Now as LP sales increase in the UK, so does the illegal trade in shoddy fakes, but records detectives are fighting back, the article expands.
It further details that illicit vinyl has been in circulation as long as the records themselves, but they last peaked in production between the mid-1960s and late 1970s.
Then, as now, what was produced often followed a predictable pattern: If an album by a successful artist was in short supply, ideally to the point of being considered collectible, then piracy would fill the void, the source explains.
Investigating this illicit activity, according to the article, can be fascinating and at the same time very strange, since the stories that are produced mix the application of mundane law with the names of very famous musicians (who are also affected by piracy).
In the United Kingdom, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the group that represents record labels, employs a small team of people who monitor the illegal sale of music and do everything they can to root it out.
In BPI’s view, this is “a serious crime that denies artists rewards for their creativity, exploits fans and affects legitimate retail and record labels that invest in music,” as quoted by The Guardian.
The entity also points out that the trade in illicit records is sometimes confused with money laundering and drug trafficking.
BPI claims that between 2020 and 2022, it removed 43,000 fake discs from online marketplaces (worth more than $800,000).
If you take into account the tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of albums that were presumably not detected, you have an idea of the proliferation of this underground industry that they are trying to address, he said.
jcm/dla
