Guns N’ Roses – Chinese Democracy “Leaker” Update
Kevin Cogill aka Skwerl, blogger for www.antiquiet.com, who posted on his website nine Guns N’ Roses songs from the new album “Chinese Democracy” back in June, could face one year in jail instead of five years. His charge has been reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor. According to Assistant United States Attorney Craig Missakian, Kevin Cogill is to plead guilty in court on December 8, 2008. Kevin Cogill apparently had people wanting to help him with his legal situation, so he set up a link for people wishing to contribute to his legal fees can do so.
“Chinese Democracy” is due to be released on November 23, 2008 exclusively through Best Buy. If you pre-order, they are offering a free download of the title track, “Chinese Democracy“. Guns N’ Roses has been working on this album for over 13 years and reportedly spent 13 million dollars producing it. I hope it’s good even though I don’t feel Guns N’ Roses is the same without Slash and Izzy. I found a review of the “Chinese Democray” album on MusicRadar.com You may want to check it out.
I personally don’t agree with what Cogill did. I believe stealing is stealing, or posting something you know is stolen is stealing. I’m not sure I agree with jail time, maybe paying a fine. I also believe the record labels do take too much money from the artists. I hope there are some revisions in the laws governing the music industry one of these days. A way to ensure the artists can make a living and a way to get music to the fans inexpensively. I often wonder if concert ticket prices have soared because going on tour is the only way the artists can make a living. Do you ever worry that new music will become a thing of the past because musicians can’t make a living writing and performing any more? Musicians should be paid for their work just like everyone else expects to be paid for working.
There are plenty of resources available to download music for a reasonable price. Rhapsody offers unlimited downloads for $12.99 a month (the price of one CD) and you can even try it free for 14 days. iTunes is my personal favorite because it is so easy to use and works so well with my iPod. You can complete your favorite albums for $7.99 or less. Pretty reasonable pricing!
Do you have a favorite legal music download source that you’d like to share? Do you think downloading music without paying for it is okay?
Source: musicradar.com
Luckily I didn’t like GunsNRoses songs before this, so no need to boycott anything I care for.
If prices dropped to say 4 dollars per CD, then I would be interested in buying new music CDs, but at the current price (like 20 dollars or something?!) I haven’t bought a music CD in my life, and have no intention to.
RIAA/MPAA are doing what they can to scare people off filesharing… which just turns me away from their media altogether =)
The music I bother to listen to I’ve recorded off the radio, legally =)
Well Stefan, I don’t know how you feel about buying used CD’s, but I’ve bought used ones from Amazon for a lot less than $20, in fact sometimes they are $4. I recorded music from the radio many years ago, but the sound quality isn’t very good. If you’re ever in the market to buy a CD check out Amazon.com. You might be suprised at the reasonable prices.