This is the comment from Slash the former lead guitarist of Guns N’ Roses regarding the man who posted nine previously unreleased songs on his blog for just a few hours. Courtesy of some unrelenting lobbyists and an unending cash flow into Capitol Hill courtesy of the RIAA, Kevin Cogill now faces federal charges, 3 years in prison, and up to $250,000. A little overkill for nine songs posted for a few hours only that were put up in a streamable format only.
In this particular case there were 9 songs off an unreleased album that Guns N’ Roses had been working for since the mid nineties. Releasing unreleased songs is a no no in my book, but did this guy get what he deserved? Absolutely not. Federal charges for releasing music? Come on, it’s a joke. I always thought the FBI had better things to do with their time, but I was clearly wrong. Who knows if this album will ever get released? Guns N’ Roses will probably die of natural causes before they get around to finishing it. Take into account the fact that any rips that were possible of that site would have been of such low quality that they would have been essentially useless. Any fan who would have normally bought the album would still go out and buy it. Let’s face it, no true fan wants to listen to the quality of music this rip would have given them. In my opinion, the amount of money Guns N’ Roses lost from this release is negligible compared to the publicity that they received from it.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think artists deserve to get paid for their work. Some of them are quite talented, however the business model in use today is clearly outdated. If the recording industry wants to continue to profit they will need to find a way to work with the public, not put them in jail.
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