With the music industry an all-time high target for music piracy, it comes as a surprise to have not yet hit rock bottom. Self-described "chiptune maestro" Laromlab, aka Brandon Harrod, has been discovered to have plagiarized every track on his recently released self-titled record from previously released recordings by CrazyQ, DubMood, DMA-SC and Lotek Style, all artists from a collective known as YM Rockers. The con was discovered yesterday via the message boards at Pouet.net, when angry patrons recognized the stolen tracks, and the ripped-off artists in question contacted Harrod's label, Mushpot. Harrod himself confirmed the allegations and commented on the Pouet.net thread with this message: "It is me that did it please do not harass mushpot records! they had no idea!! direct all hate to me and i will alleviate all problems! i am lame and sorry." He has since followed up with a formal letter of apology that has been excerpted below: "Laromlab as a music making project was a hoax, a complete fallacy... I never once thought it was the right thing to do, and I never was happy with myself for stealing these hard working musicians music but I did and now I will be paying the consequences for it! Whether it be legal action, monetary payment or humiliation, I am deserving of all three." Mushpot co-founder and label rep Jenn de la Vega spoke to CMJ about the revelations of the plagiarism, commenting that, "I do not condone that kind of practice. We were shocked and embarrassed." De la Vega confirms that all of Laromlab's music has been removed from or is in the process of being removed from all online sales outlets, including the Mushpot website, and that Harrod has been dropped from the label.
