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Post by Michael Messer on Jan 19, 2006 11:13:44 GMT
I reported the illegal sale of promotional CDs to the E-Bay security department and hopefully with any luck they will stop the vendor known as...cgd7 (from West Molesey, Surrey) from selling anything on their website.
Promotional CDs are NOT FOR SALE, they are sent out to the industry & the media to promote the album. The fact that this vendor...cgd7 has made £11 from the sale of my album that he/she got for nothing, is disgusting. Don't these people understand that I earn my living from the sales of my music. I would not be surprized if cgd7 streamed the album into I-Tunes and made it available to the whole world for nothing. After all, why should he care, he got his quick £11 for doing nothing.
Shine On Michael.
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Post by Alan on Jan 19, 2006 11:16:51 GMT
Well at least its worked as a promotional tool.
I think in the future, if not now all sorts of promotional stuff will be released on eBay. After all there is a large audience and eBay is easy to use.
Promos always used to be bought and sold before the official release dates. Its just that ebay and the Net in general is a collectors 'paradise'.
What next signed promos? Often there are Bill Wyman signed cds and Books on ebay.
Call me cynical, but I'd put promos on eBay if I wanted to get a bit of publicity and I suspect other people do.
They probably did you a favour in some respects! Look at the debate its generated -
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2006 12:03:50 GMT
Hmm, you might be right about the promotional aspects Alan. However the issue of copyright & ensuring the copyright holder gets their rewards is a tough one. Many people buy a CD, put it on their MP3 player then flog the original CD (some eBay sellers even say they are doing this!) - which is really the same as selling a copy although the buyer gets an 'original' item. We've discussed downloads as opposed to CDs in other forum strands - give me a real official CD with inlay anyday (my wife would prefer otherwise as she says the house is swamped by the silver discs!!). However I suspect that very few people could put their hand on heart & say they'd never copied a CD, but PROFITING from someone elses work 'is different' (?), although the copyright holder still 'loses' the benefit of another sale. If you're selling millions of official CDs then a few outside that might not be a big deal; but other artists that don't sell huge numbers of a product can just get squeezed out. Unfortunately 'promo' items by their nature are 'rare' & consequently collectable.
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Post by Michael Messer on Jan 19, 2006 14:25:40 GMT
Hi Alan,
I take your point, but I don't believe it has done me any favours. In fact I have lost a sale because whoever bought the promo copy would have bought a proper copy in two weeks time.
The illegal selling of music is an uncontrollable problem and doesn't particularly worry me. I have made cassettes and CD copies of many albums. But selling an illegal item through a proper retail outlet is not right and is something that e-Bay take exception to. I think if you knew how difficult is has been through my career to protect the copyright & ownership of my work, you would understand why this sale has wound me up.
There can be no reason or justification for someone selling a free sample of my work while it is still in copyright. 52 years from now you can all do what you like with it, because the life of copyright only lasts that long. All the other items with my name attached...CDs, Videos, Strings..., have been bought (at some time) from the distributors, so I have already had my money for those.
Actually it is the principal, not the amount of money.
Cooking Vinyl (the record company) told me that they are regularly in touch with e-Bay about this problem.
I should add that I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with the person who bought the CD. Good luck to them, they have bought a rare & possibly collectable item.
Hopefully we can now close this matter and have fun again!!!!!
Shine On Michael.....AKA Victor Meldrew.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2006 14:36:12 GMT
Hey, C'mon Michael - I'M VICTOR MELDREW! You should see the rubbish the kids throw into my garden!! ;D
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