>so here's whats really interesting to me. i know how the economics of pressing records works, it usually requires selling a pretty large amount of records before you break even, and thats even when youre using tracks that you arent paying the artist for. since these guys need to pay for the mastering and plating and sh*t, are they really making much if any money? and if youre bootlegging and not making money, is that as "criminal"? especially if youre going to the lengths that HTFR (if theyre definitely the ones at fault here..) and having color sleeves and whatnot made, you really cant be making too much profit.
how much money thay make is pretty irrelevant, and again is more round-about thinking to obscure the basic crime. it's the theft thats criminal, how much money they make just relates to how much compensation might be due the legal owners of this stuff, but its not even that simple. there are all sorts of other concerns you could say are equally important, for instance, the mere fact that these crappy pressings are out there will greatly diminish the commercial viability of a legit repress. case in point -- that secret history comp on new religion. it's beautiful. it's legit. but when it came out, hardly a disco freak i knew got excited, because they'd already gotten boots of most of the tracks.. >a thought occured to me. perhaps these artists/label owners arent aware of the level of demand for certain (especially older) things? a quick glance through discogs would probably help them out, but who knows if they do that? its entirely possible that ohhh 120 people on discogs want this, it's sh:t hot! hahaha!! i think you greatly overestimate the demand. comps, especially comps with big names, are not cheap!! these guys all deserve (and EXPECT) decent paychecks for their involvement. there would have to be pretty huge demand to put out a comp with names that big, and the double vinyl, full color art, i'd say you'd be wanting to shoot for like 5000 copies sold. i bet alex could say a word or two on how easy it is to put together a comp with names like that. speaking of, i am infinitely more excited about the upcoming A.R.T. comp than a virtual sex reissue. >youve used pretty big samples before, id hope you wouldnt even care about things like that. big? like 2 beats long big? sorry to defend my stupid sh:t, but the closest thing i've done to a re-edit is the one that samples jones girls, a voc sample 2 beats long, it's still all rearranged and cutup. i do care about things like that, i consider it a copout/ripoff to use samples any longer than that! not that ripoff's cant be great! >all i know is that im more than happy to pay more money for things from artists i really like. i know some people arent into that, i'm willing to too, rarely, but i'm still like scratching my head like uhh whats the deal man? i think it's a bit of a ego approach, putting the wagon before the horse, whats to stop everybody from doing that..ohh but this is some really special sh:t, 19.99!! eventually all records will cost that, the effect is circular, manufacturing costs will go up, suddenly a whole lot less people will be able to put records out unless they can hype themselves up and compete for those andy j's! there is a standard wholesale cost, let the listener judge the value...set some copies aside for later to sell on eBay/gemm if you are so sure they're gonna be hot...i smell quick bux!
