the village choir 45 along the beach/sweet hot lips

kala

i just had this auction pulled from the nice folks at VERO/ebay
the supposed copyright owner emailed me and told me to sop selling bootlegs and then the item was pulled
this is a first for me
its definitely not a boot and was in a huge funk /soul 45 collection i just bought from a Caribbean dj who worked in jamaica,Antilles and trini/tabago during the 60s/70s

wtf

kala

here is the email i received



You are in possession of a counterfeit copy of my never released compositions, a violation of the laws of copyright. Please remove it at once. Sir Charles Matthews, owner, composer, producer.

DOR

Never released?

Do they mean on 45? I owed the 12" once of Sweet Hot Lips. Can't remember what was on the flip.

Have a label scan? Tell'em it's a promo copy and it's not illegal to sell promo material in the US.

Soulhawk

this Charles Matthews guy thinks ALL his work was released without authorization

he's been getting shit pulled for years

kala

its not marked "promo" in any way

Jonny_Paycheck

That guy has been successfully getting his 45s and LPs pulled for years now. I had their rare modern/boogie LP a while back and was warned about this dude.

His story is that he never approved these releases *back in the day*. So yes, you have a totally 100% legit copy of the record in your hands, but according to him it is a bootleg because he never signed the original contract or whatever. Who knows? It's not like the label's around to verify it. And ebay isn't asking questions anyhow.

I was lucky to move the record I had locally - I've turned down copies since then because of the hassle, though.

Hope that helps

kala

aiiight
thanks guys/peace

wafflerock

i would be game to buy it if it makes your life easier.
please send price/condition to gastonlaponce@hotmail.com
thanks,
asaf

wafflerock

i would be game to buy it if it makes your life easier.
please send price/condition to gastonlaponce@hotmail.com
thanks,
asaf

windsorbear

Same thing happened to me last night. He sent me an email through eBay's message system saying that he never authorized this single to be released and that it was in violation of copyright and to remove it. Guess I'll be holding on to it until I can find a "private" buyer.

This is how I had it listed...

Hit Side: Sweet Hot Lips (2:37)
Flip Side: Along The Beach (Part One) (2:59)
Artist: The Village Choir
Label: N.Y.C. Street Sound (red label)
Number: NYC 1000
Pressing Year: Mid 1970's
Vinyl Condition (Visual Grading Only): Very Good Plus Plus - A couple of very light scuff lines on the "Along The Beach" side. Does not affect play. "Sweet Hot Lips" side appears Near Mint... no scuff marks that I can see. Record appears to have been played very little, if at all.
Label Condition: Very Good Plus Plus - See Photo. Actually, I see nothing wrong with this label, but I'm going to be conservative.
Sleeve Condition: New - New white paper sleeve.
Comments: Regular Stock Copy. I understand that there have been two issues of this single... one on a purple N.Y.C. label, and another on a red N.Y.C. label. This is for the red label. I also understand that there are inferior bootleg copies of this out there that are very thin and flimsy, and have no time stamp on them. This record is NOT thin, is not flimsy, and DOES have the time stamp on it. Other than that, I have no way to verify anything as I cannot find any info about this record in any of the record books that I have. All I have to go by is information I have found on the internet, including info of past sales. Also, there seems to be two different mixes of "Along The Beach"... a more upbeat danceable version, and a less upbeat moderate version. This record has the less upbeat moderate version.

This is the message he sent me...

You are in possession of my never released compositions, a violation of the laws of copyright. You stated in your auction that you could not find any history of these compositions. The reason for that is that I, the composer, have never released them. Any copies on the market, including yours, are a copyright violation. Please remove them. Sir Charles Matthews, composer.

Oh well... gotta love it.

Attached files

Horseleech

Was this guy ever actually Knighted?

Tell him he's in violation of the copyrighted term "Sir".

windsorbear

That's good. I like that!!

windsorbear

What a friggin' SOB. I closed the listing for the record like he requested, and he STILL contacted eBay and had any traces of the listing removed and now I have a policy violation against me. Why even bother to contact me and tell me to remove it if he was going to have eBay do it and ding my account. I am now suspended from listing anymore items until I take a "copyright tutorial" and pass the test. And I still don't think this single was an unauthorized release. Why? Because I've studied record labels for many years, and whoever did the labels and pressing for Columbia/CBS records in the mid 70's did this pressing. I can tell by the fonts used on the label and the weight/pressing style of the record itself. I don't think a fly-by-night company would go to the trouble of having a major record pressing plant press an unauthorized single. Something really smells fishy here.

kala

^^^^^^^^^
that is totally fucked up considering the litany of classic rock bootleg lp's that get sold daily on ebay.
i feel like i got off pretty easy as they didn't send me to reform school,WHAT A BUNCH OF FUCKING HYPOCRITICAL KUNTS

GatorToof

People on the webs be actin'.

Dude is acting like a 'Sir,' checking fools caught up in the vortex. Of you ask me, V*$*, you've taken a step into the dark side. I don't know how to auction, don't have the camera or technical ineptitude. As a result I don't the dramas. The irony is even in this thread. Part of the vortex V*$*. flip to wafferock and start dealing by phone.

IMO,
GT