Bootleg Camp

Me on the bad old phenomenon of bootlegging raising its ugly head again for RA, inspired by my own record shopping habits and some informative posts here....

Comments

[gmos]

well done, glad you specifically named the shops too. personally, I don't buy their plea for ignorance because they still sell them as represses (at least some shops hint at questionable legitimacy)

for me, I think these "high quality" bootlegs are far worse than what we used to see, because it's impossible to tell when buying over the internet

one of my pet peeves of the last couple of years and I'm glad you've tried to highlight it

[Kenny]

Interesting read. I'll admit to owning boots and unauthorized comps of old Italo records cause some of it is so rare and expensive, and maybe i'm just excusing myself, but a lot were one off hits and the chances of some legitimate represses don't seem realistic. I still prefer getting the Clone Classics or Radius/Flexx releases, and I'm starting to look into forking out for more originals. most of these records are from 83/84 and further back too.

I think booting recent artists is horse shit though. If they are still in the business, still releasing it's really cheeky. I also wish Ireland had a bigger 2nd hand business, it's rare to be able to do proper digging for old stuff.

You should have rang Hard To Find Records, richard. that would have been funny ;-)

[Z]

Not directly related but...I highly doubt we'll see many of the records in the past 10 years get bootlegged in the future (assuming vinyl maintain at least its current foothold). Kind of sad about quality control when you think about it.

[kuri]

great read and a very well researched piece of investigative journalism admittedly i own some bootlegs but mainly due to complete ignorance or lack of funds. i bought a b12 repress but unsure if it's a boot or not, i'll have to go check tonight.

honestly, i feel like i might have overlooked that fact before when i've run into a record that i've been quixotically searching for.

[Benjamin]

Great read. I must admit my ignorance on this topic. I was well aware of the bootlegging occuring on MP3 blogs but not at proper retailers like Phonica! One (naive) thought: Although digital distribution has caused a rise in bootlegging, it also seems to provide a legitimate output for classic tracks from lables like Basic Channel on Beatport, for example? (I, however, realize the problem maybe that people want vinyl copies of their favorite old-school tracks.)

[etronik forever!]

ricky... you are the today tonight of techno. Looking forward to brophy uncovers on tv3 someday!

[tiddlerz]

does anyone remember the old Onyx tune about kicking the shit out of bootleggers?
some house producer needs to lace up his timberland boots and do a house remix of that tune

[Jacob]

Good article! Nice to see the issue getting some attention.

[Ronan]

just read this...interesting about Mike Perras, I have that Gigolo repress. Amazing track, one of the best.