In the world of soul music there are few bigger names in the industry than Sam Moore. Although now in his 70s, the "Soul Man" icon is still going strong. In fact in 2006, he released an album that featured such luminaries of the music world as Sting, Bruce Springsteen, and Jon Bon Jovi playing with him. You cannot command that kind of high powered musical accompaniment without being a powerhouse yourself.
I was delighted when a DVD turned up in my mailbox last week. It was of two concerts given by Sam Moore (I am guessing sometime in the early eighties). My wife is a big fan of Sam’s so we powered up the home theatre system and watched them. Although the sound and audio quality was a little lacking, one cannot be too critical when you are dealing with this kind of archival footage.
I wrote up my review, which was very positive, and published it. I was completely shocked when the following morning I discovered a comment about the review from Sam Moore’s wife (and manager). In the comment she made the claim that this was a bootleg, and that Sam was receiving no royalties whatsoever from it, and that the distribution company had been issued a cease and desist notice. I contacted Joyce Moore and she showed me irrefutable evidence supporting her claim. Not only is the footage bootleg but even the cover art used!
The Moore family kindly consented to give an interview about this case in particular, and piracy within the music industry in general.
To say I was surprised to find your comment, would be to put it mildly! When did you first become aware of this DVD being on the market?
I (Joyce) started to see Google search hits about the release about six weeks ago.
What steps have you taken to stop it being sold?
We have served cease and desist notices on MVD, on their supplier who is based in the UK, and also on Amazon. Amazon have cooperated fully. We have also contacted other websites, the music publishers, and the owner of the cover art photo. We have been pretty busy with this.
Article comments
1 - Glen Boyd
Powerful stuff Simon. When a true icon like Sam Moore becomes a victim of piracy, this is truly a situation where nobody wins. I was honsetly a little moved reading the comments from Sam's wife. And I commend you on a job very well done. Hopefully, this article will do some good.
-Glen
2 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Excellent Article...
Though I think,in my opinion,one thing needs to be cleared up.
Mass production of bootleg material in order to make a profit without permission(Piracy) shouldn't be compared to & isn't the same as file sharing.
3 - El Bicho
If you got any of Mr. Moore's work through file sharing, then it should be compared, since both take money out of the man's pocket.
4 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Sorry to disagree, but you are wrong...
I'm a firm believer that noone could be happy with a finished product that normally is encoded @ 128 kbps. Even 320kbps doesn't cut it if you have a killer system. So, if you're a Sam Moore fan & you don't own a single album or CD then I don't think you truly love his music. Sorry, but most people still want the physical medium in their hands and,respectively, most people don't know how to encode properly. So, you're better off buying the man's work.
File Sharing to me has always been about test driving new material...