Bootlegging has been around for as long as I can remember. In fact, it has been around longer than I have. A website called Sharing The Groove is bringing bootlegging into the digital millenium. By using p2p software (Bittorrent) and providing a message board where users can search for particular bootlegs, the website has given fans access to a vast amount of rare, unreleased, live, and demo recordings. Grayson Brulte is the founder of Sharing The Groove and states the website has over 200,000 registered users. Users of the website simply register a screen name and navigate through a message forum type interface where they can search for music they are interested in. In addition, users can post "ISO" or "In Search Of" messages where they request particular bootlegs to be posted.
It goes without saying that sharing bootlegs is not legal. Dan Leroy in an article from the New York Times writes
For the moment, the Recording Industry Association of America, which sued Napster over copyright infringement, declined to comment on sites like Sharingthegroove and whether the group would initiate similar lawsuits. Sharing concert bootlegs is illegal, said the entertainment lawyer David Moser, the same as sharing studio recordings.''As far as the law is concerned, there isn't any distinction,'' said Mr. Moser, an assistant professor at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Nashville's Belmont University and the author of the book ''Music Copyright for the New Millennium.''
Many bands choose to ignore bootlegging because of the unspoken assumption that the tapes will be traded among fans, not sold for profit.
There appears to be mixed views from the artists themselves. Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead openly endorses the Sharing the Groove website. However, Bert Holman, manager for the Allman Brothers Band asked SharingTheGroove to remove some of the bands shows from their website. Their request was complied with. It is interesting to note that Holman stated the reason for the request was because the Allman Brothers Band were contemplating selling their own official "bootlegs" of their concerts.
One of the theories for why sites that share bootleg concerts are not shutdown by the RIAA is because record companies do not own copyrights in concert performances. It would be interesting to note that members of SharingTheGroove closely moderate what is posted to their site. Copyrighted commercial material is not allowed. Moreover, members monitor sites like eBay where bootleg sales may turn up.
Sharingthegroove is no longer online. It would be interesting to know what caused it to be taken down.
The recommended site is now www.easytree.org
As with Sharingthe groove, no commercially released material is allowed or any live concerts from bands, like the Allman Brothers, who have asked that recordings of them should not be distributed. I have seen quite a number of postings being very quickly banned.
Personally, I think the idea of 'liberated boots' is a good one, as it possibly helps to reduce the profitmaking from illegal bootlegs. Also , many posts are of audience recordings which are of less than perfect quality. The people who download these are obsessive collectors and/or historians and I believe have little or no impact on commercial sales. This is quite different from other p2p networks that are happy to allow sharing of the latest software/films/music etc., which I agree is having an effect on the industry and depriving artists of legitimate royalties.
Posted by: Dave Sandilands | November 17, 2004 at 02:12 AM
I'm not sure if I understand. If the record companies "do not own copyrights in concert performances", then how is it that "it goes without saying that sharing bootlegs is not legal"? I thought the illegality of bootlegs was based on the copyright, but is there some other reason I'm not aware of?
Posted by: Tim Courtois | January 19, 2005 at 08:56 AM