> Not entirely true. The enforcement of the law has many shades of gray.

> There is a big difference in perceived threat between the relatively small
> circle of hardcore score nuts trading bootlegs and any music being made
> available to the masses for download.

> In short, the CDr boots aren't a major target for law enforcement.
> Studios, musicians, lables, and rights agencies won't go bankrupt because
> of a handful of bootlegs (most of which THEY leaked in the first place).
> The downloadable versions of that music ARE the problem, though. It's all
> a matter of how the music is being distributed. You'll see reviews of
> bootlegs at Filmtracks, but you'll never hear any of us in support of
> downloading files.

> That's where the line is drawn.

> Christian

It just seems a little murky to me. I've seen many CD boots of complete scores. For example, Sony had put out the expanded Star Trek TMP score a few years back. Then, sometime later, a 2 CD version came out with 99% of the score. Now Goldsmith's not getting a dime of this. If the composer or the company holding the rights did not want the whole thing out there, then someone who had access released it. And it's been copied enough times for it cross my path (trust me, I'm the LAST person to run into these things). What it boils down to (and I admit, I may be misunderstanding the whole process), is that the artists work is being circulated without his permission and without him being compensated. Doesn't that constitute stealing?

One the other hand, you are correct: the number of folks downloading far outweighs the people with bootlegs. The dowloads also distribute scores which ARE available for purchase, which is a real crime (not to mention cheap on the part of these fans - buy the damned album). But I still feel if you're going to be against downloads, you should at least frown on bootlegs (and in fairness, you have mentioned something like this on your site).

Christian, I'm not starting trouble (no, really), I'm just trying to understand the issue. While boots can be a real boon to a score which would never go around otherwise, the existance is still illegal. Remember, bootlegs are not "promotional copies". Bootlegs are complete versions of any score, whether or not an official album exists. And considering who Jerry Goldsmith is, he does NOT need a promotion album.

Not for anything, my post was so far down, I was surprised you even noticed it. :-)

Love your site!