NO TROLL THREADS! NO SOLICITING FOR BOOTLEGS! Discussion is fine, so long as the bootleg is not being promoted e.g. pre-release; requests/offers to share or copy, and links to download or bootleg sites are not. Posting Prince and associated artist videos from sites such as YouTube is also not allowed. Posts of this nature will be deleted and repeat offenders will be first warned, and then banned. Troll threads, fake tracklists, and attention seeking rumor threads will be also be swiftly dealt with. These rules are strictly enforced!


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So there's been a lot of Prince releases, essentially bootlegs, from other companies and it's hard to keep track of them all. It's usually live releases, but they look pretty nice and I'm a completist nut and I want them all.

Is there a way to find out exactly what is out there?

I keep a list in Amazon.

You will find there are not many shows. Most are just duplicates with different artwork.

"official" bootleg releases? By Prince?? No such thing. Unofficial bootleg releases by the several 100's at least.
For official bootleg relseases, try Pearl Jam

FearTheCurmudgeon said:

So there's been a lot of Prince releases, essentially bootlegs, from other companies and it's hard to keep track of them all. It's usually live releases, but they look pretty nice and I'm a completist nut and I want them all.

Is there a way to find out exactly what is out there?

.

Hi FearTheCurmudgeon,

The only official bootleg is Crystal Ball (the 1998 box set) released on NPG records.

[Snip - luv4u]

darkroman said:

I keep a list in Amazon.

You will find there are not many shows. Most are just duplicates with different artwork.

Yeah that's what I'm worried about, I don't want to end up buying the same thing twice.

TheFman said:

"official" bootleg releases? By Prince?? No such thing. Unofficial bootleg releases by the several 100's at least.
For official bootleg relseases, try Pearl Jam

No, these are legit releases you can buy from Amazon, HMV etc. They're just not 100% official releases from WB, NPG Records etc.

[Advertised bootleg for sale snip - luv4u]

I've never bought one myself and I not sure about their legality. They must occupy a sort of grey area. You never used to find them on Amazon, etc., when Prince was alive, so I am skeptical about their quality. I used to stay on top of the better soundboard-recorded bootlegs back in the day and you can find very comprehensive lists out there. That doesn't answer your question though!

FearTheCurmudgeon said:

TheFman said:

"official" bootleg releases? By Prince?? No such thing. Unofficial bootleg releases by the several 100's at least.
For official bootleg relseases, try Pearl Jam

No, these are legit releases you can buy from Amazon, HMV etc. They're just not 100% official releases from WB, NPG Records etc.

are you sure they are legit?

FearTheCurmudgeon said:

Yeah that's what I'm worried about, I don't want to end up buying the same thing twice.

Why would you buy any of them? Unless you're that serious of a collector that even recycled bootleg tat is your thing, dunno.

For the record, these are NOT bootlegs! They are real releases, available in actual official shops.

FearTheCurmudgeon said:

For the record, these are NOT bootlegs! They are real releases, available in actual official shops.

OH SHIT!!!

Thanks for schoolin' me on that, zippy!

Wasn't sure where I stood after four decades of supporting musical artists.

Just because they are available in a record store, that doesn't mean they aren't bootlegs. In the pre-internet days (the late '80s through the mid-'90s) I bought all of my bootlegs in records stores.

Granted, I'm talking mostly about mom-and-pop record shops and other stores that sold used CDs. I don't know that I saw many (any?) bootlegs in major retail chains.

lurker316 said:

databank said:

lurker316 said:

Just because they are available in a record store, that doesn't mean they aren't bootlegs. In the pre-internet days (the late '80s through the mid-'90s) I bought all of my bootlegs in records stores.

Granted, I'm talking mostly about mom-and-pop record shops and other stores that sold used CDs. I don't know that I saw many (any?) bootlegs in major retail chains.

I saw some

.

I did, too, in Switzerland, in the 90s. Fun times.

databank said:

They are bootleg by American law, vaguely legal in the EU thanks to a loophole in EU laws, a loophole that's occasionally abused (some of these releases are not even legal according to the loophole but pretend they are). I consider US law sovereign when it comes to American artists, or any pirate copy in a developing country ignoring copyright laws is official, so those are bootlegs.

THIS!

Which is why I call them "legal bootlegs". Never buy one of these releases. They're just copies of other bootlegs and the estate makes no money off them. If you must have them, pirate them.

NO TROLL THREADS! NO SOLICITING FOR BOOTLEGS! Discussion is fine, so long as the bootleg is not being promoted e.g. pre-release; requests/offers to share or copy, and links to download or bootleg sites are not. Posting Prince and associated artist videos from sites such as YouTube is also not allowed. Posts of this nature will be deleted and repeat offenders will be first warned, and then banned. Troll threads, fake tracklists, and attention seeking rumor threads will be also be swiftly dealt with. These rules are strictly enforced!

the amount of misinformation regarding this issue is funny and scary at the same time.. who are you people..

FearTheCurmudgeon said:

For the record, these are NOT bootlegs! They are real releases, available in actual official shops.

FearTheCurmudgeon said:

For the record, these are NOT bootlegs! They are real releases, available in actual official shops.

Correct. They are unofficial releases, but they are legal (depending on where they are sold), hence you can buy them online.

If it's a copy of a publicily broadcast event, then it's legal in the EU, as it was released into the public domain.

Technically, these are "gray area" releases. According to EU laws, any recording that was made/broadcast by an on-air company becomes the property of that country. I think that if any artist decided to protest the law, these releases would stop.

That being said, I have a ton of these releases. As far as Prince goes, I have "3 Nites In Miami", "On Parade In '86" and "Purple Reign In New York". The sound quality is pretty darn good. Definitely worth the price that I paid for them.

Let's not forget Originals and P&AM83...

goosepumble said:

[Advertised bootleg for sale snip - luv4u]

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