So far: Axl Rose and his record company are suing the pants off this Kevin Cogill guy because Cogill leaked songs off the upcoming Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy.
In a new blog post, Cogill is both asking for donations towards his legal defense fund and posting a cool picture of Public Enemy:
Hi everyone. As you are all undoubtedly aware, I was arrested at gunpoint last Wednesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and I am now facing a federal criminal charge by the United States Government of copyright infringement, after allegedly hosting a stream of 9 Guns N’ Roses songs, for a brief period of time in June.[...]
I am trying to take full responsibility for my predicament. I consider the burden of legal fees ultimately mine to bear; I have independently raised the funds required to retain my attorney. However, it has definitely been by far the biggest expense I have ever faced in my entire life, and my resources are very limited while formidable costs shall continue to pile up. It’s beyond daunting, being a single independent citizen facing a full-force prosecution by the most powerful government in the world.
I am aware that the re-emergence of Guns N' Roses is intended to hail some recapturing of the bombastic zeitgeist of the late 1980s, but this trickle-down Reagnomics nonsense is taking it a bit too far.
As far as I know, I'm the first person to call it: This is nothing but a viral marketing ploy for Chinese Democracy. If it's not, though, we should all learn from Cogill and use any leaks that come our way to fatten up our ratios on torrent websites instead of as a publicity stunt for our crummy music blogs.
