It Was Free ’Cuz I Stole It

Virtual Release: If legendary collector of 78-rpm records Joe Bussard could plug an iBook directly into his Victrola, he'd be making these. This is ghostly stuff sourced from unreleased sessions, radio broadcasts or repo'd master tapes — all time-honored bootleg chow, sure, but virtual releases go straight from the source to the file shares, skipping physical media entirely. For instance: New Jersey radio station WFMU recently popularized a Faust album that never made it past a few Virgin Records promo tapes until someone ripped it to MP3. Companion to this are homemade virtual compilations — a stack of uncomped funk 45s, say — issued direct from the collector's originals to the file shares with some kind of search-bait name, such as "MY HOT FUNK 45s." These albums are aimed at audiences so microscopic, there's almost no profit in pressing up hard copies — as such, they're usually pretty great.