pow wow mik

I bought a record off ebay recently and only did so because I really wanted it ; it stated in the listing that they used the global shipping scam so I worked out how much I wanted to pay for the record, then subtracted 20% from my bid to allow for the extortion duty : a reduction of £60 in this case. So, say the record was worth £300 to me and that ended up being what I paid - all in, the seller actually ended up with - 10% ebay fees, - 4% paypal fees, AND - 20% import extortion, as that's what I reduced my bid by. So the seller is getting about 65% of what I actually pay, around £200 on a £300 record. That's a pretty big chunk, and what are you getting for it? £60 of that is straight out the seller's pocket compared with a few years ago. obviously this is on the assumption that all bidders lower their bid accordingly, and I accept it wont apply to bidding within USA. Are other European countries running this scam? What is it, VAT?

I assume, with standard postage, or standard recorded postage, that there's an insurance value limit anyway isn't there, as on royal mail? So it would only apply to fully insured items, in which case, yes there is no way around it. But I must have been 10 years on ebay buying constantly and never had any item fully insured and lost maybe 1? So from what I can tell, any actual problems with buying and selling old records were created and then solved by the same sort of people, at honest collectors' expense. like anything, the bigger it gets, the more the opportunists, middle-men, scammers and parasites get involved, all milking it for what they can

I know it's another subject, but that's insane isn't it? Their government said it's illegal to understate the value on a parcel....so they comply like mindless sheep. I want to know : if you sell a record for $300 but put $3 on the customs declaration, how the hell would the government ever know!? Talk about control by fear. Bidders adjust for the ridiculous 'customs charges' so the sellers are just giving $ to the governments and dodgy middle-men that otherwise would be in their pockets. Incredible situation. having said that, one seller I took it up with said his insistance on this global shipping crap was due to being ripped off again and again by European buyers pretending they hadn't recieved items. So again, the free-riding scum ruin it for everyone

Yeah well, without getting into the whole debate, the more people who dont tolerate it, and who make a stand against it, the more outcast the bootleg boys might become, and the more informed the supposedly uncaring audience might become about the integrity of the djs and about how the practice is at odds with the very spirit that the frauds are trying to emulate. and if not that, then at least when any dj puts a boot on, pretending its a real record, then hopefully they'll know that someone, somewhere is directing a right at them :-)

There's a bloke blatantly advertising them on Facebook, even put a spambot ad on our page...for about 3 seconds. Steve something from Leicester. Ad implied that he made them. The r&b ones are made by Jessie Birdsall who posts on here as Stompin Sevens. There's so many now that I think it's time to stop pussyfooting around the issue. Make it unacceptable to make them, sell them and especially play them in clubs.

If you're talking about Tom Cat, it did get a US release, on Sotoplay

Master is first label, I assume, but there's not massive price difference as no one seems to care ..god knows why you'd pay yet more for an acetate. maybe £200 for Master, £150 for Maycon?

So if it's not about format, but choice, how would the choice - that is, the programming / sequencing - of the DJs set be improved if the ovo rule was abandoned? you seem to be saying that because djs would be able to take a wider selection but not convinced about that...surely 100-150 tracks are a big enough pool to select 30 from in a set? how would the dj be decided on? on their ability to put a good set together? I'm not saying that that isn't a skill and it's an interesting thought. I'm 100% ovo at the moment, because I've never considered that anything has ever been lost and much gained by that policy - imo, the most knowledgable and dedicated collectors seem to end up as the djs...so far... But with the way the record market has gone, with so many crazily priced big pieces seeming to disappear from view after their sale, I've actually started forseeing a time where so many of the rarest records are in the hands of rich investors and collectors that the active djs can't get hold of them, or cant justify hanging on to them, or playing them on crappy jumping decks...and then it might be in the interest of the clubs and the music to fuck the rule off.

I think the format rule survives on the northern scene because the acquisition of rare / new records has always been considered more important than dj skills, which without the requirements of mixing pretty much amount to sequencing....and when's all said and done, that's not such a huge skill really, and one that you're no more or less likely to have whatever format you play, so the gigs might as well go to people who at least collect proper records. Do you reckon the standard of sequencing would improve without the format snobbery? If so, its time to abandon the rule. I know the scene I play on isnt at that point yet, but I can see how it might get there - when all the real records are in the hands of rich old guys who can't rock a dance

Yes, remember these being around in the 90s - adam leaver had some- but not seen any since and sold mine years ago. Must be stuck in collections

Remember the village callers lp version getting played for a while, did it die a death?

I came back from DJing few weeks ago with two big dirty scratches having appeared on a record; no idea how but pretty depressing

I want you to have it, but I just cant bring myself to part with it, I love my quirky stuff too!

I can't see why anyone would hate either, but agree that hole in your soul is a belter imo

Weird, I stumbled on this the other week - it came up as suggestions when I was listening to her own version - which is brilliant too. sure I heard it bursting out of Lifeline one time as I was in the carpark - respect to that dj whoever it was

I dj out of 20, yes 20!, playing originals...liam, I thought you said they weren't djing with them !? Looks like you dont know your punters mate :-) liam?

around $5000, what's that, about £3000- £3500? About right for the quality & rarity. even if not the current trendy sound, a gem of a record & I love to hear it at pow wow

Bought a collection for the 70s jazz & funk LPs, but part of it was this pile of 100 or so 12"s from the early - mid 80s with, let's just say, a generally camp look about them, but I have no idea what they are exactly - disco, soul, dance, gay scene stuff? I was going to charity shop them but noticed a few artists i recognised like patrice rushen and esther williams so just wanted advice as to whether there is any market for it at all. My knowledge stops around 1978, so dont recognise any of it. Some dire hits in there so not expecting much. If anyone knows their 80s soul / dance, please pm & i'll send a list thanks

I agree with all that by the way; I can see the purpose of old forgotten music being repackaged and remarketed for the modern era - researching and telling the stories, crediting and paying the right people - and think companies like yours, norton and ace do a great job of it

Just started a pow wow club group mate. I'm not on there personally except to admin the page. Join up and post us some gems or have a re-issue debate with us :-) Of course I'm placing one irrational pursuit over another, that's what life is no? I'd place archaeology, for example, in finding and preserving history for our interest, higher than dog turd collecting. The reason being I just think one has more net benefit to humanity. Similarly: collecting of original records preserves something that was never designed to be preserved, but sure deserves to be. re-issue vinyl does nothing really, its a seedy trade off between the image of one type of individual with the bank account of another. No net gain for humanity. we waste a lot of time and resources, as a species, on pointless crap, often to satisfy childish emotional needs. Why not start cutting out the crap? If its pointless and adding nothing, lets do away with it.

Hi mate, hope all cool. While I admire your affection and loyalty to your customers, I just don't have such a sympathetic view of them. None of the 3 categories you identify need to be buying vinyl at all. Many females in those categories? I love music, I collect original records which I dj with. The two have nothing to do with each other. I have about 1000 records and about 10,000 tracks on I tunes, including recordings of what I own on original. I'd like any track that I like on original release - that's the irrational collector in me. But in reality, all I need is the 10,000 tracks on I tunes to listen to. What is absolutely superfluous to either cause is this in-between thing - a non original vinyl issue. As impractical as original vinyl yet no collectable value. So effectively just a space-wasting and expensive mp3. apart from that, I think you're in denial about the fake DJ phenomenon - for a start plenty of people on here have identified them, I know of them, and if they don't exist, who exactly is it that's paying £200 for lookalike boots on ebay, or £100 for mocked up copy of JT Parker? Which of your 3 characters. I do have a prejudice - against bandwagon jumping culture vultures who milk something that others did the hard work creating, and against this phenomenon of everybody wanting to be a DJ. Fair enough if they all sat on ebay hours listening to shite to find newies, dug around in second hand record shops or warehouses, or went without things to afford some rares...but all I hear is 'I can't afford it', or 'I'm not paying that' from people who go on holidays, drive scooters etc etc. Not saying you have to buy expensive records or look hard for interesting things to play. You don't. But if you want to be a DJ, you do. Maybe only 10% of these re-issues go to wannabe DJs, I don't know. If the other 90% of sales had some purpose then maybe it'd be worth it, but none of it has any point. If only 500 sell, even the artist isn't getting anything worthwhile. All your 3 categories of customer: I don't care about them or their weird attachment to vinyl; if they really loved music they'd be on youtube listening to post after post that people give for FREE. But they're not, I see awesome tracks on there with 63 views, while some cat stuck in a pillow case has 63 million. They're just indulging some weird adolescent cool fantasy fetish, not making the music live and thrive at all. I wanted the music to be popular, but with people out dancing, not nerdy bloke DJs! Anyway, always good to revive this eternal debate with you; better than the 5 linear meters of 'Thanks for the Add' and '***** likes this' I've just waded through on Facebook

That post not directed at you Kris, apart from the 'why?' Bit

I why? even at a bar/party gig, where it was just about entertainment, and none of these scene ethics meant anything, I'd still be embarrassed to play a lookalike, cos even if you're not actually pretending to have the original, it looks like you are. if it's about the music, and collectors integrity doesn't come into it - an attitude I can completely understand - then why still try to borrow that bit of cool from the ovo spirit? Why not make it a utility thing and use white labels, with the names written on in marker, like scratch djs used to do? Or better still, cds? You could do a whole night with ten cds. its the half measure I cant get my head round. You either follow a ovo code or you dont, its totally up to you; no one cares or polices it. But do or dont. dont follow it, except when its not convenient...or follow it and then try to get around it! what's that say about you as a person or a dj?

Well, no one is looking like an arse, since as yet, no-one's been outed for doing it. it's absolutely bizarre behaviour though, as it is acknowledging that the ovo rule is a good one while at the same time breaking it. no one enforces it, there is no punishment for breaking it; the rule only exists for the integrity of the individual. so those who cheat are breaking a rule that they, and they alone, have chosen to respect and follow. Its absolutely conflicted behaviour; I think the point people miss is that people would mind much less if these people simply played great tracks off cds or ipods and were honest about it. It's the pretense that offends. you couldn't make it up really but people never fail to do the crappest thing available.

Latimore, with full version of 'straighten it out' ...what better use of a fiver can there be!?