Amazon and counterfeit CDs

[brownie]

Amazon is being accused of selling counterfeit CDs.

Artists whose tunes are being sold without license include Ike Turner, Johnny Otis, Jimmy Witherspoon, Buddy Tate and Percy Mayfield according to this report from Courthouse News:

Courthouse News story

Edited August 8, 2011 by brownie

[J.A.W.]

Amazon have been selling non-licensed stuff for years. I'm surprised they haven't been sued before.

Edited August 8, 2011 by J.A.W.

[MomsMobley]

M. Brownie--

Consider the complainant. Tuff City is hardly a citadel of artist rights, to say the least. VERY high likelihood this is a clerical issue/money grab, if there's any merit to it all. They REALLY don't want to open that can of worms re: Tuff City's "reputation," which would be pretty difficult to "tarnish" vis a vis business ethics.

JAWS--

Care to elaborate? I hold no water for Amazon in particular except as a formerly reluctant customer with... great respect for the customer service I've been afforded there. I assume they make more than enough money that what-- fifty bucks, tops-- they might have made selling a few Percy Mayfield tunes is simple error, not malice.

If I have a beef with Amazon music-- and others-- it's their indiscriminate stocking of dogshit Andorrans that are wholesale swipes of in print Blue Note/OJC et al material. (For titles which have never been in print since vinyl or are long gone I can't complain though I choose not to support then, though once upon a time I adored my Fresh Sound Al Haig trios et al).

Amazon have been selling non-licensed stuff for years. I'm surprised they haven't been sued before.

[J.A.W.]

JAWS--

Care to elaborate? I hold no water for Amazon in particular except as a formerly reluctant customer with... great respect for the customer service I've been afforded there. I assume they make more than enough money that what-- fifty bucks, tops-- they might have made selling a few Percy Mayfield tunes is simple error, not malice.

If I have a beef with Amazon music-- and others-- it's their indiscriminate stocking of dogshit Andorrans that are wholesale swipes of in print Blue Note/OJC et al material. (For titles which have never been in print since vinyl or are long gone I can't complain though I choose not to support then, though once upon a time I adored my Fresh Sound Al Haig trios et al).

Amazon have been selling non-licensed stuff for years. I'm surprised they haven't been sued before.

My initials are J.A.W., not JAWS - I don't appreciate the pun.

To answer your question, I am indeed referring to those European public domain labels, whose releases are being sold illegally by Amazon (and other stores, for that matter) in the United States as far as the material is still under copyright there.

[MomsMobley]

Relax Brother Joao I'm legally blind and make lots of typos even on names not Anja Bylsmo it's nothing personal

re: Amazon, they are a stockist, not an importer. You can go to any number of 1000% legitimate retailers in America and see in their jass sections the same items we object to. I disagree with it there too; in New York, J&R carries both the best and worst of releases almost indiscriminately; it's a shame because as their stock dwindles, the dogshit takes up space and what used to be deep catalog of, say, Jazz Oracle, Hep etc scarcely exists because they don't restock what sells...

... I think I even saw Andorrans of OJC material at the Jazz Record Center last time I was in the city (for the American Osteopathic Association convention), though I hope I mis-saw that (my eyes are fucking shot, which is how I ended up with that Trannie too though I can't say it was unpleasant in the end).

Not that I hold ANY water for Concord Music Group but my respect for Lester Koenig and Fantasy Jass remains high.

[J.A.W.]

Relax Brother Joao I'm legally blind and make lots of typos even on names not Anja Bylsmo it's nothing personal

OK, no problem.

re: Amazon, they are a stockist, not an importer. You can go to any number of 1000% legitimate retailers in America and see in their jass sections the same items we object to. I disagree with it there too; in New York, J&R carries both the best and worst of releases almost indiscriminately; it's a shame because as their stock dwindles, the dogshit takes up space and what used to be deep catalog of, say, Jazz Oracle, Hep etc scarcely exists because they don't restock what sells...

... I think I even saw Andorrans of OJC material at the Jazz Record Center last time I was in the city (for the American Osteopathic Association convention), though I hope I mis-saw that (my eyes are fucking shot, which is how I ended up with that Trannie too though I can't say it was unpleasant in the end).

Makes no difference if they're a stockist or an importer, it's illegal in the United States to sell stuff like that, period.

Not that I hold ANY water for Concord Music Group but my respect for Lester Koenig and Fantasy Jass remains high.

Agreed.

Edited August 8, 2011 by J.A.W.

[medjuck]

JAWS--

Care to elaborate? I hold no water for Amazon in particular except as a formerly reluctant customer with... great respect for the customer service I've been afforded there. I assume they make more than enough money that what-- fifty bucks, tops-- they might have made selling a few Percy Mayfield tunes is simple error, not malice.

If I have a beef with Amazon music-- and others-- it's their indiscriminate stocking of dogshit Andorrans that are wholesale swipes of in print Blue Note/OJC et al material. (For titles which have never been in print since vinyl or are long gone I can't complain though I choose not to support then, though once upon a time I adored my Fresh Sound Al Haig trios et al).

Amazon have been selling non-licensed stuff for years. I'm surprised they haven't been sued before.

My initials are J.A.W., not JAWS - I don't appreciate the pun.

To answer your question, I am indeed referring to those European public domain labels, whose releases are being sold illegally by Amazon (and other stores, for that matter) in the United States as far as the material is still under copyright there.

Some of it is available for download from both Amazon and iTunes. IIRC EMI went to the source, sued Naxos and won. (It was over classical recordings but that's why you can't get Naxos's great Ellington cds in the States. Which is probably a good thing because if they were available here it might have deterred Mosaic from releasing their last two Ellington boxes.

Edited August 9, 2011 by medjuck