Discussion Forums - Questions about SwapaCD

What is this sites policy on cd's put out by local bands?  I buy alot of cd's directly from bands and a lot of the local artists burn their own cd's and put some sort of printed out lable on them.  I know cd-r's are not allowed, but are these local cd's then not technically allowed? 

I think it comes down to whether the title is in the database, mainly.  I've never seen a policy here that addresses the issue directly of how musicians legitimately distribute their own music and how and whether  it impacts trading at SACD.  

I suspect that if pressed, you'd get some kind of answer about commercially-pressed CDs, but no one wants to get down in the weeds over burned CDs, and who did the burning.  I once had a CD that was not in the database, although every other title by the same musician was.  It was one that was produced-on-demand by his "official" website -- kind of a side-project, out of his usual style.   A perfectly "legitimate" CD, though blue on the back and sold through his own site, but since it wasn't in the database, case closed. 

If it had been, then, would I have posted it?  Not sure.  Provided it matched a upc, and I was willing to PM the receiver to double-check I wasn't about to get flamed for a burned CD.... you get the idea.  Kind of a pain to deal with.  I wish we could hear from the Team.

Thanks for the input.  Some of my local cd's have UPC numbers (however none of them are in the system)  I guess I was more so wondering about the bazar--If it would be okay to list them there?  None of them are straight up cd-r's, most have some sort of lable on the cd and artwork done by the band....Hmm...Well if any one else has input, I'd like to hear it!  Thanks for responding IC B

If the band themselves is putting these CDs out there, then they should be perfectly legal to post or to swap in the Bazaar. Of course, you can only post them if you find the EXACT match in our database. CD-R's would not be allowed, but a CD put out by the band and legally sold at their shows would be fine to post on our site. Burned copies are not allowed because when you burn a copy of one of your CDs, that copy is for your own personal use only- not to be sold, swapped, traded, etc. This case sounds much more like promotional CDs, which are swappable- so go ahead and post!

And if they're not in the UPC database, you can post them in the bazaar.

Regards,   Steve :)

ok - now i'm a little confused by the swapacd team member response here.

that comment seems to suggest that cdrs are ok to post  if they are promotional cds released by the record companies?  i understand the recent legal ruling allowing those who obtain promo cds to do what they want with them - common sense in my opinion - but the site policy on cdrs i thought was no - regardless of whether they were personal use burns or if they were record company burns

so what is the case?  sometimes record companies do release promo cds that are burned dics not regular production discs - they are usually blue instead of silver.  these are not personal use discs as they are burned in large quantities at a cheaper cost than a regular pressing to be used as promotional material.

personally i think any record company promo should be allowed regardless of it's manufacturing process but the site rules seem to disallow  the cdr versions regardless of their origin.

i don't think it's a major issue but some clarification on this would be helpful.    patrick   bossajake

You are right Patrick- REVISION:

non CDR promos or non CDR albums released directly by the band/at a concert ARE swappable

ANY CDR = NOT SWAPPABLE

Sorry for the confusion.

yes - i love clarity - thanks

i also like the simplicity of this policy but could probably make a decent arguement as to why to allow cdrs that are used as promotional releases by record companies but i don't think i'll bother  :)  i don't come across them all that often   patrick

I think the problem with this policy will be that many people genuinely cannot recognize a CDR when they see one and will end up posting them without realizing they are doing something wrong. CDRs did have a blue tint to the playing side years ago, but now they are mostly silver. The label side can be a give away but if well done it can be very difficult to tell the difference. And Lightscribe CDs would fool almost anyone not familiar with them. 

not that i want to post them, but what if a band sells live recordings of a show, which you are attending?  These were bought cdrs, not burned by a member.

yes scott, i wasn't going to open that can of worms but in my opinion just because a disc is a cdr does not mean that it is illegitimate, bogus or a bootleg so they should be allowed at least in the bazaar (unless they actually are illegitimate homemade copies).  but for me they are rare enough not to bother putting too much energy into this discussion  :)  patrick

oops - posted it twice

On the other hand, simple rules are overall better.  While there are some valid CDRs, I can very much understand just saying "no CDRs" rather than trying to detail which ones are valid--and how to the tell if the one you bought at a garage sale is postable.