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Amazon customer reviews of albums not yet released |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: West London
Posts: 24,324
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Amazon customer reviews of albums not yet released
Can't help wondering how Amazon customers get to review albums that aren't available yet. And why Amazon publish the reviews. For example, the new Belle & Sebastian album The Life Pursuit is released on 6th February, but the reviews on Amazon date from 9th January. Of course they will have sent out review copies, but probably not to "A Music Fan" from Glasgow who wrote "Three cheers for the flaired superheroes!" whilst pretending to be an Amazon customer.
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#2 |
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: England
Posts: 2,482
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I remember GTA: San Andreas on the Playstation 2 had about 300 reviews before it even came out on Amazon.com.
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#3 |
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: London
Posts: 2,025
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You'd think they'd put a limit on posting reviews until the products were released. It can't be that hard to do.
I guess it all helps to hype/sell the product even if it's a dodgy review. I sincerely doubt that many posters get their 'advance' copies of LPs (if indeed they have them) through legal means. It's like that old chestnut 'I saw the entire series of TV Show X while on holiday in the US'. What an active holiday that must have been! |
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#4 |
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Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Manchester
Posts: 8,825
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Amy Winehouse's label put out fake tracks (3 minutes of a 20 second loop) on the internet before the album came out like a lot of labels do.
People then had the cheek to review the CD with the comments "its just the same words over and over again" The obviously were using Kazza downloads and HADNT bothered to buy the album. Tramps. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Bendy bit of DT's left arm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inkblot
Can't help wondering how Amazon customers get to review albums that aren't available yet. And why Amazon publish the reviews. For example, the new Belle & Sebastian album The Life Pursuit is released on 6th February, but the reviews on Amazon date from 9th January. Of course they will have sent out review copies, but probably not to "A Music Fan" from Glasgow who wrote "Three cheers for the flaired superheroes!" whilst pretending to be an Amazon customer.
Strictly speaking people who get review copies aren't supposed to sell them but it happens in legit shops and the record companies don't seem to do anything about it. I guess they figure if there are copies out there, word of mouth will increase sales when the album is officially released. |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: London
Posts: 2,025
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Quote:
Originally Posted by loosefur
You can pick up review copies on ebay and in independant record shops of any new release you care for. It's not at all uncommon, in fact I've got quite a few myself. If it's something I really can't wait another couple of months for I will get hold of a review copy.
Strictly speaking people who get review copies aren't supposed to sell them but it happens in legit shops and the record companies don't seem to do anything about it. I guess they figure if there are copies out there, word of mouth will increase sales when the album is officially released. The problem with review copies is that it only takes one person (perhaps someone who got it second hand) to rip it and put it on the net which is why some are encrypted. Some CDs also have had a watermarked idenfication encoded in them to make it easy to identify ripped files or have been numbered to make them easy to track when they pop up in the record exchange but it's still hard for record companies to protect their interests while also trying to promote the LP. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Leicester
Posts: 2,578
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MaxCherry
Amy Winehouse's label put out fake tracks (3 minutes of a 20 second loop) on the internet before the album came out like a lot of labels do.
People then had the cheek to review the CD with the comments "its just the same words over and over again" |
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: West London
Posts: 24,324
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luvsnail
People had the cheek?? The record label released that crap, so they deserve what's coming to them. Personally, I think there should be a law against poisoning peer-to-peer networks in this manner, since it inhibits the free flow of information and undermines the notion of free speech that the Internet is supposed to facilitate.
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lost in a forest.
Posts: 9,648
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Some albums appear on the russian MP3 sites before they are released in the uk.
Others are often leaked via P2p. |
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#10 |
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Join Date: May 2003
Location: Buckinghamshire
Posts: 2,516
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A large number of reviews before release are also from fans who haven't even heard the album in the first place, and just want to tell everyone how great their favourite band is.
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#11 |
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Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Lincoln
Posts: 1,621
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Has anyone ever considered it may be employees of record companies, promoters, ect. or Amazon themselves writing the reviews as "customers" to hype products? Personally I think Amazon shouldn't allow you to write a review unless you have purchased a copy from them, to ensure that the reviewer has actually listened to it.
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