Sunday, 25 July 2010

Andy Scott Bootleg?

On a whim I went onto eBay the other day to see if there were any records by Andy Scott, y'know, *the* Andy Scott, the lead guitarist with Sweet who had massive hits in the Glam era of the early '70s. Andy still tours with Sweet (although he's the only original member) and co-produced Suzi Quatro's last (excellent) album. I found his album, '30 Years', which is a compilation of his 1980s solo singles (including 'Krugerrands', the only song of his I've ever found online). The write-up said it was a limited edition "2nd pressing" (whatever that means for CDs). Naturally I bought a copy on 'buy now' rather than 'bid' and it arrived really quickly.

Now, much as I'm delighted to have the record and the sound is ok, it's the packaging that let's it down. The cover is badly printed (my inkjet printer would do a better job), the CD picture is a poor quality still from the 'Krugerrand' video, there is no 12-page booklet, there are no copyright or trademark symbols anywhere on the CD or packaging, there is no sign of a record label or credits for anything (other than song-writing credits). I'm thinking the absence of everything that would make it a legitimate record shrieks bootleg.

On the other hand, I'm happy with it even though I paid more for it than I would for a new record from HMV. It's from eBay so it's not likely that Andy would get any royalties but, if it was second-hand, he'd at least have had royalties from the first purchase. Those potential royalties will long ago have been reduced if someone is just burning and re-selling the record over and over. I'm in a quandry - what, if anything, should I do? Other than listen to it on repeat, of course?

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