself pretty cheaply, and you can write whatever you want all over that.


>I would make sure that any transactions you do with a pressing plant were
>essentially untraceable. Don't pay with a VISA card or company or personal 
>check - maybe use a cashiers check or MO. 

Cash.  I think when he checked into it he could get 1000 discs printed, plus
plastic cases (but not inserts) for $2250.

>I's probably not worth the hassle. In my opinion bootleggers are scum who
>are profiteering by ripping off artists they claim to like or be supporting. 
>There are obviously huge profits in it when it only costs a couple bucks to
>press a disc and they sell for $20 - $40 a disc in stores. A single bootleg
>could possibly bring someone more profits than I make in an honest year
>of work. I have nothing against the trading of live audience tapes as I don't
>see that as actually taking money away from the artists. But the sale of their
>work by anyone else but them or their label is a crime and the assholes who
>do anything like this deserve what comes to them if they get caught. I suspect
>the actual penalties in a case like this are pretty lenient and that it's 
>unlikely any bootlegger will actually spend time in prison... but they're
>still scum and doing something morally unjustifiable IMHO.

Uh-oh. Not this debate again.  I'm staying out of this!  I'll just say that
the CD is just another medium, so why differentiate between tapes and discs?
If it's a high quality concert, I'd much rather have it on disc, even if it
is 4 times as much.

	Brian



Newsgroups: rec.music.cd