Reddit reviews Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry

At regular pressing plants. The bootleggers would do everything from changing/omitting the name of the artist on the recording to be pressed, to pressing "fan club only" releases, to flat out finding someone with a pressing plant who wanted some $$$.

This book - http://www.amazon.com/books/dp/0312142897 - is a pretty good history of it all.

edit: Another channel, although mostly with CDs, was having them produced overseas, in places where copyright law was a little looser. Or, sometimes, the bootleggers would actually put some money aside, in escrow, for the artist to claim - except the artist, being under contract w/a label, couldn't actually claim the money / be paid for the recordings.

Copyright laws in italy/europe at the time of bootlegs being popular allowed them to be manufactured there easily. If your interested I suggest reading this book

Bootleg: The Secret History of the Other Recording Industry

I have a pretty good sized collection of vinyl bootlegs, mostly Beatles related. They're fun to collect. I can't really post anything here that hasn't been posted already, but if you're into collecting vinyl like this, I would highly recommend this book, it's all about the 70's bootleg scene: http://www.amazon.com/Bootleg-Secret-History-Recording-Industry/dp/0312142897/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1324197607&sr=8-2

If you're interested, you might want to read Clinton Heylin's "Bootleg: A Secret History of the Other Recording Industry." (http://www.amazon.com/Bootleg-Secret-History-Recording-Industry/dp/0312142897)

Or not.