You have probably been pointed in the direction of this page because someone saw you paying (or offering to pay) large amounts of your cold, hard cash to buy an "import", "bootleg" or "rarity". This site is designed to educate you on how to avoid paying upwards of $30 for a bootleg. Instead, all you'll need to spend is the price of a blank CDR or two (about $1 each) plus postage (maybe $3).
If you're interested, please read on - it won't take long and could save you a lot of money. Otherwise, .
(A note to non-US readers - prices, etc are listed in $ because most of the people reading this are from the USA. Convert currencies in your head - it's not too difficult. I'm British myself and usually work in pounds sterling!)
A Bit About Bootlegs
Bootlegs (or "rarities" or "imports" or whatever else you call them) are CDs that have not officially been released for sale by the artist on them. They are usually demos or recordings of live shows. Sometimes they are compilations from various sources.
Some bands (Dave Matthews Band, The Grateful Dead, Phish, Pearl Jam, etc) actively encourage fans to tape their shows. Others (U2, Counting Crows, etc) do not care either way. And of course some (such as Neil Young) discourage bootlegs.
As these are not officially released, the artist gets no money from their sale, so it doesn't really matter to them whether you pay $50 for a bootleg or if you pay 50c! But it matters to you!
Getting Hold Of Them (Cheaply!)
There are large numbers of people on the Internet who collect bootlegs (thousand and thousands!). The main way that we do this is by making copies of them and swapping them with others. This is trading. People used to trade tapes, but now recordable CDs are becoming popular because they're cheap and have perfect sound quality.
Through trading, you can build up huge collections of bootlegs in very little time and with very little money.
But you're new to the game, right? You don't have anything to trade with. Well, what you want is a blanks & postage deal (B&P). With B&Ps, you send a trader enough blank CDs to record the bootleg onto, plus enough postage so that he can send them back to you. That's it!
Finding Traders
Finding traders is a little tricky as first, but easy when you know how. It is this that puts off a lot of newcomers. Here I will try to give you a guide to how to find these elusive creatures :-)
Here are some good places to start looking:
Usenet
Usenet is a part of the Internet. It is a part of the Internet that a lot of people don't know about and don't know how to use. Usenet is a bit like a giant message board, with topics about everything under the sun - from fishing to particle physics, from saxophones to World War 2... and you guessed it - bootlegs! A beginner's guide to Usenet can be found here.
Traders can be found on Usenet in the alt.music.bootlegs group and also in a lot of groups for individual bands and artists (such as alt.music.dave-matthews, rec.music.rem and alt.fan.matchbox20.
The World Wide Web
Try searching the web using an engine like . For example, if I was looking for Pearl Jam bootleg traders, I would type in: pearl jam bootlegs
Etree.org
etree.org only deals with bootlegs by artists that officially allow taping. There are several mailing lists to hook people up with traders as well as servers for you to download bootlegs if your Internet connection is fast enough.
What To Do If That Doesn't Work
Hopefully you've now found a trader. Email them. Ask for a B&P. Be polite. Remember that it takes about 30 minutes to record a CD, so traders can't do hundreds of B&Ps - they need to limit themselves a bit. But if you're polite they are more likely to agree to help you out.
If it turns out that they are too busy to help you, don't get angry. Stay polite. If you ask, they may be able to point you in the direction of someone else who would be able to help. Or they may tell you at what point in the future they will be less busy.
Keep trying. I'm sure you'll find someone. If you don't mail me (my address is on the Contact page and if I've got the time, I'll help you look!
Your First B&P
So now someone has accepted you for a B&P. Be happy! They will send you a list of their bootlegs (or maybe point you to a webpage with the list on it). Choose what you want from them. Only choose 1 or 2 - remember they are doing you a favour, and you can always come back and ask for more later.
After you've told them which ones you want, they'll tell you how many CDRs to send, how much postage and where to send it to. They may also tell you their preferred brands of CD.
Now, go out any buy those blank CDRs from your local computer store. Try to buy their preferred brand. Otherwise, TDK is usually a good bet. Also buy a padded envelope, big enough for the CDs and a larger envelope (not padded), big enough to fit the padded envelope in.
Place the CDs, money or stamps for postage and a note (reminding the trader what they are sending you and thanking them) into the padded envelope. Clearly write your address onto the front of the padded envelope. Do not seal it. Instead, put the padded envelope inside the big envelope and seal that up, writing their name and address on the front.
Now take it all down to the post office and send it. You should hopefully have done all this is a few days, so that they don't get too impatient.
Continuing On From There
A lot of people are satisfied with a few bootlegs, but if you want more, you should consider trading. It's a great hobby. All you need is a CD recorder. You should be able to buy a cheap one for about $150 to $200.
Who am I? Why did I make this page?
My name is Toby Inkster. To find out more about me, look around Toby-Inkster.co.uk. I made this page because I hate going to eBay and seeing people selling bootlegs for so much money. The artists on these CDs go to a lot of effort to write and play the songs, but none of the money that you pay goes to them - it all goes to a greedy person selling them on eBay.