Two jailed over bootleg vinyl records scam
TWO men were yesterday jailed for making and selling 55,000 niche counterfeit vinyl records.
Unlicensed recordings of Northern Soul artists were seized in a swoop by police following an investigation by the British Phonographic Industry.
Counterfeit copies of original recordings included Marvin Gaye’s This Love Starved Heart Of Mine, Bettye Swann’s Kiss My
Love Goodbye, Major Lance’s Investigate and Art Freeman’s Slippin’ Around With You.
The BPI stumbled upon the operation after test purchasing vinyl records sold online, which were found to have defects like misspellings, blurred typefaces, a large quantity with the words “not for sale”, “promotional copy”, and “DJ Copy” written on them.
Others had different artists on alternative sides of the recordings, sharp edges, and covers had their centre punches over parts of track titles.
Robert Pye, 63, of Ipswich, was jailed for ten months and Stephen Russell, 65, of Kidderminster, received eight months behind bars. Alan Godfrey, 61, of Kidderminster, and Christopher Price, 68, of Bridgend, Glamorgan, received suspended sentences for nine and eight months. The four men admitted trade mark charges.
Prosecutor Alex Greenwood told Newport Crown Court that Price and Russell were involved with the “manufacture and sale” of the recordings, while Pye and Godfrey were involved in their “commercial sale between November 2013 and October 2016”.
He added: “All defendants were engaged in the large scale commercial sale of counterfeit goods infringing both trademark and copyright. In many instances identical copies of recordings were found at the addresses.” Analysis of bank accounts in Godfrey’s name showed he made transfers of £101,518 to Pye, and his HSBC account contained PayPal credits of £77,957. Godfrey’s NatWest account had Amazon credits worth £10,905 and PayPal credits worth £152,254.
Judge Richard Williams said: “The accused made a market for what there was no legitimate source.”