Former Led Zeppelin star Jimmy Page brought a bit of rock n roll to a routine (and dare I say otherwise tedious?) counterfeit CDs case yesterday when he testified against Robert Langley, a Buckinghamshire man accused of selling bootleg material at the SECC in Glasgow. Langley's stock included hundreds of Led Zeppelin recordings, including many unreleased 'bootlegged' concert recordings.
Page was asked by record labels trade body the BPI to participate in their investigation to see if he recognised any of the recordings, and was testifying at the Glasgow court hearing because part of Langley's defence was that Led Zeppelin were renowned for essentially endorsing the practice of fans recording gigs, and of them swapping those recordings.
Asked about that by defence lawyer Murray Macara, Page said there was a difference between fans swapping bootleg recordings and market stall holders selling them. Page: "The legitimate part is where fans trade music, but once you start packaging it up and you do not know what you are getting, you are breaking the rules legally and morally. There are some of these recordings where it is just a whirring and you cannot hear the music. If you have something like this that appears legitimate then it is just not right".
Page told the court about other incidents when he found bootleg recordings being sold, and how he had reacted to them. After finding bootlegs in a New York record shop he called in his US lawyers, while on finding rogue recordings in a Japanese store he just confiscated them himself - the store's staff were apparently too star-struck to say anything.
Langley continues to deny the charges against him. The case continues.