Anne Ozorio <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Why all this emphasis on blaming reviewers?

I only question the reviewers who thought a recording was so so when
first released, and the thought it was "great" when they thought it was
Hatto playing.  To me, it suggests that they are as subject to the snake
oil salesmen as the rest of us.  In this case, the product was good, but
somehow it became "better" with a different label on it, even if the
original label wasn't a generic.

>The Hatto scam was the creation of a number of "personalites" on the
>net.  Fantasists, frauds and posers have always been around, but the net
>gives them opportunities they never had before.  It's a basic fact of
>life which needs to be faced.

Not to disagree with you, but we have had claqueurs in the music "biz"
for a long time.  The only difference now is that they have become more
sophisticated.  We all know that many of the reviews one reads at sites
like Amazon are posted by those who want to increase sales.

>Take for example Ernest A Lumpe. Of course he sounds impressive.  He
>presses all the right buttons - claiming to own 15000 recordings by small
>US labels, somehow accumulated in second hand stors in Germany.  So he
>writes articles in journals about scams - that's impressive too, though
>perhaps less so when you realise they were written when the scam was
>well under way.  But then, notice, despite his "credentials" sniffing
>out fakes, he's one of the first to start promoting Hatto without
>reservation.

A friend of mine traded with him for years and through my friend I
provided Lumpe with records over 20 years ago.  His first article on the
subject appeared in 1990.  When did the Hatto hoax begin?  I have many
tapes which came from Lumpe's collection.  While I don't know if he did
or did not know what was going on, I can at least state that I do know
he was (is) indeed a collector.

>No matter how much one might downplay the role of fake personalities
>on the net, their existence must be acknowledged.  Honest people have
>nothing to fear, in fact, it's they who probably need to be reminded!
>So, focus instead on how the scam began......

I agree that should be a focus, but for me, the question is, what does
it teach us about the music biz, human nature and marketing?

Karl

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