Country singer-songwriter Sturgill Simpson has vowed to track down a scammer who illegally sold his latest album online, warning fans while promising swift action against those responsible.
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Simpson, who recently released Mutiny After Midnight under his alter ego Johnny Blue Skies, discovered that an individual posing as him had uploaded the record to Bandcamp and sold it as a digital release.
The singer originally uploaded the album to YouTube, but swiftly took it down, wanting to sell the album exclusively through physical records. In a statement, he said that initially, he wanted physical copies only to promote record shops and encourage physical media. However, they’ll “probably” make the album available for online streaming soon.
He’d “always really wanted to leak [his] own record,” anyway.
After fans began sharing the fraudulent Bandcamp listing online, Simpson responded publicly on social media, making clear that the Bandcamp version was not legitimate. “We are not selling the digital album on Bandcamp,” he wrote, urging fans not to purchase the fake release and emphasizing that “it doesn’t exist” and the seller “ain’t him.”
Sturgill Simpson Going To “Duke Nukem”
Simpson revealed that his team had already begun working with Bandcamp and other parties to investigate the fraud. He said they were in the process of obtaining transaction records and IP-related data tied to the account responsible for the scam.
“We are in contact with bandcamp and all appropriate parties in the process of acquiring all cc and transaction information / TC dump IP related info,” he explained. “We got all them tools b—hes! All those affected will be refunded and the miserable s–t a-ses responsible will be keelhauled.”
In a final triumphant Instagram story, he wrote, “We’re gonna duke nukem.”
I’d wager the fraudster took advantage of the limited YouTube release and streamed them for resale on Bandcamp. Whether that was the initial intention when pirating the tracks or a sudden opportunity is unclear.
What is clear, however, is Sturgill Simpson isn’t taking this lying down.