I just found someone selling a bunch of game soundtracks including each of the Unreal games that GOG has for sale... but are these officially licensed? The author's name, plus the fact they're only 50 pence each...I'm getting serious bootleg vibes from it all.

Really curious about the legality of what's on offer here.

I highly doubt it.

I like Bandcamp for the possibility of downloading albums in FLAC format, but they have serious problem with overflow of low quality releases (while at the same time lacking more popular artists). I know, to each his own, but AFAIK they have absolutely no system of checking what's being uploaded - basically everyone can dump anything they want there and then put a price tag on it.

Well, let's do some calculations.
Is Crash Headroom a moniker for any of the composers? No.

Were the Unreal games developed in the UK? Of course not.

I suggest that either you can brave the forms of Bandcamp or get in touch with Alexander Brandon, the actual composer.

Maybe it's better to inform Bandcamp instead of the authors, I wouldn't want them to sue the platform for a bunch of money..

Yeah that's what I figured, i just wanted a little backup.

Guess I'll get in touch with Brandon, Reipl and such, Bandcamp's copyright violation forms do look rather ridiculous. Bandcamp's violation form requires a physical or digital signature by someone with a copyright claim to the content being infringed upon.

To me, Bandcamp is kind of like vanity publishing for music. People just put stuff up there for sale. Recommendation places would be better for sifting through the quality/genre of music that one might want.

Yes, lack of any reasonable way of searching for music is another big problem with Bandcamp. I don't think I ever stumbled upon a release I'd like there - it was always through Youtube upload or something like that.

The concern is understandable, but most musicians themselves are pretty rad and chill. Now if I were telling the OP to go ahead and incur the full wrath of the RIAA or get an entire record label to come crashing down, then yeah I'd worry me too.

Aside from the obvious, it's very clear these are unofficial and, amusingly enough, game rips that some guy has thrown up on Bandcamp. Seemingly to not turn a profit but apparently because they think all the existing rips out there are low quality.

A future thing to pay attention to would be the descriptions. Take the Resident Evil soundtrack, for example. Or even the Rise of the Triad soundtrack, which is just a re-recording through a Roland synth.

He's selling soundtracks of Resident Evil, Rise of the Triad, Terminator and Unreal, each for half-a-pound? Legit, it sure ain't.

no way it is legit hope she will be fined

I'd be particularly weary of selling anything Bobby Prince worked on if you aren't actually Bobby Prince, since he's not just a game composer but also a lawyer versed in copyright law. He's had some rough issues concerning his overall health in recent years and is dealing with Gearbox in a lawsuit over Duke Nukem composition issues that they screwed him on when they released the World Tour edition.

That being said, this is not the first time stuff like this has been up on Bandcamp. Some guy uploaded a bunch of Bethesda titles soundtracks years ago, at a time before Bethesda even had them up for sale through the likes of iTunes/etc. but in that example they were just up on Bandcamp to stream and could not be purchased (not that it stopped people from ripping the streams, however). Plenty of people wanting to call themselves musicians tend to pull this stuff, especially with games that ran MIDI/tracker based music. Is it scummy? Probably. Legal? Unlikely. Does Bandcamp give a damn? Hardly seems like it.

I'm going to assume it's not legal. This person doesn't seem to understand that mixing others original works (in this case it's not even mixing when you just "clean" them and convert them into higher quality) and just sell them is not legal. High risk grey area at best. That's why people who mixes others work either have a deal or just give it away for free. Most composers are relaxed about mixes, yes, but selling them is being scurrilous.

The fact that he/she word it like "Original Soundtrack" makes it even less legit, and mentioning the original composer is not how you use the "fair use"-term.

I had an account at Bandcamp at one point but can't seem to remember the mail address or password now, or else I would have tried the report-form.

On a positive note (and perfectly legal); it made me want to play Unreal again :D

EDIT: With extension you can just download them anyway, so, unlike other people/groups on Bandcamp, this person is not going to get my money XD

Alexander Brandon can be reached through Twitter (he's @FunkyRustic), or through the contact page on his own Bandcamp. The others, Kevin Riepl (@kevinrieplmusic) is the only one I can immediately recall. I know Lee Jackson is on YouTube but I wouldn't count that as a reliable means to contact the man.

I thought I'd come on here to clear this up a little as the O.P. hasn't got all his facts strait XD
They are not for sale, it's just the problem is i am on a free bandcamp account, that only gives 200 free downloads a month, after that it reverts by itself to payment. I made sure to put it at the minimum 50p when this happens, and I also make sure to leave a message telling people when I have free credits left, and when I dont. If people after that point donate me a 50p to help me remaster old soundtracks, I thank them, but lets just make this clear. Im not purposfully selling anything and warn people when those free downloads have run out. I hope that clears this up.

There are actually a few people who have done what I have done on bandcamp with these unreal soundtracks, its just they didn't take the time to mix them.

Some lovely posts here truely without getting in contact with me to get the full facts, people are very judgemental without the single bit of research :/.