Uptown Records Official Statement Regarding Ghetto FOS

[Jenai]

OFFICIAL STATEMENT


Ok after reading a lot of posts regarding the Freedom Of Speech Mixtape situation with Uptown I thought that it's time to set the record straight with regards to what actually happened, not what some people think happened.

Can I firstly say that Uptown Records has been in business for over 12 years and have built up huge worldwide reputation for professionalism and customer service.

We are an independent record shop that has always pushed and supported UK talent to the fullest whether it be Grime, Garage, Hip-Hop etc.

I'm sure you will all have different opinions on the events, but for us it was simple

- We arranged to have Ghetto come in on Sat 8th March to promote his CD in the store and sign copies for people that wanted one.

- We emailed the Distributer to arrange to have copies sent to us so that we would have them for when Ghetto comes in on the Saturday.

- We asked the Distributer when we were likely to get the CD, they said " You will get them Wednesday, the other shops will get them a little later"

- The Distributer never at any point said to us that we couldn't sell the CD once we received it. Now we have been dealing with Distributor's since we opened and if a product we receive isn't supposed to be sold before a certain date then the Distributer will clearly inform us of this and when the parcel arrives it will be stamped all over not to be sold until blah blah

- We received the CD on Wednesday and started selling it. We were getting a lot of enquires into whether we had the CD and it crossed our minds that we wouldn't have enough stock left for Saturday so we contacted the Distributer again and asked them if we could have some more to be sure we had enough for the signing.

- About 4.30pm we received an email from the Distributer saying "I have just been told that you shouldn't really be selling the CD yet" and "I suggest you hold back the stock until Saturday...sorry mate"

- At this point we were also informed by Ghettos Manger that we shouldn't be selling the CD yet. We immediately removed it from the shelves and back onto pre-order on the website. About 16 copies in total were sold though the store and mailed out. We acted as swiftly as we knew the mistake.

We can only assume that the person we were dealing with at the Distributer didn't know we were not supposed sell it when he sent it to us, or he assumed that we already knew that we were not supposed to sell the CD so therefore didn't mention it.

Uptown never set out deliberately to sell Freedom Of Speech before the signing without permission....why would we knowing that it could jeopardise our reputation, our relationship with Ghetto and the signing etc just for a few extra sales....no thats not how Uptown operates as a business and is also why we are so highly regarded and have been around for over a decade.

We are hoping Ghetto will still be in on Saturday for the signing as it would be a shame for both party's if this doesn't happen. We will keep you updated

UPTOWN MANAGEMENT

['nuum general]

fair play, as i said earlier i think its a lot of fuss over very little

[The Elijah]

props.

[ALM]

end of the day the cd got leaked a couple days before it would have anyway, its a good cd and it wont stop me buying it.

[HypeKidd]

Naughty...

[fuk off]

Yea fair paly for clearin dat up sounds like it wernt 2 bad as not dat many went out hopefuly ghets will still be der on sat

[Wiz]

Seen, but with the piracy.......... hmm.

[Eric Cantona]

how many people in your store bought it off the shelves?

[FG]

fair play... its a lot of fuss over very little

.

[07984]

Lol @ not even being able to confirm Ghetto for saturday 2 days before, despite advertising the fact.

Professionalism? Pah...

[bailey_187]

i think it was confirmed but the situation may have changed it.

[Demos]

fair play, i think its a lot of fuss over very little.

[Blimey]

So one of them 16 people ripped it, uve got the home addresses of the ones it was mailed to, do u have a security camera in the store for pics of any1 who bought it instore. Can compare the details/images with any other cd that gets leaked next and work out who it is.


Ignore that ^,Just saw the other thread about HMV.

[TRU_G]

So one of them 16 people ripped it, uve got the home addresses of the ones it was mailed to, do u have a security camera in the store for pics of any1 who bought it instore. Can compare the details/images with any other cd that gets leaked next and work out who it is.

It was leaked from HMV apparently, so if none of this Uptown shizzle would have happened, it still would have got leaked

Look at it this way tho, if ur a HMV employee and are going to leak it, you WOULD wait till it was avaiable elsewhere so you didnt get busted

Also Uptown isn't the only shop selling it today

[Wiz]

Look at it this way tho, if ur a HMV employee and are going to leak it, you WOULD wait till it was avaiable elsewhere so you didnt get busted
I thought ripping groups functioned and competed by being the first people to get the stuff and share it, so it wouldn't be surprising if they leaked it early in order for their group to be the first one with it.

[Jenai]

Either way in my view i love the way its very obvious who leaks stuff since Simply the best vol 2 has been leaked before you can even but it and is exclusive to one store...nuff said lol!

[I Can See You]

Uptown you flopped it still

[Wiz]

Meh.....Napster released Roll Deep's album a week in advance by error and it still went silver.....then again it was signed but still.

[Jay]

Either way in my view i love the way its very obvious who leaks stuff since Simply the best vol 2 has been leaked before you can even but it and is exclusive to one store...nuff said lol!

.

[Wiz]

The fact that their are 3-4 different groups releasing grime releases over the net pretty much shows that there isn't just one source of leaks.

[Eric Cantona]

The fact that their are 3-4 different groups releasing grime releases over the net pretty much shows that there isn't just one source of leaks.

Who are these 3-4 groups?

[Grimes]

its deep in the streets cousin

[Wiz]

Who are these 3-4 groups?
Not too sure who's still in action except RAGEMP3 but I've seen UKP, UF, XTC, BASS, 3AM, UKCONNECTION.
JAH are mainly reggae/dancehall rippers but I've seen them do dubstep releases.

There are loads of more groups but they don't really relate to grime.

[Anonymous]

fair play, as i said earlier i think its a lot of fuss over very little

.

[MouthOfTheSouth]

Either way in my view i love the way its very obvious who leaks stuff since Simply the best vol 2 has been leaked before you can even but it and is exclusive to one store...nuff said lol!

If i was u, i'd be easy with the little indirects towards ur competitors... Not that i care that ur bashing AJ & co with the comment above. What happened to ur "All other record stores SHHHHUUUT YA MOUUTH" blud?? Now ur beggin it, explaining urself on a forum... 'Think 1st, act 2nd, speak last' is a sayin that mite help u over at Uptown.

[adidasgrandad]

fair play, as i said earlier i think its a lot of fuss over very little

^^^^^

[Entity]

If i was u, i'd be easy with the little indirects towards ur competitors... Not that i care that ur bashing AJ & co with the comment above. What happened to ur "All other record stores SHHHHUUUT YA MOUUTH" blud?? Now ur beggin it, explaining urself on a forum... 'Think 1st, act 2nd, speak last' is a sayin that mite help u over at Uptown. True though, especially when you didn't react too pleased when people were making assumptions about Uptown Jenai. Allow all the record stores sniping now, it's getting well boring.

[Anonymous]

So Whats The Saturday Situation? Will He Be There? If He Aint Will U Still Be Selling FOS?

[Jenai]

True though, especially when you didn't react too pleased when people were making assumptions about Uptown Jenai. Allow all the record stores sniping now, it's getting well boring.

lol well if its boring, stop reading. This is not just a forum for us, grime forum are business partners. And end of the day your right, people where making assumptions. So what we arnt allowed to set the story straight? lol

People are allowed to make trivial comments such as 'i though ukrs was bad' and im not allowed to defend such a statement? lol you both have no idea about business in my eyes. We where mearly explaining the situation our end and the FACTS. And yeah so what if we point out that UKRS has a known bootlegger and just yest bootlegged another exclusive that isnt out yet. Get off AJs dick and if you dont like reading this, again, dont...simple tings.

Im tired of people acting like they know when they dont. Anyway this matter is now closed should find out by end of the day if he is coming in or not will post when i do.

[Lemon]

Thanks for clearing it all up Jenai. Doing alot.

I don't think anyone really doubted you. Some just had a funny moment. I'll lock this one, and wait for the new topic updating on weather Ghetto's coming.