Jon “Bowzer” Bauman is on a crusade to stop what he calls a sophisticated form of identity theft: “Impostor” music bands stealing the names of the real deal. Bauman, a former member of the band Sha Na Na now with the Pennsylvania-based Vocal Group Hall of Fame, testified before a Maryland Senate committee in support of a “Truth in Music” act targeting false, deceptive and misleading musical affiliations.
Victims of identity theft often spend years and lifetimes sorting out the damage. Is it really fair to characterize impostor bands as identity theft?
These are actually people pretending to be other people and getting away with it. The intent is to pull a fast one. Audiences really don?t know what they are seeing when they pay for these tickets; when they pay good money to see The Drifters, they think they are actually seeing The Drifters, The Coasters, The Platters.
If audiences don?t realize the difference, no harm, no foul, right?
They are suckering the venue, too. They don?t [get] a call from the attorney general, or 100 angry fans. Charlie Thomas testified in the State House to great effect ? he?s sitting at home trying to get work. This eats into business for the real people.
Who should be punished: the scammers or the venues?
We always recommend the penalty go to the source. The venue has enough punishment as it were by losing a show that night or having to offer people their money back, not to mention the public embarrassment and bad press.
You?ve said Maryland is at the top of your group?s list. Is it prevalent here?
The doo-wop acts are bringing the most damage, and the Eastern Seaboard loves this kind of music. Sen. Mike Lenett, who is sponsoring this bill, has LeisureWorld in his district and there are a lot of baby boomers there who tend to go to these kinds of shows. We have to stop them from getting ripped off by these phony groups.
