Guns N' Roses - Leaker Guilty Of Copyright Infringement
Original news, posted on 21.10.2008
E! Online is reporting that, the California man charged with illegally leaking tracks of Guns N' Roses' near-mythical "Chinese Democracy", pleaded not guilty today [Monday, October 20] in federal court.
Kevin Cogill, a 27-year-old blogger known as "Skewrl" who uploaded nine tracks from the forever-in-the-works LP on his Antiquiet in June, was busted Aug. 27.
Cogill was charged under a three-year-old federal anti-piracy law that makes it a felony to distribute a copyrighted work on computer networks before its release. He was released on $10,000 bail.
If convicted of the misdemeanor count, Cogill faces a possible five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. However for a jury to find him guilty, prosecutors must prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cogill unlawfully disseminated the previously unreleased songs for profit.
Ex-Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver lead guitarist Slash slammed Cogill in a recent interview, telling the Los Angeles Times, "I hope he rots in jail. It's going to affect the sales of the record, and it's not fair. The Internet is what it is, and you have to deal with it accordingly, but I think if someone goes and steals something, it's theft."
Assistant U.S. attorney Craig Missakian, who pursued the case with the FBI and recording industry, said, "In the past, these may have been viewed as victimless crimes. But in reality, there's significant damage."
Cogill posted the songs at a web sitecalled Antiquiet, where they were available for public access. The site crashed from the amount of traffic it received once word of the leaked tracks got out. Cogill took them down again after he was contacted by representatives of Guns N' Roses.
The tracks were allegedly taken from the band's yet-to-be-released "Chinese Democracy" album. Cogill, who used to work in distribution for the group's record label, says he received them from an anonymous source.
After his arrest, Axl Rose and crew issued a statement saying, "Though we don't support this guy's actions at that level, our interest is in the original source. We can't comment publicly at this time as the investigation is ongoing."
Welcome to the legal jungle.
UPDATE
The Los Angeles man accused of uploading nine pre-released Gun N' Roses tracks pleaded guilty Monday [December 15] to one count of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement.
Kevin Cogill faces a maximum of one year in federal prison, a $100,000 fine and five years probation when sentenced in Los Angeles federal court on March 3. But he faces no jail time in a deal (.pdf) cut with prosecutors, in which the 28-year-old agreed to cooperate with authorities.
"Mr. Cogill is cooperating with the government in our efforts to find the original source of the leak," federal prosecutor Craig Missakian said in a telephone interview.
This summer, Cogill was arrested and charged with uploading to his music site, antiquiet.com, nine tracks of the Chinese Democracy album. The album, which cost millions and took 17 years to complete, was released Nov. 23 and reached No. 3 in the charts.
"I got my hands on pre-release versions of Guns N' Roses songs ? something my audience was heavily anticipating," Cogill, also known as "Skwerl," told U.S. Magistrate Paul Abrams. Asked if he uploaded the material onto his website for financial gain, Cogill said he didn't, "but I understand all the attention helped me."
Cogill had confessed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was tipped off to the uploading by an investigator with the Recording Industry Association of America.
E! Online is reporting that, the California man charged with illegally leaking tracks of Guns N' Roses' near-mythical "Chinese Democracy", pleaded not guilty today [Monday, October 20] in federal court.
Kevin Cogill, a 27-year-old blogger known as "Skewrl" who uploaded nine tracks from the forever-in-the-works LP on his Antiquiet in June, was busted Aug. 27.
Cogill was charged under a three-year-old federal anti-piracy law that makes it a felony to distribute a copyrighted work on computer networks before its release. He was released on $10,000 bail.
If convicted of the misdemeanor count, Cogill faces a possible five-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. However for a jury to find him guilty, prosecutors must prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cogill unlawfully disseminated the previously unreleased songs for profit.
Ex-Guns N' Roses and current Velvet Revolver lead guitarist Slash slammed Cogill in a recent interview, telling the Los Angeles Times, "I hope he rots in jail. It's going to affect the sales of the record, and it's not fair. The Internet is what it is, and you have to deal with it accordingly, but I think if someone goes and steals something, it's theft."
Assistant U.S. attorney Craig Missakian, who pursued the case with the FBI and recording industry, said, "In the past, these may have been viewed as victimless crimes. But in reality, there's significant damage."
Cogill posted the songs at a web sitecalled Antiquiet, where they were available for public access. The site crashed from the amount of traffic it received once word of the leaked tracks got out. Cogill took them down again after he was contacted by representatives of Guns N' Roses.
The tracks were allegedly taken from the band's yet-to-be-released "Chinese Democracy" album. Cogill, who used to work in distribution for the group's record label, says he received them from an anonymous source.
After his arrest, Axl Rose and crew issued a statement saying, "Though we don't support this guy's actions at that level, our interest is in the original source. We can't comment publicly at this time as the investigation is ongoing."
Welcome to the legal jungle.
UPDATE
The Los Angeles man accused of uploading nine pre-released Gun N' Roses tracks pleaded guilty Monday [December 15] to one count of misdemeanor criminal copyright infringement.
Kevin Cogill faces a maximum of one year in federal prison, a $100,000 fine and five years probation when sentenced in Los Angeles federal court on March 3. But he faces no jail time in a deal (.pdf) cut with prosecutors, in which the 28-year-old agreed to cooperate with authorities.
"Mr. Cogill is cooperating with the government in our efforts to find the original source of the leak," federal prosecutor Craig Missakian said in a telephone interview.
This summer, Cogill was arrested and charged with uploading to his music site, antiquiet.com, nine tracks of the Chinese Democracy album. The album, which cost millions and took 17 years to complete, was released Nov. 23 and reached No. 3 in the charts.
"I got my hands on pre-release versions of Guns N' Roses songs ? something my audience was heavily anticipating," Cogill, also known as "Skwerl," told U.S. Magistrate Paul Abrams. Asked if he uploaded the material onto his website for financial gain, Cogill said he didn't, "but I understand all the attention helped me."
Cogill had confessed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which was tipped off to the uploading by an investigator with the Recording Industry Association of America.
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| addiction Posts: 277 From: UK  |
This is one of the funniest discussions ever! i love people bashing gnr without even knowing who the fuck they were and they even insist in some cases.... and someone asked if any good bands have been influenced by gnr....you have to be fucking kidding me....seriously......the bands are absolutely countless....and influenced does not necessarily mean having the same sound.....
---- alive in the superunknown
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| Spyroid Rosetta Stoned Posts: 1023 From: Sweden  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 22.10.2008 at 03:06 Sigh, why do you even try to discuss this with him? I'm not a GnR fan, but someone saying Nanowar and Sonic Shithead has more talent than them isn't even worth any notice, lol. Btw, in my humble opinion Anal Cunt has more talent than SS 
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Posts: 9718 From: Canada  |
Written by METAL! on 22.10.2008 at 06:13 Once again, personal vision. If it was all about 100% money making the album would have been released already. Someone like Axl probably could have written 5 rushed mass appeal money making albums by now. Its called personal vision for a reason, I think this concept seems to elude you. But I guess it doesn't matter either way, judging by the way you've been talking I can tell you'll be one of those people who hates it no matter what it sounds like.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Fat & Sassy! Posts: 3857 From: USA  |
Written by Sleep In Sorrow on 22.10.2008 at 07:21 Hahahahahaaaaa!  Thank for the laugh. Why is there even a discussion on this? The guy stole and leaked the music. He got caught. He's going to be punished. The end.
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| Heavyrocker Posts: 21 From: Colombia  |
GNR was a great band so long ago, the illusion were their last decent albums, and i don't try to offend anyone but I'm not hypocrit, i do download illegal material just to see if the album worth the money I'm going to pay, being fan of a band is not a bad thing, but with intelligence. so Mr Cogill was caught but he was not the only one with the album, I've heard those songs in april last year, so this is the real truth chinesse democracy would be (if one day see the light) the worst of GNR's by the way I was fan of the band back then
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| Syk myspace/bonerama Posts: 1504 From: New Zealand  |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 22.10.2008 at 02:46That was low, man
---- death ? thrash ? death/doom/prog ? Hail Zoldon! he's not the kind you have to wind up on Sundays
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands  |
Written by Syk on 23.10.2008 at 13:10 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| METAL! Posts: 63 From: Canada  |
Written by Doc G. on 22.10.2008 at 18:21 No, I'll give it a fair listen. I'm just expecting it to be very good because of how long it took to make. And I think if it doesn end up being bad, they're gonna lose faith from their fanbase.
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Posts: 9718 From: Canada |
Written by METAL! on 23.10.2008 at 22:07 Well, this GnR fan is satisfied with the results I'd heard so far. A lot of people will probably pissed off with the heavy industrial influence in it.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada  |
Written by addiction on 22.10.2008 at 14:23 Which good ones? Really, this is kind of like going into a flurry of Nickelback bashing and pointing out how influential they are. Who gives a shit about volume alone?
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| addiction Posts: 277 From: UK |
Written by totaliteraliter on 23.10.2008 at 22:13 haha you are a little bit pretentious in real life, aren't you? pretending to be a little bit more 'intelectual' or 'underground' than most people, which i find pathetic. and this is the reason why you cannot accept that a band with such a mass appeal and easy to listen to has actualy been influential to some bands that you would find to be good or decent at least.....i am not going to open up every magazine that i ever read and not going back to every interview i have watched or read anywhere else, just to prove to someone like you that GnR have had a huge impact in rock and metal music. you either get that on your own or you don't....it is impossible for such a band to not have influenced other bands that came after them, whether even those bands would like to admit it or not. the same would go for metallica and a few other huge bands. if you want to continue believing that GnR haven't been influential to any good bands, go ahead and believe it, to be frank i couldn't care less. and since you apparently don't like GnR, why the fuck would you even comment here? p.s. the nickelback comparison was stupid. though i don't have anything against them. and also the 'volume alone' comment......i guess once again you didnt get the part that "influenced" does not have to do with the same sound necessarily....first read something properly and then comment next time....
---- alive in the superunknown
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada |
Written by addiction on 24.10.2008 at 01:16 Wow, you can't even name one band? And I think perhaps you are the one who needs to read properly, but the word "volume" does have multiple meanings so allow me to clarify. I meant volume as in "quantity", as opposed to quality, to rephrase: "Who gives a shit about the number of bands they influenced alone?"And I'm afraid you have wrongly assumed that I don't like GNR. Personally I prefer the post-Appetite output, and the new material sounds like a step in the right direction (at least in a mainstream rock context... it certainly puts Velvet Revolver's sedated garbage to shame and should be a breath of fresh air on rock radio). The issue here is not GNR, the issue is whether a band deserves praise or respect for being popular and influencing a lot of crappy bands. My position, as you have surely surmised, is that they do not.
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| addiction Posts: 277 From: UK |
Written by totaliteraliter on 24.10.2008 at 04:36 you are right i took the volume part the wrong way, i am guilty of that. but i am not sure i agree on what you said. since you do like them, isnt it a good thing they are influencing bands? even shitty ones? can you imagine how much more shit they would be if they hadnt been influenced by GnR? and no a band does not deserve praise or respect on being popular or influencing other bands. but you see almost always a band becomes famous in these circles for a reason....GnR is not a boyband....they dont play pop music....they did become famous for a good reason....of course they became too famous for their own good, but thats life i guess.... and no i didnt miss the point of your comment. i do believe they deserve praise and respect up to a certain point. they did offer us something new and cool at the time and everyone in the metal circles has at some point listened to them. and that is the point i am making...i dont get why i should name a few bands that they have influenced...GnR is one of those bands that every other band after them will have listened to and therefore have been influenced by them.... so it is not funny i 'cant' name one....i can easily do that. even if i just put some names down without even thinking about it i would be right...and that is where i dont get where you are coming from.....GnR is definitely not the best band ever....far from it....but they have absolutely and undeniably been influential to even good bands.... its like saying no melodic death metal band has been influenced by iron maiden....it just doesn't make sense and i am very sorry if you dont get that.
---- alive in the superunknown
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada |
Written by addiction on 24.10.2008 at 19:36 So should we also praise Madonna and Michael Jackson and Elton John and every other popular artist for their influence on metal? Surely in their case to most "every other band after them will have listened to and therefore have been influenced by them." The influence of GNR can't be much more tangible than the influence of any other popular artists, given that we still can't seem to come up with a single good band that was influenced by them. Because unless we can name some, it's actually pretty easy to deny that they have been influential to good metal bands. And I think "influence" ought to be noted only when it's more significant than "the band heard GNR on the radio."
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| addiction Posts: 277 From: UK |
Written by totaliteraliter on 24.10.2008 at 21:41 first of all, yet again you dont really read what i write, do you? GnR i think played a different kind of music to michael jackson etc. maybe i am wrong according to you. also since you did mention them, yes actually elton john specifically and michael jackson have offered a lot of things to music in general. and for your information, and since you are apparently quite ignorant, elton john was a session vocalist in the 70s before he became famous of course and did some vocals for progressive rock bands in london, when prog rock was blooming....and although he has made some quite shit things later in his career, he is (or was) extremely talented and did some songs that have absolutely influenced people in rock and metal music.....and i can give you examples here if you want.... also your reasoning for your counter arguments on my statements are just pathetic, stating the same things over and over and over again...therefore this is not a conversation anymore....and as a consequence i am not intrigued anymore to try to reason with someone that is obviously a fool and that cannot accept that good music does not know boundaries and good musicians and bands can be and should be influenced by anything and anyone, even if that someone is michael jackson, since you so pathetically mentioned him....need i remind you, or inform you (since yet again i believe you probably dont know about it) that quite a few metal bands have actually covered songs of his.....needless to mention covering GnR songs..... have a good day sir, i apologise for trying to have a conversation with you. it is pointless and i didnt see that in the beginning. my mistake...
---- alive in the superunknown
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada |
Written by addiction on 25.10.2008 at 01:59 Why are you defending Elton John and Michael Jackson? Did I say anything bad about them? Personally I enjoy Elton John, certainly one of the more listenable mainstays on classic rock radio. You are getting overly emotional, and reading far too much into basic statements. Saying "band x did not influence metal", or even "band x did not influence any good bands" is not an insult against band x. Which metal bands were influenced by GNR? Which good ones? (The covering of GNR songs isn't the most convincing of arguments...)
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| addiction Posts: 277 From: UK |
Written by totaliteraliter on 25.10.2008 at 02:54 why am i defending elton john and michael jackson????? maybe because you used them as similar examples to GnR and their 'non-contribution' to other bands and artists? (rhetorical question.....so please do your self a favour and dont answer this...). and you realised you said something so stupid you couldnt cover anymore...so you changed your attitude a little bit, by actually saying you like elton john.....i bet you have never even heard a song of his apart from 'candle in the wind'..... and you keep insisting on which bands GnR have influenced, which means you didnt get what i explained to you in a couple of posts...i dont have the time to explain something as simple as that to you yet again.....i'd rather have a conversation with the wall opposite me at the moment..... and the last thing that actually made me laugh.....you actually rely on metal archives for such things or anything at all for that matter???????? hahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! thank you! you made my day! just so you know, i only replied this one last time because i didnt want to be rude.....which i guess i was with what i just wrote, but you actually do deserve such treatment. i will never ever engage to any kind of conversation with you again so if in the future i ignore you, you at least know why: i think you are a complete waste of time and i couldn't get any kind of satisfaction by talking to you.
---- alive in the superunknown
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| totaliteraliter Posts: 656 From: Canada |
Written by addiction on 26.10.2008 at 20:38 Well, to be honest I am growing somewhat tired of your ad hominems and question dodging (the accusations regarding the extent of my Elton John listening being particularly childish... can you say cognitive dissonance?). If you ever want to take a deep breath, calm down and discuss this issue like adults then I will be glad to partake.
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| Luciferion Posts: 139 From: Canada  |
HAHA Guilty owned, that what you get for uploading shit to your personal web page to generate traffic. since you know, that it must be hard to discover the owner, and have them charged.
---- Fear makes the wolf bigger than he is, and I am the wolf that hunts you.
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| TheBigRossowski Posts: 1355 From: Germany  |
@Marcel-You're my hero, lol. This is okay though, let this guy do his time. He at least being made a small example of. I admit I download a few albums, but I buy them or delete them if depending on how I find it. Leaking albums is just totally unfair. However, that is just the Dudes opinion.
---- That rug really tied the room together, did it not? 
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| Introspekrieg Totemic Lust Posts: 2747 From: USA  |
Quote:This seems to be the major problem... no one knows what it is in regards to music. Blessing for exposing your music to more people or travesty in regards to piracy? I think illegal downloading is really bad for bands that put out crap albums because listeners have the option to listen to an album before they buy it... although a majority I'm sure will still take anything for free. Prisoner #1: What are you in for, homie? Kevin Cogill: I illegally uploaded the new Guns N' Roses album to the internet. Prisoner #1: Damn, I bet you got a big payoff... Kevin Cogill: Well... sort of. I got some extra hits on my website and hey, I've been given more exposure by the high profile of this case. Prisoner #1: Oh, so you're sort of a celebrity? That's great because I've always fantasized about having sex with a celebrity...
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| flamey Posts: 109 From: Sweden  |
Slash, I hated him anyway and that statement of his just took it a bit further for me. fucking greedy millionaires. there are far better bands out there who cant sell their records at all, and some artists who swim in dollars are saying that a person should rot in jail because he's making them gain less? i guess that's what greed is. the more you have the more you want.
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| rpsgc Posts: 42 From: Portugal  |
I never thought there would be so many jerks metal fans. Now I know there are. Now I'm glad I keep it to myself... 1- Nanowar does NOT copy Manowar, it's a parody, P-A-R-O-D-Y. Know what a parody is? I guess not. 2- Marcel get off your high horse. So the guy likes Sonic Syndicate, so fucking what? Does it make his opinion any less valuable? No it does not. However, your comment does make you look like a dick, therefore people should ignore your opinion. Piracy is bad, sure, but how can anyone defend the labels? Support the RIAA? How can you sleep at night?! Bands make money through concerts and merchandise. Record labels make money through record sales (mostly). Understood? Or do you need a picture? That said, screw the record labels. They're dinosaurs, they refuse to adapt and change, come into the 21st century, adopt digital distribution, the new business models, so fuck'em, let them die. They are losing money due to their own stupidity so they try to make money by suing people, including dead people, sick people, dying people and old people. Aren't they fucking angels? Oh and Slash can kiss my ass. Yeah, people who upload songs really deserve being sentenced to life. What, murder, rape, pedophilia? Nothing can come close to uploading songs! That's a fucking crime against Humanity for fuck's sake! Execute that fucker, he surely deserves to die for his crimes!!1
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Posts: 40071 From: The Netherlands |
Written by rpsgc on 16.12.2008 at 20:20 That is actually only true for well established big bands and big record labels (such as the majors, Roadrunner, Century Media, Earache, Nuclear Blast etc.) Smaller bands (calibre Isole and smaller and even a band such as Krux) make next to nothing off tours. Smaller labels need to put in extra money and don't make a buck at all.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| LeChron James Helvetesfossen Posts: 3561 From: USA  |
$10,000 DOLLARS BAIL FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT?! COME ON! people who sell large amounts of narcotics get lesser bail amounts than that. dont even get me started about his fine...
---- Kick Ass, Die Young Less is More Stay Pure Stay Poor Music was my life, music brought me to life and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz in my head that only I can hear.
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| Locke Account deleted |
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| DrunkenFuck Thrasher! Posts: 455 From: Denmark  |
I couldn't help but laugh at Slash's comment: Quote: xD
---- THRASH!!!
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| Smurfkiller Account deleted |
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