The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1008: Another look at bootleg records, part 2
Once upon a time, I was deep into collecting bootleg recordings of my favourite bands. This obsession came from a really good place. At least I thought so.
I’d already bought all the albums and singles, collected a bunch of memorabilia, snapped up the t-shirts, and gone to all the shows. But I wanted more. The only place left to go was unofficial—read: illegal—releases.
Almost everything I accumulated was on CD. Some were burned discs that I traded for with other hardcore fans. I might have gone to eBay occasionally before they started cracking down on things. There were a few stores I knew that stocked these discs for special customers. Whenever I went overseas to certain countries where copyright laws were lax—Russia, Indonesia, a few places in the Caribbean—I’d be sure to visit the market stalls to see what they had.
I honestly wasn’t trying to rip off or hurt anyone. I just loved these bands so much that I needed to own a copy of everything they did. Once, when I talked about my bootlegs on the radio—probably not a smart idea—I got a letter from the head of a recorded industry organization calling me “morally reprehensible.”
But over the years, these hardcopy bootlegs became harder and harder to find, thanks to crackdowns on illegal exploitation of intellectual property, the disappearance of these record stores, and, most importantly, the rise of online file-sharing. By 2008 or so, the physical bootleg market had all but collapsed. I haven’t acquired anything new for my collection for almost a couple of decades now.
But I’ve never lost my fascination for these recordings. Where did they come from? How were they made? Who distributed them? Did they really hurt artists and the industry? And what kind of legacy did old-school bootlegs leave behind?
I’ve found some answers to those questions and more. This is another look at bootlegging, part 2.
Songs heard on this show:
- Smashing Pumpkins, 1979 (Sadlands demo)
- Oasis, Roll with It (Live)
- Sex Pistols, Seventeen (Live)
- Blur, Parklife (Live)
- REM, So. Central Rain (Live)
- Jane’s Addiction, Been Caught Stealin’ (Live)
- Stone Roses, She Bangs the Drums (Live)
- U2, Vertigo
And there’s this playlist from Eric Wilhite.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on the following stations:
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
- Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
- Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
- FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
- Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 11pm
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
- The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
- The Fox/Vancouver – Sunday at 11pm
- Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm
- We’re still looking for more affiliates in Calgary, Kamloops, Kelowna, Regina, Saskatoon, Brandon, Windsor, Montreal, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, Fredericton, and St John’s and anywhere else with a transmitter. If you’re in any of those markets and you want the show, lemme know and I’ll see what I can do.
