Greg Lake’s rant against bootlegs and piracy.

Padraic wrote: All I can picture is some nerdy kid in a basement downloading ELP when suddenly a big armadillo breaks through the wall.  "Looks like you're not a lucky man!"

You know, whether he's right doesn't even matter. I think if I was a recording artist, I'd have to be fatalistic about this and just say "Well, people are going to do it. They just are. I have to deal with that."

Dean wrote: TheGazzardian wrote: Henry Plainview wrote: Yeah, donuts aren't cheap, gotta protect yourself from the lost revenue from sh*tty youtube uploads. Adams Bolero wrote: And again, to anyone so inclined, please do bear in mind that it is easy these days for anyone to track and identify an individual computer by its unique ID number. Ummm....The nerdier people may correct me here, but I'm pretty sure this makes no sense. The way he said it is incorrect, he's probably talking about your IP Address. Which there are ways around, but if you are using those, chances are pirating musical performances isn't your interest so much as hacking. He probably is talking about the IP address and he would be pretty wrong on that score since several people can share an IP address, so it does not mark out a PC as being unique. What does is the MAC address - this is how several people can share an IP address - the router/server holds the MAC addresses of every PC on the network and on an internal network the IP address is simply a label, all inter-PC communication is done via MAC address. The MAC address is permanent and fixed to a peice of hardware, unlike an IP address which is allocated by software.

Adams Bolero wrote: I was amazed to see on his website that Greg posted a lengthy and sometimes bitter rant against people taping his shows and sharing them. I can see his reasons behind it but theirs no need to call some of his fans ‘’intellectually challenged’’. He coldly declares that he ‘’will have no hesitation whatsoever in commencing legal proceedings against you for the recovery of our property or compensation for the loss plus any damages.’’ That’s some way to treat fans who just like a recording of the show they have attended. His patronizing tone has almost put me off his music. I know Robert Fripp is like that but I don’t remember him calling his fans ‘’intellectually challenged’’. Here is the link http://www.greglake.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1276278713/0 You will need to be a member to read it. I will post the full text in the next comment.

Yeah he is really barking up the wrong tree going after concert recordings. Clearly Greg Lake is not a master of the google search.

ExittheLemming wrote: I don't think anyone here would argue that bootlegging for profit is NOT stealing so Greg's basic premise seems sound but not even he could have eaten his way through the vast millions he earned while with ELP surely? On a more realistic note, I also don't believe bootleggers would even consider pirating his solo material or concerts as viable (he has barely produced a demi semi quaver of decent music on his own after 1976) What's interesting about ELP is the ploy they used to attempt to defeat the pirates by releasing the best audio quality bootlegs available as a legitimate boxed set (The Official Bootleg Series from the Manticore Vaults Volumes 1 - 3 in 2001) Some of this material is decent sound quality and some is atrocious but putting the boot on the other foot - why should ELP fans pay top dollar for products that are below commercial release standard just so the trio can attempt to recoup some of the losses from the aforementioned pirates? (That's like the cops selling us the moonshine they confiscated from the gangsters)

Sorry, I don't see YouTube as being the same as piracy or file sharing. Hasn't the industry reached agreement with them regarding payment for material posted?

LOVE the armadillo post

Is he gonna sue fans who record 5 mins. of video on their iphone and post it to youtube? Really?

I picture Greg writing this on a stenopad with a BIC ball point pen with the pocket clip. Drinking Coors beer from an aluminum can and taking hits off his 6 foot tall water bong he bought in 1973. I could see after 14 bowls of grass him coming up with this letter....

Vibrationbaby wrote: I am on Greg's side. I am sick of all this new technology hijacking talent.

I'd say this "new technology" (hardly new, it's been around for over 10 years now) has HIGHLIGHTED more talent than it has hijacked.

However, I agree that downloading official releases is wrong, though I'm always uncertain about calling it "stealing".  At any rate, you are listening to the artists music in a way they did not agree too, so I can't get behind such a thing.

Bootlegs, however, are a different story.  I suppose if they are being sold in a shop or on-line, they are clearly illegal and people should know better than to buy them.  But "trading", where no money is involved, of material that is not available commercially and is not professionally recorded, well, I just can't see how this harms the artist.  First, they are not loosing money by any definition, as the never were marketing this material in the first place.  Second, I can't imagine anyone being satisfied with having only bootlegs of a band.  Most will want an official recording of some sort.  Of course, now a days this introduces the problem of whether they will buy the official product or download a torrent for free.  Personally, I would always pay for the official recordings.  But I think that may not be the majority view these days.

In any case, I think Greg makes himself look bad with such a rant, even if his arguments are sound (which they mostly are).  Denigrating your fans is no way to promote your music.