Today at work, while browsing the music news on Pitchfork, I stumbled across an article from last September about Bob Dylan's famous 1969 album, Great White Wonder. I say famous, but the truth is I've never heard of it before, and it might've as well stayed hidden for anyone who isn't a die-hard Dylan enthusiast or who's knowlege of the folk singer's discography starts and ends with his biggest classics. (I may be just guessing.)
The reason why Great White Wonder is famous and significant, beside being a Dylan album, is that, at the peak of the vinyl era, it represented the beginning of the piracy phenomenon in the music bussiness. In today's words, it was one of the first leaks ever.
"While history records Great White Wonder as rock's first widely circulated bootleg, underground releases of its ilk are like the cool uncle of the digital leak."
The article starts with the emergence and history of the bootleg, which then waited six more years to be released in the usual manner, and at the end turns into a contemplation about piracy, its origin and present state. If you're interested, I highly recommend reading the whole thing, it won't take you more than half an hour. It is really an engaging piece of journalism.
In related news, the amount of piracy in Norway has fallen significantly. Perhaps there is a way after all. If only Amazon, Spotify and others would remove their country restrictions for Czech Republic. Something like Netflix would come in handy too. Whining and filing nonsensical lawsuits isn't the answer.
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In related news, the amount of piracy in Norway has fallen significantly. Perhaps there is a way after all. If only Amazon, Spotify and others would remove their country restrictions for Czech Republic. Something like Netflix would come in handy too. Whining and filing nonsensical lawsuits isn't the answer.
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