I just posted this query in the cheap BIN thread, but it appears Amoeba is selling "digitized lps" as digital downloads? I find it hard to believe that these have been licensed, which seems kind of fucked...

some examples:

http://www.amoeba.com/audition-plantar- ... ums/838004

http://www.amoeba.com/a-very-gentle-for ... ums/839982

http://www.amoeba.com/songs-of-the-univ ... ums/834416

http://www.amoeba.com/drugs-won-t-get-i ... ums/834183

http://www.amoeba.com/the-groupies-the- ... ums/837310

http://www.amoeba.com/visionary-experie ... ums/835332

http://www.amoeba.com/one-day-at-a-time ... ums/840500

http://www.amoeba.com/we-need-more-love ... ums/836325

http://www.amoeba.com/i-wouldn-t-miss-i ... ums/839415

http://www.amoeba.com/willoughby-s-lame ... ums/834382

http://www.amoeba.com/danny-holien-dann ... ums/837264

they actually have an entire "curated" selection here:

http://www.amoeba.com/music/vinyl-vaults/#page-1

paging numero:

http://www.amoeba.com/grassroots-guitar ... ums/835728

I'd heard a few year ago that they were stockpiling and digitizing one copy of every record that came through the stores (some Noah's Ark type shit) and that this was their big plan for the future. I'm pretty sure they believe that if they digitized an LP they own they can sell the MP3's.

interesting approach to bootlegging.

But clearly they are wrong. Right? Surely this is completely illegal.

This is totally illegal and infuriatingly stupid.

Can they really be this out of touch?

I'd think that they'd have a lawyer kicking around somewhere that could set them straight.

Yes.

I feel for the poor 20-something that had to to sit and rip that Mark Greer LP.

bullshit

LOL

Yes. And they don't have the clout that Google has (see: their book scanning effort).

From the Amoeba site:

"We have tracked down as many of the rights holders as we could find but, unfortunately, there have been some artists, song writers, publishers and/or record companies or their respective heirs and successors that we have not been able to find. We ask you while you are browsing the Vinyl Vault, if you are a rights holder to a master recording and/or composition in the Vinyl Vault or know of someone who is, please contact us at vinylvaults@amoeba.com. We would like to work out agreements with all such rights holders for the inclusion of such material in the Vinyl Vault so that we can continue to make such tracks available to the music lovers of the world."

This just seems incredibly foolhardy. I sent them an email asking if they really understand what a bad idea this is. I'll post a response if I get one.

Ticking time bomb. This is totally nuts.

so they're making money off the artists, until the artists maybe contact them and then they can work out a deal ... wow that's shady.

that write up is also incredibly misleading and disingenuous ... just when I think I can't dislike Amoeba any more ...

keep us posted Horseleech.

idiots

hey, works for Mississippi.

I can guarantee they will be getting at least one e-mail from a VERY litigious rights holder

One of the people in the "catalog" resembles a grizzly bear and lives six blocks from one of their locations.

Are they bootlegging?



Also, can anyone confirm if Secret Stash is legitimately licensing?

i can't care enough to get too mad at this but over the past few years i've had email exchanges with some lovely people at the Arica Institute. pretty sure they're lawyered out the ass too.

SNITCHMODE ENGAGED

HERE WE GO

OH THEY ARE

the transpersonal community is going to be pissed

waxidermy is finally united for a cause

why are there no amoeba people on this board, weird? or maybe they're just laying low.

The three secrets to life....Peace....Serenity....and a damned good Lawyer.

Oh rock you cynic.

The music is already widely available to download for free anyway. At least this way there's some hope of an artist maybe getting paid. Not that I support paying for digital downloads.

Greed & lack of copyrights hath no bounds...

patrick is right, this is a ticking time bomb. its opening their business to unnecessary risk with little real opportunity for profit.

some wasted olds discovers his music has been up for digital distribution for the past two years and he contacts them demanding an explanation and his cut. amoeba has no negotiation leverage now and a sales history of $14. can we kick you half? now multiply that scenario against dozens of other eccentrics and its a future 50 car pile up.

Been a while since I have been there. Does this online sampling option mean that they actually have installed listening stations too?

Wasted olds? Eccentrics?

Why would he take $7 when he could sue them and get much more?

Aside from the ethics burn, it's the sheer pointless stupidity of this that gets me.

Yeah ... thinking about the facts that they pay dudes to rip these and each record takes like 30-60 minutes to rip, there's no obvious audience for some of these downloads, and the quality has to be questionable, just doesn't make any sense.

I guess they're only archiving them out of their love of music and are just trying to break even ...

And yeah, if I was an artist I wouldn't be in court just to get royalties from these clowns ...

Most older dudes that see a mention of their music think it's selling a million copies "in europe". When amoeba tells them they only made $14 and offers $7, that's not going to work out.

So, in the end, it has the ability to financially help artists with the ability to sue. That's something. A net positive, really.

Yeah it's absolutely dumbfounding. Like I said I first heard of this 2nd hand about 3 years ago and it sounded well under way back then. I remember laughing and saying oh my god they realize they'll be sued out of existence, right? It seemed impossible that they'd actually go through with it. I mean just imagine how many people have tried to tell them how terrible an idea this is.