Does anyone know cd-maximum or Metalblows.com?

[FatesFan]

I need some help. I purchased a cd from ebay that cam from Minsk. The seller is on the web at www.metalblow.com . I suspect that the cd may be a bootleg. A very good bootleg. I am not happy about this because I am all about these bands getting what they work for. I was wondering if someone know of this metalblow outfit. The cd also has marking of something called cd-maximum. There is some kind of catalog on the cd when you put it in the pc. The think that really stands out is that there is no UPC code on it at all. How could it sell retail with no UPC code. Any information would be great.

 

[mtlheart]

I need some help. I purchased a cd from ebay that cam from Minsk. The seller is on the web at www.metalblow.com . I suspect that the cd may be a bootleg. A very good bootleg. I am not happy about this because I am all about these bands getting what they work for. I was wondering if someone know of this metalblow outfit. The cd also has marking of something called cd-maximum. There is some kind of catalog on the cd when you put it in the pc. The think that really stands out is that there is no UPC code on it at all. How could it sell retail with no UPC code. Any information would be great.

I've bought several CD's from Metalblow through their eBay Store including Impelliteri, Sirenia, In Flames, and 3 Falconer CD's. If they're bootlegs they are flawless bootlegs to be sure, and I doubt they are.

I checked their eBay Feedback before buying. They have a 99.1% positive feedback rating. 4499 individual eBay users left positive FB, and 42 left negative. Of all the negative FB I read almost all of them are related to damage and delivery time. Only one user claimed he recieved bootlegs. That user had a feedback score of 0, and is no longer a registered eBay user... pretty typical of eBay scammers claiming a rip-off to avoid paying for items.

As for the UPC code, if they were burning CD's and Scanning Inserts then the UPC code would have been scanned onto the copy insert. I've bought a few Import CD's from www.cduniverse.com (and I GUARANTEE CD Universe is a legit retailer) that had no UPC barcode on the inserts, but had a sticker UPC barcode stuck on the outside of the cellophane wrapper. I attributed that to European packaging, although not all of my imports are like that.

CD-Maximum is a Russian Label that distributes CD's imported into Russia. I have a UDO Thunderball/Thundervision CD/DVD Digipack that I bought online from a different European eBayer with the CD-Maximum logo and no UPC barcode on it. The digipack clearly states that the product should not be sold outside of Russia, and the disk does have a CD-Maximum catalog on it. Their website is www.cd-maximum.ru if you want to look them up.

My guess is that you have a Russian or Eastern European Disk, and it's legit.
Hope that helps,
-Mtl

 

[kupshi]

One of the best ways to check if it is a bootleg or not is to go to the website of the record label that the band is signed to and look to see if they state anywhere that they license albums to so and so company in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, etc.

Many record labels in the US and Europe (Nuclear Blast, Century Media, etc...) license their releases to Russian labels for manufacture and distribution in Russia and the former Soviet Union because they have to sell them so much cheaper in those areas. Some of the bigger Russian labels include:

Irond (www.irond.ru)
CD-Maximum (www.cd-maximum.ru)
There is another one called "Soho" but I do not remember their website.

I have verified this myself a few times for CDs I have bought and I have always found something on the record labels website that says they have a licensing agreement with Irond for example.

Of course the record labels license their releases like this so that they can penetrate the Russian market and do not intend for these releases to ever make it back to the US or even western europe. If you look at the back of the CD, many will say something like the following: "for sales in the territory of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Baltic States only".

There are definitely bootleggers in the former soviet union, but I think that the companies mentioned above are legit. Of course I have not checked every CD they offer, but of the ones I have ended up buying that were russian versions (about 10 total) all turned out to be legitimate licensed product (for the Russian market) that made their way to the US.

 

[FatesFan]

Thanks mtlheart and kupshi for the information. I hope indeed this is the real deal for the artist sake.And no doubt we are talking about a quality product. The thing that made me question the cd besides the upc code is that they will sell there cd's for $ 12.00 with no shipping charges to the US. That just sounded crazy concidering it would cost me $ 18.00 to get most prog/power metal from my local mall store. That's from what little selection they have. The whole thing is just strange. Thanks again to both of you. Your information is very helpful.

 

[Ruthven]

I've only had good experiences with metalblow.com . As was said by mtlheart, if they are bootlegs, then they are flawless.

Another good eBay seller is "impelco." That seller is the nicest person I have ever dealt with on eBay.