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Jimmy Page Appears at Glasgow Sherrif Court!


Guest DustyDeviada

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Guest DustyDeviada

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ROCK LEGEND JIMMY PAGE STARS AGAIN - BUT THIS TIME IN COURT

Rock guitarist Jimmy Page swapped the stage for a courtroom yesterday as he gave evidence as a star witness in a bootleg music trial.

The Led Zeppelin star appeared at Glasgow Sheriff Court during the trial of Robert Langley, 58, of Buckingham, who denies 12 charges of trying to bootleg music in February 2005.

Among the charges is the allegation that he was trying to sell 385 Led Zeppelin digital discs at the SECC in Glasgow on February 5.

Mr Page was shown hundreds of CDs and DVDs in court and said they had never been authorised for manufacture, distribution or sale.

Defence lawyer Murray Macara suggested that Mr Page condoned the practice of bootlegging because he thought it was all right for fans to swap tapes they had made of the band's music.

Mr Page, dressed in black trousers and jacket with an open-neck white shirt, said there was a crucial difference between making a recording for friends and selling it commercially.

He said: "The legitimacy for me is where fans have made tapes between themselves and swapped them. But once it gets packaged up into formal-looking packages you don't know what you are getting when it is sold. That is something that is breaking the law.

"It purports to be a piece of Led Zeppelin product with shabby artwork.

"What is unacceptable with this passing off is when somebody is trying to make a huge profit and is making it look official when it's substandard quality.

"It's clearly wrong."

The defence lawyer asked Mr Page if he was aware fans had paid for special tickets to make tape recordings at the band's concerts in America.

He suggested that this legitimised the practice.

Mr Page said he was not aware that this had gone on.

He told the court: "You are trying to imply that bootlegging is doing something good for our career whereas I'm saying it could be quite the reverse."

Fiscal Judith Hutchison then showed Mr Page one of the pieces of evidence, a DVD from a warm-up concert in Copenhagen, which was being sold at the SECC for 40.

Mr Page said that warm-up concerts took place just before a major tour and did not show the band at their best. He said for that reason no recordings were made or released of these concerts and that the Copenhagen DVD had never been authorised for sale.

He added: "It is experimental. We are not at optimum peak and that's why we didn't make recordings."

After he finished giving evidence Mr Page signed autographs for court staff before leaving the building.

The trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court continues and is expected to last up to four weeks

Good on Jimmy Page for taking a stand against these guys. I have a big collection of bootlegs, but the guys who sell them for profit are scum. :swearing:

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Guest Savant
The defence lawyer asked Mr Page if he was aware fans had paid for special tickets to make tape recordings at the band's concerts in America.

He suggested that this legitimised the practice.

That judge is a twat. It doesn't matter what Page thinks; it's illegal. And like Page says, recording bootlegs is one thing, but selling them for profit is another.

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Guest DustyDeviada
That judge is a twat. It doesn't matter what Page thinks; it's illegal. And like Page says, recording bootlegs is one thing, but selling them for profit is another.

Never thought I'd be defending a judge, but I think you mean the defence lawyer?

My only concern is that, technically, recording bootlegs is probably illegal as well, so I hope this doesn't lead to a crackdown. :down:

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Guest Jake Wifebeater
I have a big collection of bootlegs, but the guys who sell them for profit are scum. :swearing:

The above sentence looks a bit odd to me.

Are they any worse than record companies? A lot of boots are a labour of love and in some cases are even better than the originals. There's a few Japanese bands I know who are raging about their stuff being bootlegged. I say it serves them right for issuing limited Japan-only pressings of 100-200, knowing full well they'd easily punt 20 times that figure in days.

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Guest Savant

Interesting fact the Metallica, of all people, at least used to actively encourage bootlegging with area's set aside at gigs for bootlegging.

I think the artists view here is that a bootleg is a bootleg and is on par with tape trading, but selling bootlegs is a copyright issue because the bootlegger is making money off the artists' work.

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Guest DustyDeviada
The above sentence looks a bit odd to me.

Are they any worse than record companies? A lot of boots are a labour of love and in some cases are even better than the originals. There's a few Japanese bands I know who are raging about their stuff being bootlegged. I say it serves them right for issuing limited Japan-only pressings of 100-200, knowing full well they'd easily punt 20 times that figure in days.

Yes, they are worse than the record companies in my opinion. Whatever you say about record companies, at the end of the day the artists will get some royalties from the sale, bootleggers keep the cash themselves.

I don't know about any Japanese bands, the only bootlegs I collect are Mark Knopfler and Steve Earle, both of whom take a relaxed view towards bootlegs providing it's done for trading amongst fans and not for selling. I've seen people selling getting 40 a pop for bootleg Dire Straits DVDs that you can download off the likes of Dime for free. So yes, the people who profiteer out of these things are scum, I absolutely stand by that.

I remember back in the early 90s having to pay 20 for bootleg Dire Straits shows at the record fair at the Douglas Hotel. Thankfully, with the internet I was first of all able to start trading with other fans across the world through post and now with broadband you can just download the shows yourself, so there's really no excuse for selling bootlegs these days.

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Guest Jake Wifebeater
I don't know about any Japanese bands, the only bootlegs I collect are Mark Knopfler and Steve Earle, both of whom take a relaxed view towards bootlegs providing it's done for trading amongst fans and not for selling. I've seen people selling getting 40 a pop for bootleg Dire Straits DVDs that you can download off the likes of Dime for free. So yes, the people who profiteer out of these things are scum, I absolutely stand by that.

Horses for courses, really. The boots I get tend to cost no more than the normal cost of an LP/CD i.e. 8 tops for vinyl, 10 tops for a CD. I'd argue that anyone mug enough to shell out 40 for a record/CD deserves to be ripped-off and they're as big a part of the problem as bootleggers themselves. If they refused to pay Stupid-quid for boots, there'd be no market for them and no need to make them.

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Guest DustyDeviada
Horses for courses, really. The boots I get tend to cost no more than the normal cost of an LP/CD i.e. 8 tops for vinyl, 10 tops for a CD. I'd argue that anyone mug enough to shell out 40 for a record/CD deserves to be ripped-off and they're as big a part of the problem as bootleggers themselves. If they refused to pay Stupid-quid for boots, there'd be no market for them and no need to make them.

Yep. That said, I still think 10 is too much for a bootleg, the cost of blanks is the most anybody should have to pay, nobody should be making money out of these things.

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Guest bluesxman
Horses for courses, really. The boots I get tend to cost no more than the normal cost of an LP/CD i.e. 8 tops for vinyl, 10 tops for a CD. I'd argue that anyone mug enough to shell out 40 for a record/CD deserves to be ripped-off and they're as big a part of the problem as bootleggers themselves. If they refused to pay Stupid-quid for boots, there'd be no market for them and no need to make them.

Anyone who would pay 40 quid for a Dire Straits bootleg should be locked up :laughing:

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Yes, they are worse than the record companies in my opinion. Whatever you say about record companies, at the end of the day the artists will get some royalties from the sale, bootleggers keep the cash themselves.

I don't know about any Japanese bands, the only bootlegs I collect are Mark Knopfler and Steve Earle, both of whom take a relaxed view towards bootlegs providing it's done for trading amongst fans and not for selling. I've seen people selling getting 40 a pop for bootleg Dire Straits DVDs that you can download off the likes of Dime for free. So yes, the people who profiteer out of these things are scum, I absolutely stand by that.

I remember back in the early 90s having to pay 20 for bootleg Dire Straits shows at the record fair at the Douglas Hotel. Thankfully, with the internet I was first of all able to start trading with other fans across the world through post and now with broadband you can just download the shows yourself, so there's really no excuse for selling bootlegs these days.

oh lordy twenty quid for a dire straits bootleg? christ! are you mental?

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Guest DustyDeviada
oh lordy twenty quid for a dire straits bootleg? christ! are you mental?

Yes, yes, very droll, I think you'll find bluesxman already did that one.

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