Bootlegs and the Like

[henrik@eddie.MIT.EDU (Larry DeLuca @ The Bandykin Server)]

[Much bandying about concerning the ethics of buying/selling bootlegs.]

Yeah, I agree with |>oug about Kate Bush's (and probably other artists')
opinions on demos and drafts - while it's impossible to trash every
scrap of evidence that led up to your finished album (and sometimes you
many want to hold onto it for whatever reason) it's hard to watch it
go out to the rest of the world.

All that aside, while I love hearing things like the "Cathy demos"
I don't like the idea of supporting the bootleggers, either, hence I
have evolved a straightforward strategem for dealing with it all:

	If I can buy a legal copy that gets royalties back to the
	artist - Great!  They can use the money to make more records.

	If I can't, because it's a bootleg or whatever, then I 
	feel obliged to make copies and distribute them, thereby
	eroding the bootlegger's business.

You can't stop bootlegging any more than you can stop people from 
breathing, but you can play it against itself.

					larry...