Paz, a 25-year-old Los Angeles-based musician and performance artist, has caused something of a Justin Bieber shortage in his hometown after replacing FIVE THOUSAND copies of Justin Bieber's 'Believe' album with copies of his own music at a host of music retailers on April Fool's Day.

The thing is, his gag was so effective that it seems it'll be quite a while before his fake CD's will be weeded out from the originals as he risks the ire of hormonal teenagers all across Los Angeles.

What were Paz's motivations for this stunt? "The general idea is that retail stores make it almost impossible for independent musicians to get their music in there", he said.

"I've always believed that retails stories can be the best outlets and ambassadors for independent music. They just chose not to be and sell the same recucled sh*t. We thought if they're going to lock their doors to independent musicians, we're going to knock them down and get our music in there."

Source: Facebook

Pez maintains that he and a small team were "meticulous" in their preparations because they wanted the CDs to stay on the shelves for as long as possible.

To the untrained eye, the Bieber CD looks like any of the others being sold by the truckloads across the globe, even having the same artwork and barcode. Once you open it up, though, you'll be greeted by Paz's eccentric artwork, featuring images of cats, dogs and pizzas all rolled up inside a giant taco. As for the disc, it contains 13 songs from Paz's indie release 'From The Bottom of My Heart to the Top of Your Lungs'.

The AP has done their own studies in the field, too, in a series of LA-based record shops in the Burbank, Hollywood and Culver CD and, lo and behold, Paz's story checked out.

And is Paz worried about any retaliation Bieber's people might investigate? "I think legal repercussions are always a possibility when you do performance pieces. Sometimes you have to take risks for your art."

Source: news.com.au