You know something -- I hate it when people sell other people's art or work as their own. I hate bootlegging. And I really hate it when someone gives you something and you abuse it so badly that it (almost) makes you wish they never gave it to you in the first place.
Ever since the early days, Pearl Jam has pretty much always had an open taping policy on their live performances. So long as you didn't sell the music you taped and as long as it wasn't commerically released, recording and trading Pearl Jam shows was perfectly legit.
Of course, that didn't (and doesn't) stop people from trying to make a buck off of the band. Bootleggers in the world of Jam are many -- entire web sites and auctioneers profit off of Pearl Jam's goodwill. Bootleggers have a whole barrel of rationale to back their profiteering -- "It's okay because they haven't said it isn't," "It's a serivce to the PJ community," and "I can sell whatever I want to" seem to be the big winners in the excuse department.
Getting some ground rules out of the band has been rather difficult. The Synergy Rumor Pit hasn't exactly been all that forthcoming concerning the issue, but recent trends have started to shift the tides a little and things are changing.
The following message was posted to the Synergy Message Pit recently and is a pretty telling message.
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Subject Only Sony/Epic Records can sell Sony Music/Epic Records are the only ones who can legally sell Pearl Jam's music or give permission to sell it. Pearl Jam have said ok to audio taping live shows for a personal memory and that trading the show without profit to another fan was also ok. It is a breach of trust and an abuse of the taping policy to then sell their music. Pearl Jam are anti-bootlegging. That's part of the reason taping is allowed. Ok to trade for it. Not ok to sell or buy it. There are some good trader's sites out there and there are lots of long-time PJ fans who'll trade for blanks and postage (B&P) when the other person has nothing to trade with, just to get them started. It's a beautiful and communal thing and a great way to meet other fans and share in the music we all love.
Happy Thanksgiving. :) Added: The above applies only to live material taped by fans at shows, not to studio or commercially released material. ...The song, Not For You, is to bootleggers and some others. Trade for the Milwaukee shows from 1995 to hear what Ed had to say to them. |
Despite the fact that as we all know Thanksgiving is on the second Sunday in October, the message was pretty clear -- don't sell Pearl Jam's music.
Trading for concerts is easy and brutally cheap -- why pay $30 on eBay or what have you when $5.00 at the most will get you the same thing? (Note: I have nothing against eBay, it's the bootlegging I dislike.)
A lot of people ask, "Where do I start?" Personally, I have never traded and I have never bought a single Pearl Jam bootleg, so I am by no means an expert at this sort of thing. Every show I have I've downloaded from the Internet via mp3s and burned them to CD myself. I have never paid for a single show, but I have plenty to show for my work. (In case you're wondering why I'd be crazy enough to download 300 MB+ of mp3s, let's just say I have access to a T1 and a CD-R burner.)
If I was looking for downloads, I'd try the following sites:
That's a good start, but of course there are a lot more out there. As for tape/CD-R/DAT/MiniDisc/etc. trading, here are a few reputable sites:
I should mention that trees are a little different from straight-ahead trading. Trees are basically set up in a series of nodes through which a recording is passed along to other nodes. There's a root, which is basically the main source of the tree, branches, which handle a good deal of the recordings, and leaves, which just receive copies of the show and don't pass them along. Trees are hard to organize, but once they're set up they're a good way to pass out a show quickly. To join a tree, just sign up as either a branch or a leaf. As a branch, you'll be responsible for getting the show to others; as a leaf, you're responsible for providing someone with blank CDs or tapes and postage so they can tape the show for you.
That's really all I can say about the issue. Please don't ask me for trades or CDs, because I simply can't do it. There's time restrictions, the fact that I have access to a CD burner but don't actually own it -- I just don't have the resources available to me to start seriously trading or treeing. Hopefully the above sites will do you good, anyways, much better than I could, so make haste fellow Pearl Jam fan and get ye to some live shows!
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