Know those records that you insert into a vinyl record player? Basically those, but pirated since a real one costs money when you purchase them at official music retailers. It involves the process of obtaining a legal copy then using wax molds (to recreate a record) and specialized tools (prevent quality loss) duplicating the record. (Also, “Bone Music” existed in the Soviet Union by printing music by using x-ray films).
Bootleg records were a thing in Europe in the days of reel to reel tape as the only alternative. It wasn’t so much that people did it privately but people would try to make a buck through re-sale and especially on flea markets where oversight by the law was virtually nonexistent. Rare records have always been a thing. Bootleggers tried to profit off it.
I was bequeathed my parents’ record collection of about 200 LPs. One was a bootleg they kept, some rare Beatles stuff. Other ones were thrown away because the quality was bad or would have been deteriorating to a point where it became unlistenable.
My friend, a gifted and somewhat eccentric/obsessive mechanic, just got a job at a recording studio that produces records. The set up involves, among other things, a large boiler that produces pressurized steam, that is used in pressing the records. He is quite impressed with the fact that a blast of steam could “blast away your flesh down to the bone.”
He sent me a photo of the shop, which I assume is somewhat smaller than a large industrial producer that printed hit records back in the day. Still, its a lot of equipment, a major investment, just to pirate the vinyl records in order to…save money? Stick it to the man? Also, a high level of technical skill just to do it, ntm when one of these things breaks. I’m sure some whacko attempted it, maybe even succeeded in a limited way, but it is just not a very pirate-able medium.
I’m old enough to remember when owning record players was the norm, but I don’t remember anyone pirating anything - they weren’t considered expensive. Cassette piracy in the 80s and early 90s - now that I do remember.
However, it certainly was a thing. In the USSR they figured out how to do it on discarded x-rays - which, I have to admit, is the most punk thing ever.
