This document discusses BitTorrent and bootlegs in the music industry. It begins by defining BitTorrent as a file distribution protocol that allows users to download files from multiple "seeders" simultaneously. The document notes that over 99% of BitTorrent activity infringes on copyright laws. It then discusses bootlegs, which are unauthorized recordings of unreleased music. The document summarizes a research paper that found bootlegs do not typically threaten official music releases because bootlegs are lower quality and more expensive. The document concludes by proposing a business model where artists could officially distribute bootlegs and live recordings via a subscription-based torrent site to incorporate digital sharing into their business.

1. NathanHevenstone
Legal Issue forthe Musician
Spring2013
ProfessorIraAbrams
BitTorrent and Bootlegs: Are they Bad or Good?
1
BitTorrentsandbootlegsare twoof the mostcontroversial aspectsof the debate overcopyright.
A lotof rhetoricgetstossedaroundaboutthese twosubjectsfromall sidesof thisdebate.Shouldthey
be cut out? Banned?Or shouldtheybe incorporated intoanew businessmodel,bringingthe music
industryandcopyrightintothe digital age?Itis a questionworthasking,and,deceptively,one withno
easyanswer.Usingjournal papersandarticles,andmy ownexperience asanex-traderandnow
torrenterof bootlegs(whichare notthe same as piratesandcounterfeits),Ihope toattemptto provide
one perspective of thisquestion,apotential answer,andone possibleideaof how these canbe
incorporatedintoapotential businessmodel.
“Peer-to-Peer(P2P) isthe mostemergingInternet-basedtechnologydeployedinthe last
decade.From2002 to 2007, P2P largelydominatedthe Internettrafficwithashare upto about
60%.”(Varvello, Steiner & Laevens, 2011)
P2P has dominatedtalksaboutcopyrightforaverylong time,now.
Especiallyinthe musicindustry,P2Pisatthe forefrontof debatesoncopyrightlaw.“File-sharingisby
far the dominantP2Papplication,andBitTorrentthe mostpopularP2Pprotocol.The BitTorrentfile-
sharingnetworkcurrentlycountsmillionsof userslocatedworld-wide thatshare hundredsof thousands
of filesonadailybasis.”(Varvello, Steiner & Laevens, 2011)
BitTorrentisat the forefrontof all of it,withBitTorrent
sitesbeingthe mosttargetedformof file-sharingbyISPsandrecord labelsandevengovernments.
BitTorrentisperhapsone of the biggestcontroversiesof the internetthesedays.
But whatis BitTorrent,exactly?Atitsmostbasic,BitTorrentisa file-distribution
protocol.("Beginner's guide,")
It worksbyallowinguserstojoina swarmof hosts,knownas“seeders”.The
downloaderisknownasa “leecher”,butwhilethey’re“leeching”atorrent(the file orsetof filesthey’re
leeching),theyare alsosharingthe partsof the file they’vealreadydownloaded.Once the torrenthas
beenfullydownloaded,if the leecherleavesthe torrentfile intheirclient,theybecome partof the

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swarmof seeders,sharingthe torrentwithotherleecherswhomightwantit.(Hintz)
Manyprivate torrent
sitesenforce a“share ratio”; that is,theyexpectmembersto“share the wealth”byseedingwhatthey
leechanduploadingtothe site anyfiles(music,videos,books,otheraudiofiles,etc) thatare not already
on the site,or,if the torrentis alreadyonthe site,thenhigher-qualityversionsif available.("Share ratio," 2011)
Someone whowantstobecome partof the BitTorrentscene hasto downloadandinstall aBitTorrent
clientontheircomputer.The clientiswhatallowsthemtoconnectto the swarmand downloadthe
files.Peerscommunicate viaaconnectionknownasa“tracker”, whichissomethinglike the HTTP
protocol,however, insteadof forcingcommunicationbetweenwebsites,itdrivescommunication
betweenseedersandleechers of aparticulartorrent.Differentsitesuse differenttrackers,andtrackers
don’tall lookalike,buttheytypicallyfollow the formulaof aregularwebsite address
(http://somewebaddress:portnumber/announce;udp,https,andotherprotocolsare alsoused).(Pelo)
BitTorrentinvitescontroversybecauseitisfilesharing,andaverylarge portionof that
filesharingisnotlegal.Infact,twoseparate statistical studies,one done byPrinceton(Felton, 2010)
andone
done bythe Universityof Ballarat(Cheng, 2010)
,foundthat99% and99.7% (respectively) of BitTorrent
activityinfringesuponcurrentCopyrightlaws.Mosttorrentsitesallow the torrentingof officially
releasedmaterial,withoutanykindof paymenttothe labels,artists,studios,directors,andeveryone
else whoinvestedintothe creation,production,andrelease of the particularwork.Accordingtothe
Princetonstudy,the breakdownof what’storrentedisasfollows:
46% moviesandshows(non-pornographic)
14% gamesandsoftware
14% pornography
10% music
1% booksand guides
1% images
14% couldnotclassify
Statisticsonwhat percentage of musictorrentsare official releasesandwhatpercentage are bootlegs
are notreadilyavailableforanoverall sample,butIwasable to findthe statistics forone private torrent

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tracker,What.CD. Between2007 and 2012, there were 1,392,138 musictorrentsuploadedtothe site.
Of that,15,856 were bootlegs,whichisabout1.139% of all the musicuploadsonthe site.(irredentia, 2012)
Bootleggingisaninterestingcase.It’sdifferentfrompiratinginthatitdoesnot involve official
releases,and,innon-commercialcases,noone anywhere ismaking,orlosing,moneyonthe sharingof
these torrents.Inthe EuropeanJournal of Law and Economics,backin2001, AirezaJayNaghavi and
GüntherG. Schulze submittedapapercalled“Bootlegginginthe MusicIndustry:A Note”.Accordingto
the abstract, the paper’sgoal was to analyze the “bootleggingof music,i.e.the unauthorizedrecording
and distributionof previouslyunreleasedmusic(e.g.alive concert).Inparticular,we investigate
whether,andif so,howthisillegal activitymayhurtbandsandrecord companies.”(Naghavi & Schulze, 2001)
The
term“bootlegging”isnotoriginallyamusical term.Itactuallyhailsbacktoalcohol prohibitioninthe US.
One way people wouldsmuggleillegalalcohol acrossthe countrywasto carry a flaskinthe legof one’s
boot.It evolvedoverthe years,andeventually,inthe contextof musicinthe modernday,itrefersto
“the unauthorizedrecordinganddistributionof previouslyunreleasedmusic.”(Naghavi & Schulze, 2001)
As describedinthe abstract,the pointof the paperwas to determine whateffect,if any,
bootlegshadonthe musicindustry.Todothis,the authors of the paper neededinformationonthe
quality,prices,anddistributionchannelsof the bootlegs.Firsttheygatheredinformationaboutthe
quality.Theyidentifiedliveaudience recordingsashavingthe lowestqualitybecause theygenerallypick
up ambientnoise,specificallythe audience,feedback,andsoon.Bootlegsof studiosessionstendtobe
betterqualitybecause there’snoaudience.FMradiobroadcaststendto be higherqualitybecausethey
are recordingsof professionally-done mixes.Andfinally,soundboardrecordingsof liveshowsare
generallythe highestqualityof all bootlegs,because audience membersplugdirectlyintothe mixing
console,avoidingthe unwantedambientnoise.The authorsultimatelydeterminedthat,withafewrare
soundboardexceptions,bootlegswere generallyof lowerqualitythanofficial releases.

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Theynextgatheredinformationaboutprices,andfoundthatbootlegswere generallymore
overpricedthanofficial releases,meaningfree distributionof bootlegsisgenerallypreferredbytraders.
The authors thenlookedatlawenforcement,notinghow bootlegshadbeenmade equivalenttopirates
and counterfeitswithinthe copyrightlaw,withpenaltiesincludinguptofive yearsinprisonanda
$250,000 fine.
Finally,the paperlookedatthe welfare implicationsof bootlegging,startingwithbands’
attitudestowardsit.The attitudesare varied.Some bandsandartists,like BobDylan,chose todirectly
fightitby releasing“official bootlegs”(like Dylan’s“The BasementTapes”andFrankZappa’s“Beat the
Boots”). The Grateful Dead,Phish,andothersuchbands decidedtosimplyallowtheiraudience to
record theirshows,withthe caveatthatthe recordingswouldnotbe distributedforprofit.The paper
thenlookedatthe role copyrightitself couldplayinthe pricingof commercial bootlegs,andsuggested
that the highpricesof bootlegscouldinpart be caused by the strict punishmentsforbootlegging.And
yes,pricesforbootlegsare high.Forexample;the costof LedZeppelin’s 3-CDsetHow the WestWas
Won iscurrently$21.07 on Amazon.(Amazon.com)
On the otherhand, a 3-CD unofficial commercial bootleg
release of LedZeppelin’sshow onJune 25,1972 at the LA Forum (the firstof twoshowsusedto create
the “How the West wasWon” set) sellsonFisheadsfor$85; and thisis an audience recording,andnota
verygoodone,at that.(Fisheads, 2012)
So the paperaskedthe question“dobootlegscrowdoutor increase legitimatesales?”(Naghavi &
Schulze, 2001)
The researchershadalreadydeterminedthatbootlegsare generallylowerquality.Theyhad
alreadyshownthatthe pricesfor commercial bootlegsare quite high.“The overall pictureisclear:
commerciallybootleggedCDsare considerablymore expensive andhave aworse soundqualitythan
officiallyreleasedCDs.Thiscombinationmakesbootlegscollectors’itemsratherthansubstitutesfor
legitimate CDs.Thisisinstarkcontrast to piratedCDswhichare alwayssubstantiallycheaperthanthe
legitimate CDsbuthave the same quality.”(Naghavi & Schulze, 2001)
In otherwords,no,commercial bootlegs

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don’tcrow out official releasesbecause,whengiventhe option,mostpeoplewill choose the official
release;official releasesare cheaperandnearly always of better/higherquality.
The paper thenproposedthe suggestionthatbootlegscouldactuallybenefitthe bandsand
artiststhrough“positive networkexternalities”.“Those wouldoccurif the numberof recordsof a
certainbandin circulation,bothlegal andillegal,determinehow renownabandis,and therebyreduce
informationcostsandattract newcustomersforlegitimate CDs.”(Naghavi & Schulze, 2001)
The researchersnote
that such networkexternalitieswouldactuallybe quitesmall,because bootlegsare prettymuchonly
collectedby people whoare alreadyhardcore fans.The researchersconcludedthe paperbysuggesting
that the real threat to bandand artistsisin piratesandcounterfeits,andbootlegsonlythreatenaband’s
or artist’srightto decide whatto release andwhatnotto release.
One thingisveryclear inall of this:neithertorrentingnorbootlegsare goingawayanytime
soon.The musicindustryhas triedtoget ridof them, butfailed.Torrentingsiteshave beendescribedas
“hydras”,because once youtake one down,a dozennew onesgo upin itsplace.Thisiswhat happened
whenOinkwastakendown,andwhenDemonoidwastakendown.Commercialbootleggingoperations
are justas hard because theyusuallyspringupincountrieswithnoorunenforcedcopyrightlaws,
makingthemnearimpossibletotake downwithoutinternational copyrightagreements,whichdon’t
seemtobe comingdownthe pipe anytime soon.Sowhatcan be done aboutthem?
I thinkitmay be prudentto finda wayto incorporate bootlegsandtorrenting intoabusiness
model thatcan onlybenefitthe bandorartist.My ideaisthis:fora small monthlyorslightlylarger
yearlyfee,userswouldhave accesstoa torrentsite thatallowsthemtoleechandseedauthorized
bootlegsof a particularbandor artist.A band couldprofessionallyrecordall of theirlive shows,
rehearsals,andstudiosessions,bothaudioandvideo,anduploadthese astorrentstothe site in
numerousdifferent audioandvideo formats.Userscouldthenleechthesefromthe server,andthen
take overas seederstoshare themwithotherfansof the band.As extraincome,the bandcouldsell

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casesfor the music,at, say $5 perdisc,withdiscountsforbox setsof more than,say,4 discs,or just
ordersof casesfor 4 or more discs.The caseswouldinclude verybasicartwork,includingapicture,date,
venue,address,time of show/rehearsal/session,andatrack listing.The bandcouldalsosell liveversions
of theiralbumsinstores,thoughthatwouldmeanplayingeverysinglesongthe bandhaseverreleased
live atleast once.The torrentedfileswouldbe DRMfree,since the fansare payingforthemthroughthe
subscriptionfee,soonce the torrentisdownloaded,the musicbelongstothe leecheroutright.The
qualityof the torrentswould alsohave tobe high,soat least semi-professional.The subscriptionfee
shouldbe lowenoughtobe attractive,buthighenoughto coverthe costs of maintainingthe server,the
costs of the professional recording/mixing,andtomake a profit,while keepinginmindthatsale of the
casesand live versionsof the studioalbums,aswell assome portionof ticketsalesandmerchandise,
couldsupplementthis.Inordertoensure seeding,share rationscouldbe enforced.
But evenif thisideaisn’tused,it wouldbe bettertoincorporate bootlegsandtorrentingthan
try to fightthemoutright,asfightingthemcanonlydrainresourcesandpotentiallyalienate fans,while
incorporatingthemcould,infact,potentiallyincrease profitsandbringinmore fans.Copyrightneedsto
evolve toincorporate the digital age. Thisdigitalage includesamucheasierplatformforsharingofficial
and unofficial releases,andthatdoesn’tseemtobe stoppinganytime soon.Takingthisnew formof
distributionintoaccount,andincorporatingitintoa usable businessmodel,isprobablythe bestwayto
move forwardintothe newdigital age.

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Cheng,J.(2010, July23). Only0.3% of filesonBitTorrentconfirmedtobe legal.Retrievedfrom
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Felton,E.(2010, January29). Censusof filesavailableviaBitTorrent .Retrievedfrom https://freedom-
to-tinker.com/blog/felten/census-files-available-bittorrent/
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