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How to Find and Trade Bootlegs on the Internet | |
by Matthew
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You've always known that somewhere on the internet people trade rare concert recordings of your favorite bands. You've always felt excluded from their inner bootleg circle. You've tried searching for "The Who" and "rare" a thousand times on Napster, but keep getting Robert Plant's solo work. Well, those days of dissatisfaction are over. Here is a guide to trading bootlegs on the internet.
The first step
A bootleg is a recording that has not been commercially released. You can't buy it in traditional record stores. That doesn't mean that bootlegs are illegal to own. Many bands such as Phish and the Dave Matthews Band allow fans to freely trade recordings of their concerts as long as they follow certain guidelines. You should support these bands. Other bands aren't so friendly. If an RIAA executive shows up pissed at your door because you have a concert bootleg, just swing a sackful of doorknobs at him and yell that if the respective band released more stuff, you'd buy it.
Since even legal bootlegs can only be traded and not sold, you won't find them in most record stores. Getting a copy of the recording you want is a multi-step process that will require a certain amount of work on your part. First off, decide what you're looking for. If you aren't looking for a specific recording, try to think of good ways to describe what you want. For example, saying you want "A Metallica show from their early career where they play Master of Puppets" is a lot better than "A good concert". For the sake of our explanation we'll say we're looking for the mysterious Hendrix and BB King Improptu NY Jam.
The Search
We begin our search in the Newsgroups. If you don't know what a newsgroup is, go here and learn about them. Our mission is to post intelligent, short requests in applicable newgroups. Use your news client to find relevant groups. Here is where I would request the Hendrix and BB King boot:
alt.fan.jimi-hendrix
alt.music.jimi.hendrix
alt.music.blues
alt.music.bootlegs
I would post a simple message like this:
Subject: Recording of Hendrix and BB King Blues Jam
Hi,
I'm looking for a high quality recording of Hendrix and BB King jamming together. Below is a list of my bootlegs. If you don't want any of my shows I can B+P with 80min Fuji CD-Rs. Not looking to purchase. Email me if interested, thanks for your time,
Matthew
matthew@rootnode.org
Its time to state the first rule of recordings- never pay for a bootleg. Whatever punk wants to sell you a boot doesent deserve any money. Bootlegs are for fans, not greedy bastards.
If you have bootlegs to trade, simply list them in your message with brief descriptions. Make sure to accurately rate their sound quality. For those of you looking for your first bootleg, offer to trade blank CD'rs equaling the number of CD's in the bootleg you want times two. This is known as a 2:1 deal. See the reference below for more info. Make sure to specify a quality brand name CD-R. The trader will usually request his or her favorate brand later, but who wants to look cheap. You'll be surprised how many people will help you out with your first trade. Go ahead and mention you are just getting started. Make sure your newsgroup post mentions that you want potential traders to email you because you dont want responses in the newsgroup. It annoys other readers and might allow someone else to leech in on your deal.
You can also find traders by searching the web. Lots of serious traders have pages that list what they have, what they want, and their trading rules. For this quest, I would go to www.google.com and search for "hendrix bootleg trade". Instantly, I have 9 sites to look through. Assuming this is your first trade, you can usually gauge whether or not the trader will help you out by looking at their rules. From just looking at a few, I think I could find some assistance. Lets narrow it down. Since I want to see if I can find a Hendrix and BB King duet, I would also search for "hendrix BB King". Success! I found a trader with it. Next, I will email them with my proposal. I am going to offer 2 blank cds and postage for the single CD bootleg. Keep in mind that traders accepting blanks for a show are doing you a favor. Treat them with respect and don't get mad if they don't have time to help you out. Make sure to mention in your email that you are comfortable with all of their rules.
Closing the deal
Assuming that you have a deal set up, things are almost finished. Most traders have a set of rules that they follow in transactions. Make sure to ask for them if they aren't stated on the web page. They usually have CD-R preference, requirements for bootleg artwork, how its mailed, how its burned, etc. Easy things to follow. It pays to develop a good reputation.
If you've reached this point and have not found what you're looking for, try finding relevant web-discussion boards. The information is out there, go seek it.
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General Bootleg Reference Book
In the course of your travels you may encounter some words or concepts which you are not familiar with- here are some defintions and links to help you out. I'll do it Ask Jeeves style.
What is a soundboard recording?
During a concert the signal from the instruments usually channels throught the central mixing station, or soundboard, before going to the PA system. A soundboard recording is a recording that takes place at ...the soundboard. Soundboard recordings are high quality, usually the best there is.
Whats the deal with audience recordings?
An audience recording is recorded out in the audience with a microphone. This means the sound can echo a lot (bad), and that audience noise is loud and annoying. If its an old recording, there may also be a lot of tape hiss (bad).
What does mp3 sourced mean?
Original pressed bootlegs, usually imports, are expensive. You are probably trading for a copy of the original or a home-made bootleg. The life of a recording can take it through different file formats such as wav, mp3, and shn before its burned for you to enjoy. When a bootleg has been encoded in mp3 format and later decoded, it is consided mp3 sourced. When a file is compressed as an mp3, it loses some quality. This may be evidend when it is listened to. Thusm mp3 sourcing is bad and should avoided.
What is a shn file?
To trade a CD over the internet, the trader has to save the CD tracks into files. Unlike compressing cd audio into an mp3 file, which will cause it to lose quality, compressing in shn format won't lose any quality. This means the file is much larger, but compressing and decompressing retains the recordings integrity. Shn sourced records are ok. Go here for more shn stuff.
What does b+p mean? 2:1?
B+P means blanks and postage. If someone is asking for a b+p deal that means they are offering to send you blank CD's to burn the concert along with the postage it will take for you to mail the burned CD's back to them. A 2:1 deal is where someone mails you twice the number of CD's it takes to burn a show, you make a copy and mail the concert back to them. The leftover CD's are yours.
Just cause she dances go-go, that dont name her a ho, no.
Yes.
What is a tape tree?
A tape tree is a system devised to get a particular recording out to a lot of people quickly. It starts with a single person and branches down to more and more people until it gets to the "leafs". If you are in a tape tree you receive the recording from someone above you and are responsible for distrubiting it to all "branches" below you. This continues until the leafs/last people are given the bootleg.
Does it really matter what speed you burn a disc at?
In the old days of CD-R drives it was important to close all applications and pray for a few hours as your burner did its best to create a CD. Many traders still request you burn at 2x or even 1x. I think it is an outdated precaution, crank your drive to full speed.
Any other tips?
Make sure you don't put two second gaps in between songs on concert bootlegs. It ruins the whole thing. Choose to burn DAO- Disk at once.
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Matthew
matthew@rootnode.org
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