Re: Nissan & bootlegs

[Alan McKendree <amck@thenetdr.com>]

At 17:53 -0800 2/9/1999, The Who Mailing List Digest wrote:
>Date: Mon, 08 Feb 1999 17:44:18 PST
>From: "lars van kammen" <lars_515@hotmail.com>
>
> me:     "I've been to your site and the bootlegs you offer there for
>
>sale are in my opinion
>   		way too expensive. "
>
>he: >>Though I'm not angry about what you say, I think many people
>
>suffer from the misconception that bootlegs must be
>	"cheap" to buy in the U.S or through the U.S. This is not the
>
>case.<<

He should have just said, "Then don't buy them."

>I think this guy suffers from the conception that bootlegs should be
>expensive. I know that making a cd copy costs about $3,- , postage is as
>high as $8 so he, and a whole lot of other bootleggers are making at
>leat $35 profit.

Making a CD might cost $3 if you can mass-produce them in a legitimate
factory instead of hand-copy them or make them in a small-scale enterprise
that has to remain hidden.  Most of the higher price you generally pay for
boots are a combination of the higher cost of making a small number of
copies and compensation for the risk of being discovered, having one's
entire inventory confiscated, and possibly going to jail.

>I think thats theft.

I think you're wrong.  No one's forcing you to buy boots, so no one's
stealing your money.  If you think they're too high (and the $50 you
mention is _way_ too high for a single CD), then don't buy them.  See how
that works?

>I personaly think that people who act like thieves should not call
>themselves fans.

I personally think that people should learn what "theft" means before they
call people thieves.

>Music ( bootlegs) isnt meant for the higher class who have the money to
>pay those rediculous prices. Its for all of us

I see.  How do you feel about shoes, houses, and diamonds?  Should they be
free for all of us, too?

>Ask Townshend about that. See what he thinks about this.

He's said he'd be the first to go buy boots of his shows.

>I'm sorry for my terrible english (I'm dutch)

I don't mind your English.  It's your terrible ideas that bother me.


>Date: Tue, 09 Feb 1999 12:20:36 PST
>From: "L. Bird" <pkeets@hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: Nissan & bootlegs
>
>There's been a big discussion recently on another list about what effect
>bootlegs have on the music industry.  Seeing those bootlegs selling for
>so much really pisses off the musicians who are getting paid pennies for
>every cd their record company sells,

You must not have read much of the discussion on the other list.  It was
well argued that boots do not financially harm artists.

>and sometimes they quit the
>business.

Even if you could name me even one person who stopped creating music
because of bootlegs, I'd just say s/he quit for the wrong reasons.  Hell,
musicians I know are happy when they start getting popular enough to BE
booted.

>I've decided people shouldn't buy bootlegs for more than the
>cost it takes to make them.

Have you really?  Have you also decided what in the f*** would give anyone
any incentive to produce boots, then?

Alan
Be sure to read _McKendree: A Burning Novel of Murder and Revenge_
by Douglas Hirt, ISBN 0-8439-4184-7  (available at www.amazon.com)