To all interested in Bedouin bootlegs

[Carl Edlund Anderson]

     I agree that people will be less interested in buying
Bedouin bootlegs if Bedouin make more material available--and
permit audience taping.  Right now Bedouin *both* prohibit
live taping _and_ don't have anything which people can easily
buy.  But they do have a band which people are desperate to
listen to.  Is it any surprise that someone snuck a recording
and pressed a CD-R?  Is it any wonder that people want to
buy it?

     If Bedouin allowed live taping, this would be much less
likely to happen--as innumerable bands have proven again and
again and again.  I brought my recorder to a Bedouin gig and
asked whether it was OK to tape (as I always try to).  I was
told "no", so didn't tape since I'm an honest sort.  But I knew
someone, somewhere would tape it and that because there would be
so few tapes around for trades that there would eventually be
bootlegs for sale. And I was not wrong.
     On the other hand, freely available tapes would kill the
market for bootlegs and spread word about the band far more
widely than than they can now, with no record, no contract,
and no distribution beyond a table at their gigs! (As
innumerable bands have proven again and again and again!)

     It should tell Alan and the band something when bootleg
CD makers have better distribution than they do themselves!
Why is it that there are bootlegs available for Henrik to
sell, and not official Bedouin recordings?  I don't think
anyone on this list would prefer to buy bootlegs over official
material--they just need official material to buy!  There is
a _market_ for Bedouin's music which is currently _only_
being filled by bootleggers!  IMO, Bedouin should be selling
their own CD-Rs though independant record dealers like Henrik,
Delerium, etc.

     IMO, Bedouin are a great band.  I'm a poor student, but
I've bought Alan's solo CDs and the _one_ actual Bedouin mini-
album (the Live 1998 one) because they're great music and I'd
rather spend the little bit of spare cash I have on it rather
than on many other things.  But there has to be stuff for people
to buy.

     Also: When I brought some friends down to see them, Bedouin
definitely won some converts (though people were definitely unwilling
to shell out 10 quid for a half-hour live CD-R by a band they were
only just seeing for the first time. I think that might have been a
bit steeply priced to sell except to the die-hard fans!  Like me :)
But get a full album out at a reasonable price and I think some
people I know would buy it.  I definitely know some will be back
to see the next Bedouin tour!

Cheers,
Carl

--
Carl Edlund Anderson
Dept. of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, & Celtic
St. John's College, University of Cambridge
mailto:cea20 at cus.cam.ac.uk
http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~carl/