My self-made Mock-Up-Albums and Expanded Editions

[carlo]

Let's say that someone like Ms. Kim Weston still gets a 2% royalty on the sales of her catalog [[and using a rate of 2% is likely much higher than the real royalty rate), if the record company makes/sells 2,000 copies and generates $20 per sold copy of pure profit [[also doubtful it would be that high), she would likely get $800. Now, this is me simply responding to the part of the discussion about royalties. Here's hoping she, and all of the Motown artists, still do get royalties or re-negotiated better deals over the years. These days artists make much more money, royalty-wise, on streaming and downloads, since the quantity being consumed via those platforms, for some of these legacy artists, is much higher, versus physical media. Hence, the reason Ms. Mary Wilson and others had been advocating to get their royalties, which resulted in the recent signing of the respective bill into law. It takes a lot more plays on streaming for an artist to generate any direct revenue for themselves. Apparently on Spotify, 1,000 plays is equivalent to 1 unit sold [[ie. 1 CD). Yes, record companies have been ripping artists off for decades, but that is why they are a business. Capitalism is a pyramid scheme, at the end of the day. Someone is always making more money at the top, than the others at the bottom. However, with bootlegs, no one gets paid.

It's interesting though to think about some of those bootleg Marginal releases that came out back in the day, or those multi-generational fan cassettes that used to be copied from one fan to another, all of which contained unreleased material that had not yet been released for many years to come. I'm sure all of us owned one of those, at one time or another. I wonder if they helped or hurted potential future sales? As it seems to some degree that they did generate more interest with fans wanting to have this material released in better quality. I know speaking for myself, it made me want more, or to have it in better quality. I myself would consider rare/unreleased tracks and the bootlegs thereof to be an extremely niche sector of any fan base. I would think that those who are willing to pay for it in an unofficial form would still be the same ones to return to the fountain, so to speak, and would pay for it again, once it is released officially. This is me just playing devil's advocate.

I do agree though that the bottom line is that someone is making 100% of the profit off of material that they don't own or have the rights to. I would also argue that because these bootleg releases look so professional, that they have the potential to create confusion on the market, as they are easily passable as being something official. That in itself can create problems with future sales. I once accidentally bought a CD by the girl group, The Flirtations, on Ebay, which was being sold as an official release. When it arrived, it looked almost like the real thing, but I soon realized I got ripped off and it was a bootleg. Thankfully I got my money back. I've seen this happen time and time again. If we as people aren't honest in business and don't try to uphold the underlying laws and principles to protect what we perceive as "honest business", then there is no recourse for the consumer or protection for the manufacturer [[ie. the artist, the company, etc) and everything falls apart. People deserved to be compensated for their art. Sadly, right now, during the pandemic, very few artists are getting paid at all, due to lack of gigs and due to lack of means to distribute and create music. If everyone was perpetually bootlegging these artists' life works, with no consequences, no one would get ever get paid.

[Boogiedown]

I would also argue that because these bootleg releases look so professional, that they have the potential to create confusion on the market, as they are easily passable as being something official. That in itself can create problems with future sales. I once accidentally bought a CD by the girl group, The Flirtations, on Ebay, which was being sold as an official release. When it arrived, it looked almost like the real thing, but I soon realized I got ripped off and it was a bootleg. Thankfully I got my money back. I've seen this happen time and time again. If we as people aren't honest in business and don't try to uphold the underlying laws and principles to protect what we perceive as "honest business", then there is no recourse for the consumer or protection for the manufacturer [[ie. the artist, the company, etc) and everything falls apart. Peo.

This is an excellent point. I certainly want everything I buy to be upfront, properly labeled, and the real thing , not a cheap knock-off that's pretending to be something it isn't, no matter what it is.

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

Let's say that someone like Ms. Kim Weston still gets a 2% royalty on the sales of her catalog [[and using a rate of 2% is likely much higher than the real royalty rate), if the record company makes/sells 2,000 copies and generates $20 per sold copy of pure profit [[also doubtful it would be that high), she would likely get $800. Now, this is me simply responding to the part of the discussion about royalties. Here's hoping she, and all of the Motown artists, still do get royalties or re-negotiated better deals over the years. These days artists make much more money, royalty-wise, on streaming and downloads, since the quantity being consumed via those platforms, for some of these legacy artists, is much higher, versus physical media. Hence, the reason Ms. Mary Wilson and others had been advocating to get their royalties, which resulted in the recent signing of the respective bill into law. It takes a lot more plays on streaming for an artist to generate any direct revenue for themselves. Apparently on Spotify, 1,000 plays is equivalent to 1 unit sold [[ie. 1 CD). Yes, record companies have been ripping artists off for decades, but that is why they are a business. Capitalism is a pyramid scheme, at the end of the day. Someone is always making more money at the top, than the others at the bottom. However, with bootlegs, no one gets paid.

It's interesting though to think about some of those bootleg Marginal releases that came out back in the day, or those multi-generational fan cassettes that used to be copied from one fan to another, all of which contained unreleased material that had not yet been released for many years to come. I'm sure all of us owned one of those, at one time or another. I wonder if they helped or hurted potential future sales? As it seems to some degree that they did generate more interest with fans wanting to have this material released in better quality. I know speaking for myself, it made me want more, or to have it in better quality. I myself would consider rare/unreleased tracks and the bootlegs thereof to be an extremely niche sector of any fan base. I would think that those who are willing to pay for it in an unofficial form would still be the same ones to return to the fountain, so to speak, and would pay for it again, once it is released officially. This is me just playing devil's advocate.

I do agree though that the bottom line is that someone is making 100% of the profit off of material that they don't own or have the rights to. I would also argue that because these bootleg releases look so professional, that they have the potential to create confusion on the market, as they are easily passable as being something official. That in itself can create problems with future sales. I once accidentally bought a CD by the girl group, The Flirtations, on Ebay, which was being sold as an official release. When it arrived, it looked almost like the real thing, but I soon realized I got ripped off and it was a bootleg. Thankfully I got my money back. I've seen this happen time and time again. If we as people aren't honest in business and don't try to uphold the underlying laws and principles to protect what we perceive as "honest business", then there is no recourse for the consumer or protection for the manufacturer [[ie. the artist, the company, etc) and everything falls apart. People deserved to be compensated for their art. Sadly, right now, during the pandemic, very few artists are getting paid at all, due to lack of gigs and due to lack of means to distribute and create music. If everyone was perpetually bootlegging these artists' life works, with no consequences, no one would get ever get paid.

No matter how well you think you cover something, there is always someone who says it better. You said it better. You really hit every single nail on the head with this.