Against All Authority fights live release from Liberation

Contributed by joeg. Posted by adam on Saturday, March 6, 2004 at 2:17 PM (EST)

Against All Authority has updated their website with he following statement on a live recording of the band released by Liberation Records. This follows similar complaints by Anti-Flag and The Casualties on similar releases from the label:

Alright. Here's the deal. Liberation Records decided to take it upon themselves to release this extremely bad quality CD and make a profit off of some old live recordings without filling in -AAA- with any of these details. Now the CD track list has 7 songs. In reality there are only 6. How is this possible? They broke up the title of Walking Revolution into two tracks. This is just an example of how little went into this CD. This isn't the first time Liberation records has pulled this crap. They recently had a battle with Anti-Flag over the same bullshit. So in response to the Liberation's latest fiasco, we uploaded each of the 6 tracks as well as the cover art for you to download. Don't give them any of your hard earned money. Don't give into this scam and tell your friends not to do so as well. They pride themselves on supporting the independent music scene yet they don't support the musicians which created that music.

Hopeless Records (53 comments)

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Someone (March 6, 2004)

Aaa rocks! liberation has always sucked!

Jimmy_the_Saint (March 6, 2004)

What's the deal with Liberation Records? How can they claim they have the right to release this stuff, yet it seems every band involved with their live releases takes issue?

Hulka (March 6, 2004)

The live shows they're putting out are rereleases of stuff that was put out on another label (VML?), as 7"s, I think, not widely distributed. (Kind of like the Queers limited-edition live LPs.) Liberation probably bought the rights to them and are putting them out on CD and spreading them around.

Hulka (March 6, 2004)

Sorry, didn't see that this was (more or less) posted already. My bad.

Someone (March 6, 2004)

hasnt anyone heard of a Cease and Desist order, someone has to have a lawyer or know or lawyer or the label to have a lawyer or even a paraleagal this is getting stupid

Someone (March 6, 2004)

Squirtgun did consider legal action and may have pursued it - In the end I think it would have cost them more that it was worth - if all the bands banded together for a class action lawsuit they would have a better chance.

Someone (March 6, 2004)

i know that a few of the bands have done such things and are in the process of pursuing them legally. they probably just dont want to turn it into some kind of public specatcle other than saying "Hey, dont support these releases"

Someone (March 6, 2004)

because if they did.. the kids would start callin all the bands posers and such and say they are in it for the money and blah blah blah

magnificent7 (March 6, 2004)

Typically american to sue someone

Someone (March 6, 2004)

shut up you moron - what should they do let someone steal from them idiot

Someone (March 6, 2004)

thanx punk newz you guyz rok

1234go (March 6, 2004)

I'm thinking that Liberation must have some sort of legal claim to the recordings and that's why no one is suing. What it seems like they're doing is rereleasing CD's of their old shitty 7's that were initially approved of by the bands thinking that since they approved the 7's 5 or 10 years ago they must still be cool with having it out without bothering to ask. I'm not sure if these guys are intentionally fucking bands over or that they just don't have their shit together...or something inbetween

Someone (March 6, 2004)

How come all these live recording that the artists are always so pissed off about all come from the Fireside Bowl? These bands that are pissed off about this should just play a show there, find the fucker from Liberation Records who is recording the show, and let the beatdown begin.

Someone (March 6, 2004)

liberation has the right to release this stuff

CrankWillDestroy (March 6, 2004)

I still think they should find him and beat him.

GREG6711 (March 6, 2004)

Liberation isn't recording the music, they are taking it from something already released, and re-releasing it.

Someone (March 6, 2004)

if i remember right.... a lot of the old VML 7"s were 4 songs or so and generally the band was sent a copy of the set and they picked the songs they wanted on there. so doing that for a 7" 5 or 10 years ago might not seem the same to the band finding the whole (usable) set released on a CD. also these were done a while back when these bands were a lot smaller and who knows what the contracts really say and how clear they were about what happened in the future, or if the bands thought that far in advance. they might have lawyers now but they probably did not back then.

CrankWillDestroy (March 6, 2004)

I still think they should find him and beat him.

Since94 (March 6, 2004)

You are hilarious

CrankWillDestroy (March 7, 2004)

I know.

hitlerbadzakgood (March 6, 2004)

i'd like to hear liberations take on why they think releasing shitty recordings of a bands live show for thier own profit is an ok thing to do.

P-Fresh (March 6, 2004)

I think Avail is the only band who hasn't fought this yet. If memory serves they sell it on their tours as well. Can anyone corroborate this?

Someone (March 6, 2004)

I don' remember if they sell it on tour, but I do own a copy, though it's the old shitty white cover, and the recording isn't THAT bad.

Someone (March 6, 2004)

you might be mistaking this for their "live at the Bottom of the Hill" CD on Lookout?

Someone (March 7, 2004)

If you're talking to me (who made the above comment), I definitely have the VML Liberation one.

Someone (March 6, 2004)

AAA was selling the 4-way split with The Queers, The Smears, and The Meatmen on it a few years ago, and it's the same show as the newer one Liberation just released. I think they're complaining now, because ... well, I don't know.

GregSka (March 6, 2004)

Oh cool, some new AAA to download..

skajester (March 6, 2004)

I've got my copy of the old VMLive recording of the LES Stitches and it fucking rocks...

Someone (March 6, 2004)

i think liberation records is actually just some really well disguised joke. if it is kudos to them for giving me some good laughs at their page, posts, and content. if it isn't this is fucking sad. :O

Someone (September 17, 2005)

Nice blog!

skankin_in_the_pit (March 6, 2004)

AAA is my favorite band, and I never felt this was worth buying. I've seen it sold for like $10-$15 and I kind of had a feeling it was another low quality, non-band approved bullshit scam. I wish I didn't have a shitty computer so I could actually download the songs.

rkl (March 8, 2004)

i used to dl .wav of songs on a 386 w/ an external 9.6 modem :P

Someone (March 6, 2004)

did anti-flag ever post the cd for free? i can't find it on their website

magnificent7 (March 6, 2004)

Maybe they object cos it was a shit show

Someone (March 6, 2004)

H U H ? ! ? ! ? ! ? WHAT THE FUCK!?!?!??!! THEY WERE SELLING THIS THEMSELVES BEFORE FOR $TEN BUCKS$!!

Someone (March 6, 2004)

...And if the Liberation/VML theory is true, I wonder how long it will be before they pull the same shit on bands like Sloppy Seconds. Unless they've already tried... -MATEO "BA" D'CAY

skasucks76 (March 6, 2004)

Suing someone isn't really AAA's style. Although it would be highly ironic of them to issue a "cease and desist" order against Liberation, because that's exactly what the American Automobile Association did to the band because their -AAA- logo looked like the one you see on some peoples cars, but us with brains realize it's just the anarchy logo with two more upper case A's. You can read it on the inside of the CD case of AAA's "Nothing New For Trash Like You".

fAtmAn (March 7, 2004)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4000574170

Someone (March 7, 2004)

but the god damn, about a year ago i saw AAA with antiflag, and AAA was selling this cd at their merchtable.... could someone explain what the hell is going on?

hatefux (March 7, 2004)

Liberation & all the bands mentioned suck so who gives a fuck

notfeelingcreative (March 7, 2004)

AAA and avail don't suck! Buy a q-tip!

Someone (March 7, 2004)

Thank fucking God my band is on a major. At least I know how I'm getting fucked with our contract. Fuck indie labels that disguise themselves as punk rock.

Edgie (March 7, 2004)

Should have posted their 'message' to Liberation. Golden!

Someone (March 7, 2004)

eminem.

Someone (March 7, 2004)

i thought that avail had issued a cease and desist about their cd... I saw it when it was first released but I never saw it after that... I only bought it because i was at the show anyways the quality was shit... i'm pretty sure that it's joey vindictive who does the recording for the VMLive series.... i could be wrong...

Someone (March 8, 2004)

OK... this is ridiculous and I don't feel like going through all of the other posts to see who, if anyone actually realizes this. ***There are no cease and desists becasue Liberation hads the right to release these records. ***All of these CDs were recorded at the Fireside Bowl because they were a part of the VMLive series that VML Records ran for several years, releasing DIY sounding live records for something like 100 bands. ***All of these recordings were sanctioned by the bands before they were released and the bands were given either copies to sell or a percentage of profits (depending on if they were active and touring or not). ***Liberation took over manufacturing and distribution of VML several years ago. They have the right to keep anything in print that VML had the rights to release. ***The only valid complaint that I can see is if the bands are unhappy with the ne

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Dubar (March 10, 2004)

it may just have something to do with the original contracts, but when the anti-flag thing happened, and when I heard AAA talking about this whole thing a couple months ago, both definitely said that they were not getting any money for it... So, no, they are not paying royalties to anyone.

Someone (March 8, 2004)

Liberation records rips off bands and anyone who supports them is ripping off bands as well, besides all these records are just bad live bootlegs...

Someone (March 8, 2004)

Read the post right before this one, Einstein. They are not live bootlegs. They were meant to be recorded when, where and the way that they were and they were meant FOR release...

LushJ (March 9, 2004)

Speaking from experience, Liberation can be hard to get in touch with. It's possible though, and I can attest to actually being paid by the label, unlike a fair amount of other indie labels. That said, I think any written contracts with VML from back in the day probably has some "we own this forever" clause that most bands won't bother to try to break with high class lawyers. I don't think it's in Liberation's interest to stop producing these live releases if the band doesn't want them to put it out. If it was "very easy to have Liberation stop", then these titles would be deleted and the bands wouldn't be complaining. Summary: Liberation has the rights to release this stuff, but probably won't stop manufacturing the titles unless the band can legally force them to. That sucks for the band- time and $ to spend on a decade-old live recording that by definition was based m

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Someone (March 10, 2004)

Actually, bands like Anti-Flag have high priced lawyers that could with a letter and a phone call or two have the releases stopped... IF they were not legitamite. As they ARE legitamite... it gets a little stickier. Like I said... the truth is that the bands KNOW that these relases are on the up and up and completely misrepresent the situation in these "press releases", which are merely fabricated attempts to look like they're "fighting the man".

Someone (June 23, 2006)

imagine a child with a potato heaD

Someone (June 23, 2006)

Ye deres a boi i no his skull is lyk oval patato ish shape loool