Gun N' Roses' leaked songs become the subject in the court room as the leaker is arrested by FBI agent for an investigation.
- Aug 29, 2008
AceShowbiz - A 27-year-old man from California has been arrested by police officers for copyright infringement over Guns N' Roses' songs. The blogger, later identified as Kevin Cogill, has allegedly posted six unfinished songs from the band's long-awaited album "Chinese Democracy", which has been in the works for more than a decade.
A few hours after the uploading, he removed the songs when the Los Angeles-based rock band's lawyers complained. However, he has never publicly disclosed the source of his scoop. The next day, an RIAA investigator wrote to FBI, stating that Kevin has been questioned and confessed that he has leaked the songs. "Cogill provided a typed, signed confession which stated that he had posted the unreleased Guns N' Roses songs to the internet on his web site," the agent wrote.
The leak that has been the lawsuit subject, included three songs, "Rhiad and the Bedouins", "If the World", and an unnamed track that were all apparently new compositions. Commenting on the serious issue, the band's spokesman Larry Solters says, "Guns N' Roses representatives have been made aware of the arrests and are leaving the matter to the authorities."
Kevin, who used to work for Universal Music, uses his blog to talk about American politics and music industry. A friend of him says in the media that Kevin supports the band's album with good publicity on his web. According to them, in early June before the leak, Kevin posted his appreciation for Guns N' Roses and noted that he had waited half his life for the new album.
When asked for comment over Kevin defend, which is built by his friend, the band refuse to give any. "Presently, 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," the band say.
Kevin is now still under investigation and if convicted for the criminal charges, he will face up to three years in jail and a $250,000 fine. Matters will get even worse if the band decide to pursue civil charges, which mean that the fine can end up with $150,000 fine for a song.
