Introducing your first douchebag bootlegger: Leonel Perez of Perfect Prog Magazine

[Metalmilitia2000]

And at the risk of sounding extremely politically incorrect, I give this post a loud AMEN. Never will forget Earl Root talking about Aesma Daeva playing Mexico, and the signing afterward. He said something like one in two discs he signed were a bootleg/burn/whatever, and that - of course - they actually had the stones to put that in front of the band to sign. (to me, the ultimate insult) And it doesn't stop there. I've seen plenty of bootleg band patches and t-shirts worn by these guys. In fact, they taunt me for charging what I charge for shirts etc., shirts I pay full licensing fees for every time. Shirts they expect me to charge them $10 for. I'm not talking about the entire Latin American population, so don't start in on me being prejudice. The jerkoffs of that group simply don't think they have to follow the rules... that bootlegging is no problem - that getting the item dirt cheap is just fine. That's pure bullshit... thievery... whatever you want to call it. If a person doesn't support the artist by purchasing the legit CD, shirt, DVD etc., they are complete assholes.

/sigh
I miss Earl. And yea, my buddy is from Mexico and he said that this kind of stuff happens all the time down there. Shirts, cds, vinyl, tapes, anything you can think of, all copied or done from their own design without paying the proper fees for them. It sucks.

 

[JenniferLynn]

I'll be the pissed off long hair who is about to become the official distributor of my foot in your ass.
Brent

Best quote EVER!!!

 

[Bear]

I did bust you with your camera Leonel, and your battery was conveniently dead. You were caught red-handed, and you still went home and posted the vidoes that you got away with.

I want you to just man up that I did bust you with the camera, and that you were taking video. Then straight up lied to me and went on tp post what you had taken on youtube anyway. AFTER you told me you deleted it all. Tell me I'm lying.... Because I do have a witness to this.

You are a con-artist, and a thief, plain and simple. I know the full story with Lance, and you are completely twisting everything. Lies and Deceit as John said. Don't play the victim, Man up dude. Just apologize!!!!!! C'Mon!!!!!!!

Shane

Dude , try some Espanol maybe? Apparently English doesn't work well with him. I met this cat at BARfest, can only imagine what stuff he has from that show?

 

[SkiBumMSP]

Get a fresh bucket bitch, because I ain't done!

Might as well order a pizza while you are at it because I ain't done either.

BTW, that Witchking CD I bought off of you at the Nightmare Table (the very last copy no less) is friggan BAD-ASS!!!

 

[Beholder]

Dude , try some Espanol maybe? Apparently English doesn't work well with him. I met this cat at BARfest, can only imagine what stuff he has from that show?

I know some Chilean lingo Espanol And bad stuff at that. But I'm done with this imbecile. Not gonna waste my breath.

 

[freakchylde]

All I can say, is I have friends.....if this ever happens again.....and lots of aggression.

 

[nomisofsiman]

HE'S A WIIIIIIIIIIIITCH.
As far as the Redemption CD goes, it totally sucks that he's selling it. However, I don't recall if I was told at the show "Hey, this is really special, if you plan on selling it on ebay -- wait for the release date". So in all fairness to this jackass, he might not have known the situation for the CD. I only knew because of the forum.

I'm totally down with this guy's lynching, but feel that some of this stuff should be pointed out.

Actually Glenn and the distributor before the fest laid it out pretty clearly that he would expose whoever did it and would strip them of their gold badge if they were one. With that being said though, not everyone is on the site and may not have known. Maybe for in the future, there should be a sign or something for pre date releases saying at the table saying you can't sell them before street date. Regardless though, the guy knew what he was doing and knew it was wrong. Therefore, he should be punished.

 

[nomisofsiman]

I don't think so. When I took a picture, I just look though the viewfinder and shoot. That should'n take me more than 1 minute if I have all my settings (manual or auto) ready. To take a video you have to hold your camera steady pointing to the band for quite a long time. I tried once for a local band for which I was roadie and was so complicated that I ended with a minute of video, ultra-shitty sound and my arms tired....never again!

This is exactly why I don't understand the bootleg phenomenon. Most of the time the sound and picture quality is shitty. So, I don't understand who has interest and actually enjoys these bootlegs. And why these bootleggers think they're doing something so great is beyond me. Fuck bootleggers! All they're doing is downgrading the fest and essentially giving the middle finger to Glenn and everyone else. And my question is, what the hell has Glenn and the rest of the staff done to you for you to disrespect him/them like that? grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

 

[VenomGA]

Regarding the present thread i have to say this:

-All videos posted on youtube about progpowerusa X are removed, if glenn contact me with a polite decent email and ask me nicelly to remove the videos i would remove them inmediatly, but instead he insulted and threatened me, but even with that email i decided to remove them myself, no problem, they were just a few little short vids anyway, i do this because i love progressive metal music and i want to help spread the word about it and give the bands the exposure they deserve, i made no profit at all for this, to the contrary, i have to pay for server expenses, design, updates and everything and i do it just to promote progmetal to the fans, if progpowerusa dont want that, thats ok, i will not post the videos just tell me and thats all, i had no problem with that. BTW i only upload vids from the showcase because there was not restriction about cameras that day, the days of the festival friday and sat i didnt even brought the camara to the venue, i took pics with the musicians and friends only with my cel.

-About the redemption cd i brought at the venue and i didnt knew it was not for sale yet! sorry for that, i removed the cd from the product list!, btw i was selling it with no profit at all (just like all cds on the store), just to help the band because here in mexico its almost imposible to buy progresive metal albums!!, anyway i removed that also, sorry for that nick! (btw nice seeing you and i hope everything goes well, you will beat this i know!)

-And about the oficcial distribution of Nightmare records in mexico let me tell you we had the full permision of Lance King to do this, he even authorize the banners, the text and all the website has about this, i dont know why lance says that this is "news from him!", thats not true, i know him for years and im a regular costumer of his site and he give me good prices for the reselling/distro in mexico, i even have ALL THE EMAILS he sent me authorizing this distribution, and he even had (in his old NMR website) a banner from perfectprog, i wrote lance and ask him to clarify this issue, i hope he does the right thing.

-Im friend of most of the musicians and no one never ask me to remove a video, contrary to that everyone thanked me for the support, i give away thirts, canvas, stickers, etc, all sort of publicity for free to the bands and promoters, i even invite several bands to play in mexico like Hourglass and others, and we make several concerts here always with a lot of loose of money of my wallet! because here its very hard to people to understand this kind of music, i want to end that, im a musician myself and we need help to promote our music, progressive metal its the most beautiful kind of music, a few videos wont hurt any band!

Im sorry if the videos hurt some feelings to the musicians of anyone, i just wanted to promote the music, this kind of music need more exposure thats all i can say, if you dont want me in the festival no more thats ok, no problem but dont do such a big thing about this.

Leonel

Seriously??? This is how you are going to play this??
You fucked up, you lied, you cheated, you got busted...you continue to lie to everyone here, especially to Glenn and Shane. What a loser!! You have ZERO Credibility!!:Smug: Might be best for you to apologize SINCERELY this time then shut the F@#$ up and slither back into that whole of yours in the ground for good.

 

[halcyonwayband@aol.com]

I'll be the pissed off long hair who is about to become the official distributor of my foot in your ass.Brent

LMAO

Brent, after you do that, I'll tell him the clown joke. haha

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

LMAO

Brent, after you do that, I'll tell him the clown joke. haha

Fuck you clown, hahahaha

 

[TribunalRecords]

Glenn. i have a quick question.

is it the bands who request that the videos do not get posted/recorded? i am in NO WAY defending what this guy has done especially since bootlegging isn't cool, but if the quality isn't so good (i haven't seen the videos because i was there and don't want to give him any of my personal time, actually) does it really hurt?

i have personally found video our my band's live performances on youtube, etc and have found it's a nice way for promoting to new fans. people find the videos and see us when they may have never heard of us before.

again, i re-state i am not supporting what he has done, but rather saying can low-fi video postings hurt the promotion of the fest/bands for the future. now, if he is profiting from it somehow that is completely wrong and dishonest.

if it's the labels and bands saying "no way" then i understand completely, but if having low-fi video circulating and promoting it can sometimes be a good thing. especially since most of us own the full live DVDs of the fest and most people checking out these videos online probably have all the professionally released DVDs these bands have done. but there are some of my friends i try to explain how awesome the fest really is, but they just don't get it and the DVDs always help!

again, please don't read as i am supporting him as i am not. i have a record label and this is always a touchy subject i know.

 

[Sumeet]

I think this is getting a bit ridiculous at this point. The guy may be a douche and he may still be trying to rationalize his actions to himself, but he claims to understand he fucked up and claims he will not show up at ProgPower again. It's been well documented and explained that because some bands object to bootleg recordings, Glenn has to set policies that seek to limit bootlegging, and that it's the attendee's responsibility to know and respect those policies. This has been reiterated quite extensively at this point. I don't see what more is going to be gained by this ongoing online verbal beatdown.

 

[Metalmilitia2000]

I think this is getting a bit ridiculous at this point. The guy may be a douche and he may still be trying to rationalize his actions to himself, but he claims to understand he fucked up and claims he will not show up at ProgPower again. It's been well documented and explained that because some bands object to bootleg recordings, Glenn has to set policies that seek to limit bootlegging, and that it's the attendee's responsibility to know and respect those policies. This has been reiterated quite extensively at this point. I don't see what more is going to be gained by this ongoing online verbal beatdown.

My excuse would be that belittling this guy to this point makes my e-cock rock hard... but that's just me...

 

[BloodRocket]

I'd love to see the bills YouTube sends him for hosting that video content.

Oh, right.

 

[Nightmare1z]

Agreed with the above - I think the point has been made (over and over) in this thread and I don't see what's to really gain by leaving this thread going.

It's just making the PP forum look like a bunch of e-bully's, and really - implying violence against him in some of these posts by the tone and choice of words???

 

[AMBR]

I don't see what more is going to be gained by this ongoing online verbal beatdown.

No, actually there is a point. A few people ranting has some impact. The accumulative weight of many people showing the larger accumulation of negative responses might make the point stronger. Yea, ok, you had good intentions, you're from an area that isn't real big on following rules. Does it work here? No. A lot of responses might make that more validated.

 

[sh0kr0k]

Agreed with the above - I think the point has been made (over and over) in this thread and I don't see what's to really gain by leaving this thread going.

It's just making the PP forum look like a bunch of e-bully's, and really - implying violence against him in some of these posts by the tone and choice of words???

For years now, I've spent thousands of dollars and traveled as far to attend this festival. I've literally quit a job because they wouldn't give me the time off. After all the sacrifice and determination to make it year after year, I still obey the rules. Rules that weren't there in the beginning, but because of guys like this, are now strictly enforced. A lot of us make huge sacrifices of many kinds because we want to enjoy the show, but we can't even have a camera because a few losers ruined it for the rest of us. Yeah it's nice to not have the stage obscured by a sea of cellphones and cameras held up in the air, but it would be nice to still have a nice camera with me for something that has been a huge part of my life for almost a decade now. Oh, right, I can have a film camera :Smug:

So, yeah, a lot of us are really upset and have had a bone to pick with bootleggers for years, and this is our first chance to vent some of that frustration. That's why there are 6 pages of people chewing into him and why it hasn't been closed. It doesn't matter if the point has been made 50 posts ago, each of us has our own disappointment and frustration to let out. Soon the thread will be closed and that will be that. Just let us pick at the carcass for a little, would ya?

I'm going to leave this thread and your account active for now. I think everyone has the right to tell you how they feel and for you to see it ...

 

[Nightmare1z]

That's fine, I just think its gone a little too far when the implications go from just verbal insults to tones and messages of physical reprecussions

 

[SkiBumMSP]

For years now, I've spent thousands of dollars and traveled as far to attend this festival. I've literally quit a job because they wouldn't give me the time off. After all the sacrifice and determination to make it year after year, I still obey the rules. Rules that weren't there in the beginning, but because of guys like this, are now strictly enforced. A lot of us make huge sacrifices of many kinds because we want to enjoy the show, but we can't even have a camera because a few losers ruined it for the rest of us. Yeah it's nice to not have the stage obscured by a sea of cellphones and cameras held up in the air, but it would be nice to still have a nice camera with me for something that has been a huge part of my life for almost a decade now. Oh, right, I can have a film camera :Smug:

Exactly! Along these same lines, I've dropped some serious coin for this last PP to sponsor a band which also gave me the privilege to bring in a digital camera to take pictures (but NOT video!). I am prepared to drop even more coin for the next PP to sponsor another band. Now, why should I have to spend all that money not to mention the time and effort for me to go to this, only to have some shithead decide to take it upon himself to go and shoot video anyway? (Oh, but it is to promote the bands!). I'll admit that it is a noble effort to try to promote the bands, but do it within the rules set forth. It sucks that people like this ruins it to the point that people like 'sh0kr0k' can't bring digitals in to take a few snapshots around the show. I just hope some jackass does not sponsor a band only to turn around and video the show, thus ruining it for VIPs as well (thankfully, it has been cool so far on that front). I would be thoroughly pissed at that point if that happened, as that is one of the few very nice bennies of being a sponsor!

Also, along these lines, when I saw Pagan's Mind at Jaxx last Tuesday, there was some chick in there that was VIDEOING THE ENTIRE SHOW!!! She was doing it on one of those cheap digitcams, so I highly doubt she had permission from the band. However, the policy at Jaxx has always been that they really don't care, as long as the band itself does not say anything. Even there, I try to at least respect the band and only take still photos, unless explicitly told not to (it happens on the rare occasion).

So yeah, regardless of the quality of the video, the dude broke the rules, and then tried to lie about it when caught! It is exactly this reason why there is now a "no digitals" policy in place, thus ruining it for everybody else!