... if you love Alec R Costandinos or Cerrone, read this ..

[JussiK]

Originally Posted by Graham_Start

Now that Amazon has affiliate sellers, it's basically eBay. Buyer beware.

I know what you mean. Ordered "Dante's Inferno" from Amazon, waited for the cd, paid the Amex bill 3 weeks later, and still have no "Dante's Inferno". Amex is looking into the ripoff.

[ashley]

.. hello Jussik .. I buy loads of stuff from Amazon sellers .. most of them are fine .. occasionally stuff will go mising in the post .. but most sellers will provide a full refund or a replacement .. Amazon take the position the customer is always right & will usually side with you in any dispute .. if the seller becomes unhelpful or refuses to respond to your e-mails, report them to Amazon .. Amazon take a dim view of bad sellers as it infects their good reputation .. Amazon will normally intercede on your behalf & provide a full refund should the seller become difficult ..

[ashley]

.. hello again Graham, DJ Jimmy M & Videoscooter .. with all this talk about bootlegs & counterfeit CDs .. I recently purchased "the best of Walter Murphy" on a Hot Productions CD .. it's from 1996 & looks like a CD-R .. I had always assumed Hot were a bonafide company .. but in another thread Celi Bee is quoted as saying she didn't receive a penny from the CD releases on Hot Productions .. .. there may be good reasons for Celi's response .. maybe she doesn't like giving details of royalty payments to a complete stranger over the phone (would you?) .. maybe she recorded her albums (especially the early ones with the Buzy Bunch) for a single fee, rather than rely on dubious percentage cuts that may never be realised .. maybe the copyright is in the hands of her husband Mr Pepe Luis Soto .. or maybe TK Records hold the copyright .. or maybe the copyright was sold when TK went bust .. maybe Celi sold her interest in the recordings for a one-off sum .. we will probably never know .. there may be many reasons why a recording artist cannot benefit legally from a 30 year old re-issue .. .. but if even the legal CD issues fail to provide any reward for the recording artist, why should we care who benefits from our payments? .. it seems the entire recording industry is full of dubious charecters .. exploitation is rife .. our cash seems to fall into the wrong hands no matter who produces the CDs we purchase .. .. and just 1 more thing ( I promise I will shut up soon ) .. if you are a gangster running a booteg counterfeit CD operation out of Mexico or Russia, why bother making Alec R Costandinos CDs? There can't be much money to be made selling old Love & Kisses recordings .. why not just sell Madonna/Justin Timberlake bootlegs instead? .. they would sell by the millions .. .. besides, how many Russian gangsters can have a passion for rare 70s disco? .. please don't tell me "How much how much I love you" is a big hit in the Kremlin ..

[SandraDee]

[quote=ashley;134181if you are a gangster running a booteg counterfeit CD operation out of Mexico or Russia, why bother making Alec R Costandinos CDs? There can't be much money to be made selling old Love & Kisses recordings .. why not just sell Madonna/Justin Timberlake bootlegs instead? .. they would sell by the millions .. .[/quote]



Good point.

[JussiK]

Originally Posted by SandraDee

Good point.

Well, I've seen what they sell in Russia over the counter in cd stores. They can have are the most baffling things placed right next to the Justin Timberlake stuff like "The Best of Supermax" or "the Best of Chilly", to name just a few. All sorts of 70's disco Best-of's abound. I asked one seller why would they carry something like "the Best of Space" and he replied that "is very good trancemusic, makes your bitches horny". When I told him the very good trancemusic was originally recorded in 1977, thirty one years ago, he said "you bullshit me". I say this Chilly group is all about 70's disco from Germany. He says " you bullshit, is trance from the America". There was nothing I could add as of course the cds had no info like the year of realese.

But like Graham says don't buy the cds and give your money to the mob. Instead, get a stunning quality Melodya label vinyl copy of the first Space album, as well as the Diana Ross lp with "Your Love Is So Good For Me" - the rumble of Bass in that is unlike anything heard on my US pressing, rivaling any 12".
-Ashley, I tried to contact Amazon like 5 times already...only in my case it's Amazon France, and they don't seem to give a toss. First they send you a link which gets you nowhere. Then they say contact the seller not us, is all they say. In very complicated French, of course. I trust Amex will get it sorted out like they said they would, that'll teach them!

[ashley]

.. hello Jussik .. sorry you are having a bad experience with Amazon France .. they should follow the same procedures as every other part of Amazon .. if French isn't your first language, read the disputes page on the US/UK/German sites .. the rules should be the same .. you may need to contact the seller yourself in the initial stage & wait a short period before lodging the dispute with Amazon .. at the very least you should get your money back .. .. Of course, living in Finland, you are just over the border from Russia .. I must say, their record store customer service sounds hilarious .. I rather like the assumption that "the best of Space" compilation will make my bitches horny .. you certainly don't get that sort of comment from the staff at Tower Records .. although your Russian friend's remarks contain some small element of truth .. Space/Giorgio Moroder/Kebekeletrik/John Forde from that '77 period could indeed be considered the very roots of today's trance sound .. .. but more importantly Jussik, while you were record shopping 'round the Russian Federation, did you notice any Alec R Costandinos CDs? (.. would they also be located in the trance section?)

[Graham_Start]

Originally Posted by ashley

.. hello again Graham, DJ Jimmy M & Videoscooter .. with all this talk about bootlegs & counterfeit CDs .. I recently purchased "the best of Walter Murphy" on a Hot Productions CD .. it's from 1996 & looks like a CD-R .. I had always assumed Hot were a bonafide company ..

They were, they just happened to be a very lousy one.

Originally Posted by ashley

but in another thread Celi Bee is quoted as saying she didn't receive a penny from the CD releases on Hot Productions

The music industry is notorious for ripping off artists. In any event, depending on the arrangement made, she may not even be legally entitled to royalties. Since we don't know, there's no point in bringing that up.

Originally Posted by ashley

why should we care who benefits from our payments?

You should always care about where your money is going, and that's not just the case with music.

Originally Posted by ashley

.. if you are a gangster running a booteg counterfeit CD operation out of Mexico or Russia, why bother making Alec R Costandinos CDs? There can't be much money to be made selling old Love & Kisses recordings .. why not just sell Madonna/Justin Timberlake bootlegs instead?.. they would sell by the millions ..

They do and they do, but only within Russia and other countries without effective copyright enforcement. Selling bootlegs of major-name acts in the West would get you busted fast. However, they can only sell these discs for small amounts there, since most Russians have very little money and couldn't afford legit releases anyway.

Originally Posted by ashley

.. besides, how many Russian gangsters can have a passion for rare 70s disco? .. please don't tell me "How much how much I love you" is a big hit in the Kremlin ..

1 CD sold for $20 would give them far more profit than dozens of CDs sold for pennies in the Russian markets.

[Graham_Start]

Originally Posted by JussiK

-Ashley, I tried to contact Amazon like 5 times already...only in my case it's Amazon France, and they don't seem to give a toss. First they send you a link which gets you nowhere. Then they say contact the seller not us, is all they say. In very complicated French, of course. I trust Amex will get it sorted out like they said they would, that'll teach them!

I've learned my lesson with Amazon: while Amazon proper can provide excellent service and prices, don't order if it's not in stock, because they probably won't get it (only had them come through once on that). More importantly, don't bother with affliate sellers. I found one that had a box set of the Cluster re-releases from Japan and claimed it was "in stock", whereas Amazon did not, and since it was a limited edition, they probably wouldn't be getting it in again. Since the seller was in my country, I ordered it. They charged me and I got the notification that it would be shipped in a week. They charged my credit card and I waited, and waited, and waited... and weeks later, I finally asked the seller what was up, only to be told "oh we don't have it in, and we probably can't get it" at which point they refunded me. Okay, at least I got my money back, but they still charged me for something that they didn't actually have.

Another Amazon lesson: shop around Amazon stores! Even factoring in shipping, sometimes I can get something from Amazon.com much faster and cheaper than Amazon.ca (and occasionally vice-versa).

[ashley]

.. thanks again Graham, you are obviously correct ( despite sounding like my dad .. )

[JussiK]

Thanks for the advice Graham, I'll do just that if Amex does not get them before me.
Ashley - unfortunately I did not see any Sir Alec cds across the border. What I did do a couple of years ago in a town called Vyborg right across the border, trust me I'm ashamed to say this...I did give money to the mob, and did buy a cd. This was a compliation with full versions of Chilly's "For Your Love Suite", and Donna's "Love To Love You Baby", packaged to resemble any then-current trance realese. I gave in because the store was so ott Russian, with blinding techno music, hideously bright tube lightning, clerks with mullet hairdos, fake Puma tracksuits and gansta jewelry, the whole place thick with migraine-inducing after shave smell you could almost see. We're not talking about St Petersburg or Moscow, those towns have legal Prada stores. This was Vyborg where people lie drunk in gutters, mothers pimp their 12 yrs old daughters in bars in the afternoon for fat Finnish truck drivers, very Borat. I'm not proud I bought the cd. I still have it but I'll give it away, the sound q is very good, someone contact me and I'll send it over right away...

[SandraDee]

Originally Posted by JussiK

I asked one seller why would they carry something like "the Best of Space" and he replied that "is very good trancemusic, makes your bitches horny". When I told him the very good trancemusic was originally recorded in 1977, thirty one years ago, he said "you bullshit me".

Maybe it's the 'best of Space' CD that I bought thinking it was the original versions but I was annoyed to find they were remade 90s trance versions. (I fail to see how it could make anyone, bitches or otherwise, horny as most of it sounds like a cross between a pneumatic drill & a car alarm!)

[DJ Jimmy M]

Originally Posted by SandraDee

(I fail to see how it could make anyone, bitches or otherwise, horny as most of it sounds like a cross between a pneumatic drill & a car alarm!)

Cause in today's brainwashed and robotic world, this is what "people" concider music and sexy. Sad and pathetic I know..but what can we do other than sit back, watch and laugh at the clowns?

[Graham_Start]

Originally Posted by SandraDee

Maybe it's the 'best of Space' CD that I bought thinking it was the original versions but I was annoyed to find they were remade 90s trance versions. (I fail to see how it could make anyone, bitches or otherwise, horny as most of it sounds like a cross between a pneumatic drill & a car alarm!)

I seem to recall reading that Space was (perhaps still is?) very popular in Russia and a few other former USSR countries. Any truth to that, I wonder?

[ashley]

.. er, hello Graham .. you're not gonna believe this, after all that's been said already .. I've been looking for the double CD "Greatest hits" by Space, which apparently came out in 2007 in a very limited edition digipack .. it contains all the hits in their original versions .. it doesn't sell on US or UK Amazon (which should set alarm bells ringing I suppose, although many limited edition items seem to miss Amazon altogether) .. there is 1 seller on E-Bay selling this item, supposedly from Australia & is requsting payment in Australian dollars .. so I purchased the CD this morning using PayPal & paid in Australian dollars .. only then, after making payment & checking the buyer's feedback, did I notice he lives in the Czech Republic & hasn't received any feedback for 6 years .. so now I'm left wondering whether I'll ever receive the CD at all .. and if so, whether I'm purchasing a counterfeit item .. the seller has about 300 different CD digipack pressings for sale .. and as soon as I made the purchase, this same Space CD immediately went back on sale again .. check the item for yourself:
SPACE Greatest Hits 2007 2CD Digipack on eBay, also, CDs, Music (end time 08-Mar-08 12:54:56 GMT)
.. what do you think? Is it a scam? Or simply a legitimate seller who left eastern europe 6 years ago & very recently began trading in Australia?
.. all 300 CDs appear to be from the same source (all have the same "SM" logo on the cover) .. .. plus the fact he is selling so very many CDs, with no recent feedback from any of his buyers .. what's your expert opinion Graham? .. have I been robbed? I notice PayPal say this purchase isn't covered by their usual protection cover ..

[ashley]

.. by the way, please don't confuse Space the French 70s disco outfit with the 90s British brit-pop band of the same name .. they too have a couple of greatest hits compilations .. also called "Greatest Hits of Space" .. which makes this topic all the more confusing ..