HW: Promo Single (on E-Bay)

[Paul Mather]

On Tue, 2005-08-16 at 20:39 +0100, David Blair wrote:
> In article <LISTSERV%2005081613220414 at LISTSERV.ISPNETINC.NET>, Mick
> Davis <mickymoocher at AOL.COM> writes
> >ive emailed the man a couple of times asking him to either state its for
> >charity or take it off the list as 25 quid isnt gonna do much for any
> >bloody charity! i was told to mind my own business- any one agree with what
> >hes doing?
>
> Absolutely. I consider selling what is after all his own property for
> charity to be admirable (I consider the bands/managements reaction to it
> something else entirely), and I quite agree with him telling you to mind
> your own business.

I agree with everything you say except perhaps one small point: that
it's his own property.  In my experience, promo copies remain the
property of the record company---in effect, they are on "indefinite
loan" and explicitly must not be sold.  (E.g., I have a promo copy of
Sundial's _Acid Yantra_ I bought from a local record shop's used bins
that has printed both on the CD and booklet, "For promotional use only.
Sale or other transfer is prohibited.  Must be returned on demand of
recording company."  Another promo CD I have is marked simply, "For
promotional use only.  Not for sale.")

This reminds me of a recollection on another music list I'm on.  At one
time, Phil Walden, Jr., of Capricorn Records, was a subscriber and
occasional poster.  When a flap happened about some people selling promo
and pre-release copies on eBay, he mentioned an occasional lunchtime
diversion in which he sometimes indulged.  He said he would bid high on
Capricorn Records promos on eBay and then, when the auction ended, wait
to see if anyone would dare claim payment when he revealed who he was
(and that he in fact owned the item they were selling).  IIRC, nobody
ever did. :-)

Cheers,

Paul.
--
e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa