Yes folks I`ve been tempted out of the "wastelands" to make a single posting
regarding bootlegs.
As I lot of you know I have been working on and trading with a large number
of bootleg recordings for at least the last 18 months - I`ve never made any
secret of it!
Whilst I (obviously!) have no personal objection to bootlegs I do violently
disagree with profiteering by people who sell them for over inflated prices!
I personally have never sold a single bootleg recording on tape or CD to
anyone, I`ve always either done a straight swap for stuff I don`t already
have or else I`ve simply given the stuff away for free.(I`ve gone on record
here on the list a few times in the past as saying I`m not interested in
making a penny from the list!)
I can fully understand why someone such as Vince Carden has to sell CDs in
order to be able to continue to produce Madness Unsugged.......I say fair
play to the man as he`s not simply lining his pockets with cash from the
sales, he`s ploughing it back into another Madness related project for folks
to enjoy!
Now before anyone accuses me of being on Vince`s side because he must be a
friend of mine let me just point out that I don`t know the man and (to the
best of my knowledge) I`ve never even spoken to him so this mail isn`t some
kind of "old mates sticking together" plan!
I`m fortunate in that I don`t have to charge anything for the recordings I
pass onto people, I do it in the main simply because there are a lot of
recordings of concerts out there that have special meaning to different
folks (i.e. the Electric Ballroom last year where Vince Foley got a song
dedicated to him!) and as the vast majority of this material will NEVER be
available commercially I see nothing wrong in helping someone relive happy
memories.By giving away recordings I`M the only person losing out as it`s
costing me the price of the tape, postage, electricity to record it etc. I`m
certainly not taking money away from anyone else! So why do I do it? Simple
I love the music if by hearing one of my bootlegs someone else is then able
to discover and enjoy Madness then I`m happy because I can guarantee that if
because of me someone is introduced to the band they are certain to then go
out to the shops and buy at least one album. Am I taking money from the band
or indirectly making money for them? You decide!
It`s a sad fact of life that someone somewhere is always going to be making
a handsome profit out of people such as us, the real fans of a band. There
are a lot of legitimate dealers out there who are more than happy to charge
totally inflated prices for material without us turning on each other and
doing the same!
At the end of the day if you`re prepared to pay the asking price for a
recording (bootleg or official) then pay it, if not don`t bother and walk
away!
Love, Light & Peace
Mike H
-
______________________________________________________________
Visit the Total Madness Mailing List website for:
latest news, madmeet info, list charter, games, and more ...
http://members.xoom.com/totalmadmail/
Contact the TMML Moderators at: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
and in the message body put: unsubscribe total-madness
