What are the fabled tax scam albums?
It’s no secret that turning a profit in the music industry can be tricky. We hear a lot about success stories and artists who continue to break records by selling multiple records, making their labels, managers, and themselves rich in the process. However, this is only a small percentage of artists, as there are many people who struggle to make a living out of music, and surrounding them are labels who also struggle to make a living.
It seems that more and more small labels struggle to get off the ground. Making money in music is hard, and as such, innovative methods are needed to turn a profit. These days, those methods tend to include exciting rollouts, good-looking vinyl that people want to own, and exclusive access to intimate shows for purchasing physical media.
A degree of innovation has always been necessary to turn a profit in music. Today this means innovation in how to sell and market an album, the methods used were previously a bit more illegal than that, as, for a couple of years, a legal loophole existed, which meant that labels could recoup some money in taxes.
A tax scam existed in the ‘70s that allowed labels to use music from various other projects and essentially release fake records from fake artists to save money. The practice of releasing these tax scam albums was only available for a few years before legal ramifications were imposed that stopped labels from doing it.
One label that took advantage of it the most was Tiger Lily Records, which released a number of different records under fake names to benefit from the tax scam—for instance, albums such as L.A Jail and Reading Festival Featuring Rod Stewart were never made to be actual albums and instead were just live compilations. Another album, Made From Plate, was disguised as being the debut single of a fake band and was instead a compilation album from existing bands.
One of Tiger Lily Records’ most notorious albums was Stonewall. Although credited to a band of the same name, it was actually a compilation album made up of live performances from artists at Reading Festival. The album is now so famous and well-known that original copies can sell for almost $14,000.
The actual band Stonewall didn’t see any money from the album, so it’s viewed as a very controversial and unethical release. The bootleg was made purely for tax reasons and, as such, is seen as a release that the label has tried to move on from.
People who work in the music industry are passionate about music and, therefore, want to make money so they can continue making music. This results in some devious and unethical behaviour that has profited at the centre. In the ‘70s, this manifested as labels releasing records in the interest of missing out on paying so much tax.
