Bootleg. The secret history of the other recording industry

In Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry, Clinton Heylin examines the entire modern history of this underground culture: from what defines a bootleg and its complex and protean legal status, to a full history of bootlegs' production and distribution, to what's contained on some of the most notorious bootlegs and how to find them. Along with many illustrations of the creative packages, this is the whole story of the $250 million industry that sustains itself on the great figures of rock music and their biggest admirers.

In this exhaustively researched and absorbing volume, Heylin (From the Velvets to the Voidoids) traces the byzantine history of the bootleg record industry?and copyright law's attempts to keep up with it?from its origins in Southern California in 1969 to the CD era. There is an astonishing wealth of information, as well as a generous sampling of classic bootleg covers, on display here, even if Heylin's repetitive prose may at times make readers feel as if they are trapped in a listening booth. And while Heylin is as critical of shoddy bootleg operations as he is of official record companies, he has surprisingly little to say about the music that bootleggers have helped rescue from oblivion, beyond a generally persuasive defense of the fan's right to hear material that corporations and perfectionist artists would rather suppress. An exception is his enlightening if brief chapter on British punk, whose anarchic message found its perfect medium in illegal cassettes and vinyl. This history should be of great interest to industry lawyers and aging hippie collectors?even today, acts from the 1960s and '70s remain the most heavily bootlegged. Illustrations.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Music journalist Heylin (The Penguin History of Rock & Roll Writing, LJ 12/92) has written a sympathetic, fascinating, and path-breaking history of the rock bootleg industry. After a brief historical introduction that distinguishes between bootlegs (live or unreleased performances) and pirates (counterfeits of official releases), he describes the making of and reaction to the first rock bootleg: Bob Dylan's Great White Wonder. The author continues with the growth of rock bootlegs, the impact of the 1976 Copyright Act, and the beginnings of British bootlegging, spurred by punk rock. He ends with a discussion of the attempt by record companies to block DAT (digital audio tape) in the hopes of curbing home copying and the appearance of compact disc bootlegs. Considering the topic, Heylin provides an especially well-researched book and in the process offers a provocative examination of the legal, financial, and musical implications of a fan-based, Sixties-inspired rock bootleg industry. Highly recommended for both general readers and experts in the field.?David Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Die-hard rock fans soon learn there is a way to hear live performances, outtakes, and other material by their favorite musicians that record companies suppress. That way is on bootlegs--unofficial, clandestinely distributed releases sanctioned by neither artist nor record company. Heylin traces the bootleg phenomenon from Great White Wonder (the Bob Dylan collection that kicked things off in the late 1960s) through the punks and Springsteen (one of the most heavily bootlegged artists) to today's digital era of easier, better sounding unofficial recording that has given bootleggers quite a boost. He interviews (anonymously) most of the major bootleggers, explains the legal obstacles they face, and describes some of the most outstanding material available on boots. He also addresses the intellectual property questions, siding firmly with the bootleggers, whom he credits with making much available that would have gone unheard and sees as motivated by love of music as much as love of profit. Heylin seems to labor out of love, too, as he celebrates the underground entrepreneurs responsible for freeing otherwise lost recordings. Gordon Flagg