Blogger Arrested For Streaming Unreleased Guns N' Roses

LOS ANGELES — A blogger suspected of streaming songs from the unreleased Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" on his Web site was arrested Wednesday and appeared in court, where his bail was set at $10,000.

FBI agents arrested 27-year-old Kevin Cogill on Wednesday morning on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws. Cogill appeared in court in the afternoon wearing a T-shirt; his girlfriend sat court and afterward said, "Rally the troops," but declined further comment.

Federal authorities say Cogill posted nine unreleased Guns N' Roses songs on his Web site in June. The songs were later removed.

In later posts, Cogill wrote that the FBI had questioned him and asked his readers if any of them knew a good attorney. He was represented Wednesday by a federal public defender.

According to an arrest affidavit, Cogill admitted to agents that he posted the songs on his Web site. Prosecutors said Wednesday the leak could result in a "significant" financial loss for the band.

Cogill will not face any special Internet restrictions, but was ordered to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Sept. 17.

"Guns N' Roses representatives have been made aware of the arrest and are leaving the matter to the authorities," said Larry Solters, the band's spokesman.

"Chinese Democracy" is a much anticipated _ and repeatedly delayed _ new album by Guns N' Roses that is more than 10 years in the making. At least one of the album's songs could be heard legally: The band wrote on its Web site in July that its track, "Shackler's Revenge" will be featured on the video game Rock Band 2, slated for release in September.

(This version CORRECTS quote in 7th graf to read 'arrest' sted 'arrests.'. AP Video.)

Comments

[aristippe]

here's a new GnR song don't arrest me i didn't post it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZgQ8RwdfHA&feature=related

[KCFreedom]

That was the only way THOSE tapes will be heard by the public.

What kind of a-hole takes 10 years to record an album? Tom Scholz of Boston didn't even take that long for Third Stage.

I'm all for artists to be in control of their music and get paid for it, but remember the whole recording industry has a history of ripping off their artists. So our FBI is being used to protect an industry who has based itself on theft. Oh the irony.

[martinchill]

i see a whole lotta alleged left-wing liberals in this thread who think they know a thing or two about being a rocker, or being in the music business.

whether or not axl rose blows donkeys is irrelevant to the fact that this kid crossed the line.

if any of you owned a business, or actually created some fu(k*n thing other than hot air, you'd likely be very frickin happy that your tax money paid for the FBI to cover your intellectual asses.

peaceout.

[martinchill]

charity wrote below:

"can we expect to see the crooks in the white house also arrested next?"

good point. probably not by the fbi, but hells yes we should expect it.

i always hate when someone hijacks a thread to make a redundant political point, but i'm gonna do it. obama's campaign talks A LOT about change. i support the campaign, but this better not just be hype. by change, i wanna see some motherfu(k@rs do jail time.

and i'm not talking about a blogger named Skwerl.

[lolyla]

Shouldn't the focus of any investigation be who leaked the songs to this Cogill person in the first place? Obviously there was a leak among the band's entourage. I suspect the leak was either for money or revenge, either of which are prosecutable motives.

[PhantomAviator]

...

ARRESTED?!! How is that POSSIBLE? He took the songs DOWN. ANd you can't damage a products SALES when it HAS NEVER BEEN OFFERED FOR SALE.

What a bunch of BS.

Fascist thought control.

.

[cnobody]

it has yet to be released, yes, but they are still planning on releasing it. until the band says that they will not release it, it's eventual release still has to be considered and posting these songs could undercut sales. he took the songs down, but not until they had already been downloaded many times over, so many times that his site crashed from the traffic.
is it "fascist" to wish to protect one's own intellectual property?

[martinchill]

i just read on another website that the leaker, moniker of Skwerl, stated on his blog that he worked in Distribution at Universal Records. that forced universal to take action to prevent being sued by any of their artists for breach of contract.

the guy dug his own grave, and you have a chip on your shoulder, phantom.

don't toss around charges of fascism lightly. it's like crying wolf.

[Charity]

arrested for copyright infringement. arrested. wow. at least we have our priorities straight. arrested for copyright infringement. was he strip searched? man. if he violoated copyright, isn't this a matter of suing and not arresting? wow. again. wow. can we expect to see the crooks in the white house also arrested next? nah.

[rockyersocksoff]

Axl Rose should be arrested for impersonating Guns n Roses.

[piul05]

LOL

[HoneyBQuick]

Awesome!

[KCFreedom]

Haha

[Wanjiru]

...this is what I am paying taxes for?

SMDH

.

[BklynLawyer]

Yes, it's too bad the FBI is wasting precious resources arresting this guy when there are much better things they can be doing with their time. And while it's true that copyright laws were probably violated here, who cares? GNR just aren't relevant anymore. Face it, they haven't had a hit song since Izzy Stradlin left the band in 1991 (Izzy, by the way, wrote all their hit songs). Axl Rose is just some egomaniac you thinks he's got loads of talent. Face it Axl, you're 15 minutes are up. And yes, the new band sucks.

[firelord5000]

While I agree with you mostly, it wasn't all Izzy, sweet child o mine is totally by axl, and welcome to the jungle is a collaboration by both of them, aka there top 2 songs were written by axl. Also Izzy did some touring in 2007 and 2008 with GnR, so obviously he feels they are still relevant :)

[PhantomAviator]

..,

...and been the cause of FOUR RIOTS in as many years.

"Yer never alone with a schizophrenic."

.

[lastrefuge]

looks like we exported our freedoms as well as democracy...pretty ironic name...are we sure this isn't a promo event?

[JohnFromCensornati]

And here I thought that people should go to prison for real crimes like torture or outing a CIA agent. Silly me.

[ruffmama]

nice weave axl

[wadenelson1]

Arresting a fan over letting other fans hear music they enjoy. Yeah, that sounds like "Chinese Democracy" to me. It's the ultimate irony; the corporations controlling law enforcement in this country.

[cnobody]

Axl has every right to protect his own interests. Whether any of you like GNR or not, what the blogger did was wrong and he's being punished for it. As for the "doesn't the FBI have better things to do" argument, the FBI has different tasks and copyright law enforcement appears to be one of them. It isn't like the FBI is taking their trained serial killer profilers and using them to go after bloggers.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Axl shouldn't be so concerned over copywritten material that he apparently never intends to release and the argument isn't that the FBI has better things to do. The argument is that a guy who committed a non-violent crime involving a music that few care about anymore while real crime goes unpunished in this country.

[PhantomAviator]

..

ARRESTED? STRIP SEARCHED? FOR A CIVIL CRIME??

Reasonable?

.

[FBatRNC]

What a waste of tax payer money. I can not believe we are actually using the FBi to arrest people who violate copyright law, it is just ridiculous. This country is in such a sad state, I remember when I was younger making a copy of a tape for a friend or recording a song from the radio but I guess that is considered illegal now. How pathetic we have become. The corporations now "own" the police and the FBi, they do the bidding of the MPAA and the RIA. They should be tracking down and arresting real criminals who actually do harm to other people not bloggers who stream copyrighted music. To hell with the MPAA and the RiA the most anti-American organizations on the planet. I also understand that the police are being used to arrest people that have overdue books and or fines from the libraries. What has happened to this country? What a waste or time, money, and effort.

[Sumocat]

"Prosecutors said Wednesday the leak could result in a 'significant' financial loss for the band." -- First, G'nR ain't a band anymore. It now consists of Axl Rose, who holds the rights to the G'nR name, and his hired band. Second, I'll be surprised if this album gets released before there is an actual Chinese democracy. Can't make any money, much less suffer financial loss from a leak, on an album that never gets released.