What is a bootleg?
A bootleg recording, in the case of U2, is a recording that has not been officially released by Island Records They usually take the format of a “live recording” of a U2 performance. Some prefer to call those recordings that are sold “bootlegs” and do not use that term for recordings that have been made of live material which are traded but not sold. In some countries bootlegs of concerts are legally available for sale. These are often refered to as “live imports.” If you decide to buy bootlegs, you must consider that the artists get no royalties for the sales.
Bootlegs are records that include unreleased live or studio material and are distributed without the permission of an artist or his label/management; i. e. their manufacturing, distribution, advertisement, purchase and even mere possession are violating valid international copyright laws. Along with the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, Bruce Springsteen no doubt is one of the most bootlegged artists ever in rock history: The number of vinyl boots alone pressed between the mid-70s and late 80s comes close to approximately 500 titles, and several hundred more have been issued on compact disc since 1989 (although “professional” CD bootlegging seems to have dwindled down recently due to the availability of CD-R computer drives and stand-alone copy machines). That said, you won’t find any in-depth information on bootlegs on this site (apart from a few exceptions in the Pirate s Treasure page which were included to avoid potential confusion with official
