[78-L] Motown on 78 and weird Filipino labels

[Michael Biel]

> I don't know anything about how the labels were appropriated
> and pressed locally, but assume it was on the shady side,
> though not as shady as the outright bootlegs being pressed
> in Taiwan at the time.   Best,   Margaret G. Still


I don't want to seem like the "word police" (which is what I must seem
to be to the people over on the ARSCList after I had to slap down
someone who insisted that 16-inch pressings were not transcriptions, and
that coated discs should be called "laminated".)  But although it became
common to call any unauthorized records "bootlegs", that word has one
specific defination in a court of law, and that is a recording that is
unauthorized and has not been released by the legitimate rights holder. 
Concert recordings are bootlegs.  Recording session out-takes are
bootlegs.  But if the recording has be legitimately released, and
unauthorized release by another party falls into one of two other
categories.  A "counterfeit" is when someone tries to make a copy that
appears to be just like the original.  A "pirate" is when the
unauthorized copies are not meant to look exactly like the original.  In
the 78 world, Biltmore and Jolly Roger are two late-40s examples of
pirates.  All the legal P.D. CD reissues are actually pirates.  That
includes Pearl, Flapper, Naxos, IAJRC, ASD Living Era, ZYX, Take Two,
etc.  These are perfectly legal in their home countries, but they still
fall in the category of an issue that is unauthorized by the original
rights holders.  There are even pirates of pirates, such as ProperBox,
Snady Hook, and Documents, which are unauthorized re-reisues of other
pirates.  THESE might be illegal since they are "borrowing" newly
engineered transfers which themselves are entitled to copyright in the
eyes of many people.  

Just an explanation of why I had been so insistant back in the 1980s
that Goldmine, DisCoveries and other rock publishers know these
distinctions.  The industry was trying to wipe out all of these,
including legal pirates, and were trying to make sure the public was
confused.  They wanted the public to think that all were the same.  I am
dead set against counterfeits because these cheat not only the record
company but the consumer.  The buyer thinks they are getting the legit
issue but are getting a cheap knockoff.  You will remember this being so
common during the cassette era.  Every flea market had $3.98 cassette
dealers selling 25 cent cassette dubs for $3.98.  But bootlegs, such as
concerts and outtakes are documenting performances otherwise lost, and
are sold to people who know what they are getting and who usually
already have all of that performers legit releases.  And pirates, if
they are made of legally P.D. recordings are fully legal and legit.  But
if they are all called bootlegs, then they all get tarred with the same
RIAA brush and all get wiped out.  

As for Taiwan and Korean rock-era pressings, many of which were on
colored vinyl and were made from stampers plated from real pressings(!!)
those are illegal pirates which might also be semi-counterfeits.  They
photocopy the original covers very badly and sometimes have the original
matrix numbers, but they didn't use the original labels and are
OBVIOUSLY not the originals.  

Hope this helps straighten the meanings of these words out.  Anybody
have any questions? (I haven't used that phrase since I retired from
teaching!)

Prof Mike  mbiel at mbiel.com   

P.S.  Yes, this will be on the exam.

 

 ====================


 To: <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
 
 I'm pretty sure the Philippine 78's were not manufactured in the
Philippines
 and sold in U.S. Army PX's. They were manufactured and sold to a
listening
 public that knew and loved American Top 40 Music and heard it on the
huge
 number of radion stations that played American music almost
exclusively. I
 was born and grew up there, and remember my older sister bringing home
 Imperial Ricky Nelson 78's and Buddy Holly Coral 78's - as well as
45's. The
 78's were much rarer by the Brit Invasion era, but I did see some
Ventures
 78's at that time. We did not have access to any PXes, just the local
 stores.
 
 From: Alexandre Benoit <pathe90rpm at yahoo.fr>
 
 Motown recordings on 78s in India? 
 I doubt this. Because this is not the type of music Indians would have
 listened to.
 In India only those people listened to English language music who were
 half-breeds (half Indian,?half British). Black music was never popular
 there. 
 There were however Motown releases in South Africa - on the Ridge
label.
 This label took licences from many US labels. On Ridge you can find the
 Marvelettes and the Shirelles, possibly others. ?I know, because I had
these
 South African 78s.? 
 ?
 The situation in the Philippines was pretty?much like the situation?in
 France and Germany. Many 1950's and 1960's records that turned up in
the
 70's and 80's in France and Germany were completely unknown to the
French
 and German listeners And these records were never listed in the
complete
 listings of the record companies, either! Why? Because these records
were
 only sold in U.S. Army PX's (but pressed locally). 
 ?
 I guess it was similar in the Philippines. 
 ?
 How did companies in the Philippines appropriate the names of 3 major
US
 record labels? 
 A rethorical question, I presume. Because nowadays, I am sure, you can
 register names like 'Columbia' 'Sun', 'Sony' or whatever in
Azerbaidjan,
 Moldavia, Congo or what have you. 
 Just like you could in the Philippines in those days. 
 ?
 Alex
 -------- Original Message --------
 Subject: Re: [78-L] Motown on 78 and weird Filipino labels
 From: "Margaret Still" <mgstill at bellsouth.net>
 Date: Sun, July 26, 2009 12:12 pm
 To: <78-l at klickitat.78online.com>
 
 I'm pretty sure the Philippine 78's were not manufactured in the
Philippines
 and sold in U.S. Army PX's. They were manufactured and sold to a
listening
 public that knew and loved American Top 40 Music and heard it on the
huge
 number of radion stations that played American music almost
exclusively. I
 was born and grew up there, and remember my older sister bringing home
 Imperial Ricky Nelson 78's and Buddy Holly Coral 78's - as well as
45's. The
 78's were much rarer by the Brit Invasion era, but I did see some
Ventures
 78's at that time. We did not have access to any PXes, just the local
 stores.