GSM-1001: BIOHAZARD 2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK (reprint)

[LuxKiller65]

I recall hearing of an Asian release for this one, but I find it hard to believe that both logos would be there on that version...

[Gigablah]

Looks like the Biohazard 2 soundtrack was one of the very first releases under the Suleputer label. I wonder if there's any SonMay versions of later Suleputer albums for comparison?

[LuxKiller65]

You mean you know it's a fake or it could be the Asian one I was talking about? First time I see both logos, maybe this early didn't get the Suleputer logo removed, but the back suggests it may be official.

[Gigablah]

Actually, you're on to something here.

The Chinese Wikipedia article for SonMay confirms that it was indeed a bootleg company, but in 2002 (after Taiwan joined the WTO) it actually obtained the rights to distribute two releases under the GSM catalogue stem.

BIO HAZARD2 ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK GSM-1001 (our CD in question)
THE MIRACLE GARDEN O.S.T. GSM-1002 (no idea what this is, apparently not of Japanese origin)

That's all, though. WTO entry meant that they had to play by the rules of international copyright (Still didn't stop companies like Alion...)


Edit: here's a list of non-bootleg Taiwanese releases:
http://ikaridon.web.fc2.com/ACGSong.htm


Great observation there, this is a fascinating discovery.

[LuxKiller65]

Great info there! Pretty funny, so this is the only legit album SonMay released in Asia, together with Suleputer. Guess I'll start looking for one, nice piece of history, thanks for confirming!

This is wrong then:

http://vgmdb.net/album/14176

[Gigablah]

Yeah, I just fixed that entry. Linked it to this discussion too.

[Teioh]

That's interesting. I added scans that confirm this album has Capcom and Suleputer written all over it. It's funny, I got this CD as a surprise bonus for the purchase of another CD, but I always thought of it as worthless.

Hell, it actually has "Licensed by Capcom" written on the back!

[Carl]

Interesting indeed, let's just hope this one licensed exception doesn't have people reversing their views on rest of SM's catalog though.
At least they gave 'playing by the rules' a shot once, heh.

[Teioh]

Well it seems SonMay is defunct and their licensed releases were pretty much their last in 2002.
To me it looks like all those CDs are just remains of a time where SonMay and EverAnime were still big. Are there still any bootleg CDs coming from Taiwan? Nobody's really making money off of it except for some second-hand dealers. that's not to say i would ever spend my money of these cds.

however, nowadays the damage is done by ebay sellers who disguise their albums as promotional releases or special editions - or as digital releases in the most impudent case.

[LuxKiller65]

One less mystery. You may want to consider highlighting this album as pirate again, I too would be scared if people looking at this particular release started to think everything bearing the SonMay logo is legitimate or Asian version.

I guess it's still pretty much next to worthless to almost everyone.

[depa]

Strange versione found on ebay
Same cat.no. but no Suleputer license and SonMay logo; probably a bootleg of SonMay ver. or a first not-licensed SonMay release.
How do we catalogue it?

[Gigablah]

Looks like the publisher is 内蒙古音像出版社 (found on the back cover). Which translates to "Inner Mongolia Video-Audio Press".

Catalogue number on the back is TVCD-99413, with a Chinese ISRC.

Given that there's no Capcom logo (which Capcom is unlikely to have agreed to), I would conclude that this is a Chinese bootleg.

Yes, you heard right, a bootleg of a legitimate SonMay release.

[LuxKiller65]

added tasty purple reg. card

[LuxKiller65]

So I ripped this disc with EAC and it couldn't find it in the AccurateRip database.

Has anyone ripped theirs? I get "Copy CRC BF67DC44" when ripping uncompressed with cue sheet and no errors.

Does that mean the content is slightly off compared to the original japanese print? Why is CRC different between prints, if both contents come from the same exact source?