Best CD Deal - Russias Best Kept Secret Missing



Unofficial pairing of two Wings albums once carried on Best-CD-Deal.com.

Best CD Deal, a rare site I happened to find the other week, has 404'ed. It specialised in selling pirated CDs from Russia at wholesale, mainly catering to retail dealers, indie shops, and collectors. You had to buy at least 50 titles (counting quantity) which is worth $250 or a whopping 7,798.61 rubles! If you have a long enough laundry list like I do, then it shouldn't be too hard to decide. They had some of the biggies from AC/DC to ZZ Top (possibly with the original LP mixes of their pre-MTV years). These were almost all on the seminal Russian label CD Maximum, which used to pirate western releases, often putting two shorter albums onto one CD, imitated by staid labels in the UK, but now are a legit indie sticking to their own legal signings, which are all heavy metal, though it is probable that the pirates are pirated by others to look the same, just as much as EU releases are now almost identical to their poor-mans counterparts past the former Iron Curtain.
It is getting harder to find these illicit albums outside the Commonwealth of Independent States and other ex-commie countries over that way without spending too much time or money.
Getting back to the dead link, I had picked 50 titles I would order when I had the money, but I didn't go to the site for a few days as I had other things to tend to, and when I go back, its gone. It says that it could be renewed or deleted, so there may be a chance for it to return, or maybe retailers are a bit weary of having such CDs in their shops, even though some indies have no qualms of stocking bootlegs if they don't use the computer to see if they can take it (those that do check might not buy, only taking regulation product in good condition that will sell).
I could see a Kiss pirate at a car boot sale, see Dio on eBay (though this is actually against their policy and he would turn in his grave) and I buy Paul McCartney at a shop in Cambridge, MA last May. A trader I have in Ukraine says he has a connection to a similar dealer but hasn't told me who they are. Like Boris, this guy is trying to avoid unauthorised versions of official releases which I get in return along with RoIOs for sending him the real McCoy. In many of these countries, pirates are on the ready on the streets selling for pennies. However, the cost of P&H can outweigh that of the contents in the package, especially if its going overseas. Best CD Deal included it in the price. They also leave out jewel boxes to save money on shipping, but I have some to spare and the dollar store might have them.
A real possibilty could be that the authorities have told these people that they cannot do this anymore because of pressure from the trade organisations like RIAA and the major music markets. Most piracy in the old bloc is now down to those mp3 sites, but those are too easy to use, and even with their too-low prices or lack of cost, can't compete with iTunes.
The sites domain registar GoDaddy may have pulled the plug because it may have violated their policy. Sites registered with GoDaddy have been cancelled for various reasons, but I think I may have found this out for myself.