Unauthorized music DVD's.

What's the deal with the numrous unauthorized music DVD's out there? Doesn't regular copyright laws apply for DVD's?

It comes down to $

I believe alot of bands don't wanna take a risk of packaging and/or marketing that format when they lack in any significant numbers in units sold in the audio dept.

The flip side is that folks can make a quick buck or two, selling footage from the concert stage and playing with all the media toys available for home computers. Instant product for Ebay or other similar online sites. I have seen some that were packaged very professional from the inserts to the actual disc themselves.

Those I am talking about fall into 2 categories.

1. The ones that doesn't contain actual music from the band at hand. Those were also quite common during the last days of VHS bootlegs. As ong as they didn't use the band's music, they were "legit". The DVD market is flooded with them.

2. The old video bootlegs of concerts. Kiss have loads on them, but the band or their record company aren't making any money from them, as they are bootlegs. Back in the VHS days we used to trade these things, but now they are openly sold in stores and gas stations!! What is up with that? They are illegal, why isn't anyone stopping them? Have they found a loophole in the system that makes it legal to sell these now?

The loophole is finding and building a case against the ones manufacturing. The retail places selling unlicensed material can play dumb, especially if they are of foriegn orgin. More than likely, the material is being produced in some apartment down the street on somebody's PC ?

kmorg wrote:

1. The ones that doesn't contain actual music from the band at hand. Those were also quite common during the last days of VHS bootlegs. As ong as they didn't use the band's music, they were "legit". The DVD market is flooded with them.

There are quite a few of those DVDs making the rounds and they're even being sold in legit stores like Best Buy and the like. I'm no law expert but I assume that if the video does not include any of the band's actual music and doesn't use their copyrighted logo on the cover or any of the artwork, it's OK to produce such things. They're usually just old interview footage that's in the public domain anyway, or they're on-the-cheap "documentaries" about the band's history.

The documentary film "KISS Loves You" that I have contains no actual KISS music but you hear snippets of some KISS tribute bands playing their songs. (I guess since they're cover versions, that provides a loophole...) The KISS logo is not used on the cover either, of course.

Dumbest thing about that DVD is that one of the special features is an old black and white film of KISS playing an early show in Europe in the 70s, but there's no sound. Who the hell in their right mind is going to watch a "silent movie" of KISS for thirty minutes?

Fat Freddy wrote:

kmorg wrote:

1. The ones that doesn't contain actual music from the band at hand. Those were also quite common during the last days of VHS bootlegs. As ong as they didn't use the band's music, they were "legit". The DVD market is flooded with them.

The documentary film "KISS Loves You" that I have contains no actual KISS music but you hear snippets of some KISS tribute bands playing their songs. (I guess since they're cover versions, that provides a loophole...) The KISS logo is not used on the cover either, of course.

Dumbest thing about that DVD is that one of the special features is an old black and white film of KISS playing an early show in Europe in the 70s, but there's no sound. Who the hell in their right mind is going to watch a "silent movie" of KISS for thirty minutes?

Eddie Trunk

manny wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Who the hell in their right mind is going to watch a "silent movie" of KISS for thirty minutes?

Eddie Trunk

I said "in their RIGHT mind."

Eddie would probably tell you that he was at the show, and that he helped carry Ace's guitar case from the tour bus to the venue too.

Fat Freddy wrote:

kmorg wrote:

1. The ones that doesn't contain actual music from the band at hand. Those were also quite common during the last days of VHS bootlegs. As ong as they didn't use the band's music, they were "legit". The DVD market is flooded with them.

There are quite a few of those DVDs making the rounds and they're even being sold in legit stores like Best Buy and the like. I'm no law expert but I assume that if the video does not include any of the band's actual music and doesn't use their copyrighted logo on the cover or any of the artwork, it's OK to produce such things. They're usually just old interview footage that's in the public domain anyway, or they're on-the-cheap "documentaries" about the band's history.

The documentary film "KISS Loves You" that I have contains no actual KISS music but you hear snippets of some KISS tribute bands playing their songs. (I guess since they're cover versions, that provides a loophole...) The KISS logo is not used on the cover either, of course.

Dumbest thing about that DVD is that one of the special features is an old black and white film of KISS playing an early show in Europe in the 70s, but there's no sound. Who the hell in their right mind is going to watch a "silent movie" of KISS for thirty minutes?

This is the exact thing I am talking about. And as I said they were around in the VHS days too. But it's the second category I am wondering about. Back in the days they were stricktly forbidden to sell, and you had to have some contacts to get thes bootlegs on video. I know they made some professinal looking bootlegs (like the KissVision series and whatnot). But you could still tell that they were bootlegs. And they were NEVER sold at any stores. But the DVD "versions" of the same concert bootlegs are now being sold openly.

The guy at Stellar Products is selling DVD boots. But I'm fine with that because the majority are of OOP VHS movies from years ago. No one is making money off that stuff. Well, except for the bootlegger.

kmorg wrote:

This is the exact thing I am talking about. And as I said they were around in the VHS days too. But it's the second category I am wondering about. Back in the days they were stricktly forbidden to sell, and you had to have some contacts to get thes bootlegs on video. I know they made some professinal looking bootlegs (like the KissVision series and whatnot). But you could still tell that they were bootlegs. And they were NEVER sold at any stores. But the DVD "versions" of the same concert bootlegs are now being sold openly.

Maybe this is a European phenomenon, cuz other than at the usual, er, "specialty" music stores (and record/CD collectors' shows/swap meets and the like) I have never seen a live bootleg DVD at a "real" store. Though it would be kinda cool to walk into a gas station (!) and see stuff like that for sale...

Fat Freddy wrote:

Maybe this is a European phenomenon, cuz other than at the usual, er, "specialty" music stores (and record/CD collectors' shows/swap meets and the like) I have never seen a live bootleg DVD at a "real" store. Though it would be kinda cool to walk into a gas station (!) and see stuff like that for sale...

Hey Freddy, I drive tractor / trailer for a living and have seen a live Cannibal Corpse dvd at a truck stop in Fresno, Calif. It was a bootleg, had no company name or copyright stuff on it.

James B. wrote:

Hey Freddy, I drive tractor / trailer for a living and have seen a live Cannibal Corpse dvd at a truck stop in Fresno, Calif. It was a bootleg, had no company name or copyright stuff on it.

For real? That's funny as hell. Does Cannibal Corpse have a huge following in the trucker community?

Fat Freddy wrote:

James B. wrote:

Hey Freddy, I drive tractor / trailer for a living and have seen a live Cannibal Corpse dvd at a truck stop in Fresno, Calif. It was a bootleg, had no company name or copyright stuff on it.

For real? That's funny as hell. Does Cannibal Corpse have a huge following in the trucker community?

The Fresno area has a large hispanic community and they are a demographic among young males to be fond of CC.

I am latino ( donot like any word with panic in the middle to describe my race) and I have yet to see any of my relatives bust out any Cannibal Corpse during our get togethers. Maybe some Shakira ....

manny wrote:

I am latino ( donot like any word with panic in the middle to describe my race) and I have yet to see any of my relatives bust out any Cannibal Corpse during our get togethers. Maybe some Shakira ....

Death metal is huge in South America/Mexico...

manny wrote:

I am latino ( donot like any word with panic in the middle to describe my race) and I have yet to see any of my relatives bust out any Cannibal Corpse during our get togethers. Maybe some Shakira ....

No offense intended. I taught a teen who plays in a death metal band and he tells me more than half the crowds are young latino males. I was given a box of over three hundred cassette tapes of death and black metal bands. I did the local swap meet thing and the only ones who showed any interest were young latino males.

Quote :

Death metal is huge in South America/Mexico...

So aren't she-males and dysentery.

James B. wrote:

manny wrote:

I am latino ( donot like any word with panic in the middle to describe my race) and I have yet to see any of my relatives bust out any Cannibal Corpse during our get togethers. Maybe some Shakira ....

No offense intended. I taught a teen who plays in a death metal band and he tells me more than half the crowds are young latino males. I was given a box of over three hundred cassette tapes of death and black metal bands. I did the local swap meet thing and the only ones who showed any interest were young latino males.

No offensive taken bro, we are all metal brothers on this board, but when I lived with my parents if I had brought home Cannibal Corpse album my parents would have called the local Catholic Bishop to perform an Exorcism. On a side note I live in Tampa once known as the death metal capital of the world, and the drummer to Monstrosity, Lee Harrison who was causal acquaintance and he told me in South America they would make a little bit of money playing these all day long death metal festivals, which I thought was strange that all these bands had such a loyal following in South America. Especially since here in Tampa they would play at the Brass Mug and the place was barely filled