Jump to content

Record label claims Amazon is selling counterfeit vinyl


Hardbopjazz

Recommended Posts

Good read. 

https://www.whathifi.com/news/record-label-claims-amazon-is-selling-counterfeit-vinyl

By What Hi-Fi? a day ago News 

With vinyl's resurgence, counterfeiting is an issue...

  •  
Tommy Boy Records finds Amazon is selling counterfeit record titles
(Image credit: Anton Hooijdonk from Pexels)

A cautionary tale when scouring the internet for Black Friday vinyl deals or seeking out the perfect Christmas gift online, perhaps: Tommy Boy Records has claimed that Amazon is selling counterfeit vinyl – titles that the record label has never even had pressed to vinyl.

Tommy Boy Records is best known for launching the careers of De La Soul, Queen Latifah, Afrika Bambaataa and more. As reported by DJ Mag, the company president, Rosie Lopez, made the claim at last week's Making Vinyl Conference in Los Angeles: "Counterfeit is another issue altogether. Somehow records that Tommy Boy hasn’t pressed in – ever – are on sale on Amazon, that’s a little concerning."...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting but I have a hard time determining how lucrative this is for someone to do. Especially with releases from Tommy Boy that were unissued on vinyl at initial release. This make it sound like vinyl is selling a lot when comparatively to previous years of physical media sales its not. 

Edited by jcam_44
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They also have problems with counterfeit books, as this article from the New York Times -- which received a lot of attention -- notes:

Paging Big Brother: In Amazon’s Bookstore, Orwell Gets a Rewrite

"In George Orwell’s '1984,' the classics of literature are rewritten into Newspeak, a revision and reduction of the language meant to make bad thoughts literally unthinkable. 'It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words,' one true believer exults. 

Now some of the writer’s own words are getting reworked in Amazon’s vast virtual bookstore, a place where copyright laws hold remarkably little sway. Orwell’s reputation may be secure, but his sentences are not."

Edited by Brad
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

At Discogs you can find a lot of russia based new labels reissueing classic jazz material without any Info on copyright or license. Discogs earns a provision on this  hgrey market.  It was discussed to classify all of those as "unofficial"  [ as Discogs has done with some sidelabels of Fresh Sound as Gambit] but obviously noone sees through that net of new labels and companies. And a provision for the use of the platform is always welcome. Questionable IMHO.

 

Edited by jazzcorner
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

Bootlegs are everywhere. This isn't anything new... 

You call a counterfeit record dub of an officially-released album, even in a different format, a bootleg? I've been applying this to only unauthorized concert recordings.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Nomatter which, rights holders are robbed.

That's correct, but still...  those "old style" bootlegs were mainly marketed to hardcore fans who also bought all the official releases of the artist, while counterfeits are just cheap, sub-standard duplicates of these official releases. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, corto maltese said:

That's correct, but still...  those "old style" bootlegs were mainly marketed to hardcore fans who also bought all the official releases of the artist, while counterfeits are just cheap, sub-standard duplicates of these official releases. 

 

Not every "unofficial" recording is  illegal. Taping radio broadcasts is widely common and allowed in Germany by the radiostations. They provide even a special free software for your PC (a radiorecorder)  to record the broadcasts means for private use and private trading.  Burning up to 5 CD-R is allowed. This is also  free and costless promotion for the artists to trade  such Items.

The artists playing at a radiostations here are payed from the station. We listeners pay a monthly fee to the government. So no "robbing the artist" is happening here und my county.

Think about that.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...