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I went shopping for some vinyl recently at Cheapo Records in Minneapolis, MN. One of the treasures I found was a self-titled release from 1976 by a UK band called City Boy. It was produced by a young Robert John Lange (now known as Mutt). Anyway, part of the joy is sitting down at home and seeing what sort of inserts are in the album. Well this one had a fun surprise inside. Printed on one side of the dust sleeve was a large article call Buyers Bulletin, Tape Piracy… Everyone’s Problem. Click the image to the left to see a large image which you can read.

How ironic that 36 years later nothing has changed except the format. In 1976 the worry was taping would destroy the industry. Most people equate the piracy problem with taping to the cassette, but this article goes back one format earlier and points out that 8 track tape piracy is a problem. The article evens provides a graphic on how to spot a pirated 8 track tape from one that is authorized (see below).

I got a laugh out of the paragraph entitled, What Should You Do If You Spot a Pirate. They suggest you contact your local police and describe to them exactly what you observed. This part I chuckled at… they said in most cities it is the Bunko-Forgery Division that handles piracy. Bunco… makes me picture Sgt. Joe Friday and Dragnet.

Bunco Squad – The bunco squad is those policemen who investigate confidence swindles. In use from the 40’s through the 60’s. Not usual among law enforcement today. The original “bunco” was a dishonest gambling game. Perhaps a variant of banco, from Spanish banca, which is a card game similar to “monte”. Eventually the word evolved to mean swindling or fraud of any sort).

Enjoy this blast from the past. And remember call the Bunco Squad next time you spot a pirate.

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