Nintendo hasn't had the best track record when it comes to making music readily available to the masses, with the publisher issuing strikes against multiple YouTube users for using (or even just covering) its music online. This latest piece of news, however, signals more than ever that it to make some huge strides in distributing its various soundtracks far better than it's been doing so far.
As reported by VGC, it's been claimed that bootleg copies of soundtracks from games like Super Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie are being sold online for up to hundreds of dollars to users in the UK and Japan. This comes from a collector of Rare merchandise called CaptainBreegull on Twitter, who bought a copy of the Banjo-Kazooie soundtrack from a user on eBay for $30 to verify its authenticity. Turns out the CD is entirely fake, with key differences in the cover art and CD itself.
As mentioned above, it seems that users in Japan may be buying copies of the counterfeit CDs and reselling them for upwards of hundreds of dollars, but this is currently unverified. What VGC has been able to ascertain, however, is that one user has bought multiple copies of the same CD, signifying an apparent desire to resell. CaptainBreegull stated to VGC that "sellers in Japan do this all the time, they find good deals on video game soundtrack CDs and then sell them for sometimes a 1000% markup."
It definitely suggests the need for Nintendo's music to be more readily available, if only to keep prices on authentic soundtracks down a bit. As for the fake ones... Just don't do it, folks. Keep your eyes peeled and try to verify what you're buying before you head to the checkout!
Have you fallen foul to counterfeit CDs in the past? Let us know with a comment below!
[source videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 18
If anyone wants a free authentic copy of the Banjo-Kazooie soundtrack, you'll find it at the bottom of the Upper Bay in New York City, after a rainstorm swept my Discman away and popped the CD off the side of the Staten Island Ferry.
Is the music bootleg too? Or only the CD's/covers?
@TommyTendo A good question! I would assume the CDs still contain the official music, but who knows. We'll look into it.
@TommyTendo All tracks are authentically & lovingly reproduced on a wurlitzer by a guy who plays the church organ on Sundays in my local parish.
Nintendo, I just don’t understand, just put it up on your YouTube channel, problem solved!
We could've prevented this if they just PUT. THEIR SOUNDTRACKS. ONLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!
@TommyTendo Imagine if you bought a CD of the Pokemon BDSP soundtrack but what you get are the s***** pre-release midi versions. That would leave one hell of a bad taste in my mouth.
Imagine if the songs are also a bootleg.
The cheap cover version played by nobody.
There are many "inconsistencies" in Nintendo's behavior as an entertainment company that can be chalked up to cultural differences and I'm okay with that. What I can't get my head around is their treatment to their own amazing music library.
They don't have to allow people to stream it online on YouTube for free if the problem is money or copyright. Just sell it! For the sake of everything that is good, sell it! Let the people who want to pay to listen to it to do just that. It doesn't get easier to print money than that
reminds me of a year or so ago when i found out some facebook group was printing bootie vinyls of vgm, specifically because of their doshin the giant release ( https://www.discogs.com/release/16673454-Tatsuhiko-Asano-Doshin-The-Giant-OST )--baffled me because i cannot figure out the target audience for a bootleg, but limited press, vinyl in 2021 (let alone people listing it as "rare and valuable")
@Olliemar28 @TommyTendo : As long as they're reproducing the contents of the original disc (which would be easy enough to do), then it's quite likely that they would be otherwise identical in quality (and content).
But if they've merely downloaded some low-quality MP3s and had them burned to audio CDs, then no. But considering that they've gone through the trouble of trying to replicate the original discs (and impressively, pressing them rather than merely burning CD-Rs) leads me to believe that the contents of the discs themselves are legit, but obviously not the product as a whole.
In any case, I would be peeved paying that much money for a bootleg, but the main incentive for buying CDs is to own the songs in a lossless format.
Another reason to the long list of why I don't care about pirating music.
That's been happening for a very long time. I have a bunch of Square soundtracks like Chrono Trigger from Ever Anime which are technically bootlegs as they were not officially licensed, but they're pressed on good quality silver CDs, the booklets and even poster inserts are of comparable quality. The slipcases are usually a step down from the original but most importantly the music itself is identical. I'm all for companies making expensive to import and hard to obtain soundtracks more widely available so long as they do a decent job. Particular with Nintendo - I'd gladly buy more things like the Link's Awakening double soundtrack but they're so stingy with their releases and never repress older stuff, so if you missed out on buying all the DKC soundtracks from Nintendo Power (some of which weren't even complete), too bad.
To be expected what with so much music being removed from Youtube and no other way to listen to them it was just a matter of time before this would happen. I only buy from official sources anyway.
Never realised that Nintendo soundtracks are so desirable.
I got two copies of Super Mario Galaxy soundtrack free from club nintendo (I had to use up my point s before rhey shut up the store for good)
Time to see if they are worth anythin lol
Michael Jackson bought the Beatles catalogue and licensed their songs out to adverts so he could make his own songs appear more special. McCartney says this himself but it's plain as day to me. You don't make your music available everywhere, it steals the magic if it's everywhere, that's why no Nintendo soundtracks streaming on YouTube. I'm sure nobody here will agree with me but look it up, McCartney knows what he's talking about.
Been an ongoing issue in the vinyl scene for a while.
I've not had an encounter with bootleg audio CDs, but I've got a miniCD ROM that wasn't even done by any member of the CD team. It's even got a fake Compact Disc Recordable logo!
Tap here to load 18 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...