The Bootleg Police and........

 

 

Earlier this month (November 2008) it was reported that Ernst Jorgensen had sent a message to a number of FTD suppliers indicating:

"FTD does not police your activities but others do. We will however support SONY’s battle to stop illegal product, and we need your support. You may want to consider whether it’s really necessary to fill your magazines with reviews of illegal records, both encouraging fans to purchase them, and drawing attention to your own business. Reviews of such records will lead to speculation as to whether you sell this type of product or not. The professional people who investigate bootlegging are not naive! Unfortunately we have already been asked to stop delivery to one fan club, several others are being investigated, and a few were VERY lucky in the last 12 months not to get caught."

 

EIN Comments on the message sent by Ernst Jorgensen.....is it time to rethink the FTD business model?

 

While your feedback on this issue is mixed, a common theme is dissatisfaction with the job Ernst is currently doing with FTD.

It is EIN's view that Ernst has established what is a remarkable and will be an indelible legacy in the Elvis world. His contribution far exceeds the impact of people like Felton Jarvis and Joan Deary, both of whom made not inconsiderable contributions.

One of the problems facing FTD with its current strategic plan and business model is that increasing the amount of product in an environment of restricted (even diminishing) financial, creative and time availability, means that quality is likely to suffer. This is basic marketing and management theory.

A related issue is that EIN would not be surprised that after enjoying initial success on lifting the number of quarterly releases from 1 to 3, the resulting increase in quarterly profits may have instilled an expectation in Sony BMG management that such a profit level was sustainable. As demand has fallen and so have profits, FTD is likely under more pressure to achieve desired results.

The reality of these factors is that FTD has become somewhat "flabby" in the past few years. Sure, there are still outstanding releases, but as many fans have noted on the various message boards (and below), poor editing and a decrease in the number of previously unreleased tracks are both indicators of a decline in overall quality.

Having said this, Elvis fans are incredibly lucky in having FTD and the related work of Ernst, Roger Semon, Kevan Budd, Vic Anesini etc. We should be eternally grateful for this!

Few other artists have their own Collector's Label. EIN is informed there are similar labels for Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. Certainly, in recent years, Bob Dylan has taken to officially releasing his "bootleg" series and "Parrothead" Jimmy Buffett, has been releasing digipack soundboards of his live shows for many years on his own record label, Mailboat Records.

In Buffett's case, the soundboard releases are often double album issues and in a number of cases they have also come with an added live show DVD. It must be noted the Buffett releases have a price below what we pay for FTD releases but have the added benefit of being commercially available.

The issue of bootleg (import) releases has always been an incendiary one with the "bootleg police" surfacing every few years to frighten the bejesus out of producers and sellers. While its tactics often force the bootleggers underground, history shows this is only a temporal thing and implicitly this means any rise in profitability is likely to be a short term one.

We should remember that of all the bootlegs released each year only a handful are of high quality or of particular interest. Also, average pressing numbers are only 500 and most titles do not sell out!

There is a strong argument that those who buy bootlegs are the very same people motivated to buy FTD releases.....they are the "collectors".

Yes, there are likely to be some "lost" sales and if those are having a major impact on FTD's survival, the label is indeed on shaky ground.

Perhaps it is time for FTD to rethink its business model and offer its releases online via a dedicated FTD website and/or increased listings on sites such as Amazon and B&N. The increased sales by broadening access to FTDs could prove to be a master stroke!

 

Source : EIN

 

I’ll be honest that due to the increase in FTDs being released each time, I am simply behind in my collection because I cannot afford to buy 3 at a time. I have to pick and choose and will catch up at a later stage. That said, I do like the FTD releases and am glad that we have someone like Ernst and his team there to provide them for us. One thing I like about them is that they are easily accessible from places like Essential Elvis who offer a great service. I, personally, don’t own a great number of bootlegs, simply because I don’t always know where to get them from, and whilst I know some bootleggers provide some great releases, I’m sure that there are a lot that do not. Personally, I’ve always found that the FTD releases are of a good quality and I shall stick with them for as long as we’re lucky enough to have future releases. Unfortunately, I guess the pot will run dry one day. After all, it has been over 30 years since we lost our man. :)

 

The Bootleg Police and........

Earlier this month (November 2008) it was reported that Ernst Jorgensen had sent a message to a number of FTD suppliers indicating:

"FTD does not police your activities but others do. We will however support SONY’s battle to stop illegal product, and we need your support. You may want to consider whether it’s really necessary to fill your magazines with reviews of illegal records, both encouraging fans to purchase them, and drawing attention to your own business. Reviews of such records will lead to speculation as to whether you sell this type of product or not. The professional people who investigate bootlegging are not naive! Unfortunately we have already been asked to stop delivery to one fan club, several others are being investigated, and a few were VERY lucky in the last 12 months not to get caught."

 

EIN Comments on the message sent by Ernst Jorgensen.....is it time to rethink the FTD business model?

 

While your feedback on this issue is mixed, a common theme is dissatisfaction with the job Ernst is currently doing with FTD.

It is EIN's view that Ernst has established what is a remarkable and will be an indelible legacy in the Elvis world. His contribution far exceeds the impact of people like Felton Jarvis and Joan Deary, both of whom made not inconsiderable contributions.

One of the problems facing FTD with its current strategic plan and business model is that increasing the amount of product in an environment of restricted (even diminishing) financial, creative and time availability, means that quality is likely to suffer. This is basic marketing and management theory.

A related issue is that EIN would not be surprised that after enjoying initial success on lifting the number of quarterly releases from 1 to 3, the resulting increase in quarterly profits may have instilled an expectation in Sony BMG management that such a profit level was sustainable. As demand has fallen and so have profits, FTD is likely under more pressure to achieve desired results.

The reality of these factors is that FTD has become somewhat "flabby" in the past few years. Sure, there are still outstanding releases, but as many fans have noted on the various message boards (and below), poor editing and a decrease in the number of previously unreleased tracks are both indicators of a decline in overall quality.

Having said this, Elvis fans are incredibly lucky in having FTD and the related work of Ernst, Roger Semon, Kevan Budd, Vic Anesini etc. We should be eternally grateful for this!

Few other artists have their own Collector's Label. EIN is informed there are similar labels for Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. Certainly, in recent years, Bob Dylan has taken to officially releasing his "bootleg" series and "Parrothead" Jimmy Buffett, has been releasing digipack soundboards of his live shows for many years on his own record label, Mailboat Records.

In Buffett's case, the soundboard releases are often double album issues and in a number of cases they have also come with an added live show DVD. It must be noted the Buffett releases have a price below what we pay for FTD releases but have the added benefit of being commercially available.

The issue of bootleg (import) releases has always been an incendiary one with the "bootleg police" surfacing every few years to frighten the bejesus out of producers and sellers. While its tactics often force the bootleggers underground, history shows this is only a temporal thing and implicitly this means any rise in profitability is likely to be a short term one.

We should remember that of all the bootlegs released each year only a handful are of high quality or of particular interest. Also, average pressing numbers are only 500 and most titles do not sell out!

There is a strong argument that those who buy bootlegs are the very same people motivated to buy FTD releases.....they are the "collectors".

Yes, there are likely to be some "lost" sales and if those are having a major impact on FTD's survival, the label is indeed on shaky ground.

Perhaps it is time for FTD to rethink its business model and offer its releases online via a dedicated FTD website and/or increased listings on sites such as Amazon and B&N. The increased sales by broadening access to FTDs could prove to be a master stroke!

 

Source : EIN

 

I’ll be honest that due to the increase in FTDs being released each time, I am simply behind in my collection because I cannot afford to buy 3 at a time. I have to pick and choose and will catch up at a later stage. That said, I do like the FTD releases and am glad that we have someone like Ernst and his team there to provide them for us. One thing I like about them is that they are easily accessible from places like Essential Elvis who offer a great service. I, personally, don’t own a great number of bootlegs, simply because I don’t always know where to get them from, and whilst I know some bootleggers provide some great releases, I’m sure that there are a lot that do not. Personally, I’ve always found that the FTD releases are of a good quality and I shall stick with them for as long as we’re lucky enough to have future releases. Unfortunately, I guess the pot will run dry one day. After all, it has been over 30 years since we lost our man. :)

 

 

Essential Elvis is where we get ours from. We are behind in ours too, but we will get there in the end. :cheer: