Here Today... Gone To Hell!

from darknemus@ mygnrforum:


I'm going to copy / paste this text exactly as I got it from my source on this story. A person who has a "close knowledge of the contents of this meeting" that I'm about to share with you.


QUOTE
The PD's of WEEI, WAAF, MikeFM, and WRKO met with the GM of Entercom Boston for a routine progaming meeting. At that meeting several topics were discussed including the playing of a New Guns N' Roses track, which was to be played in heavy rotation as requested by the bands management.


By the way, this meeting took place on Saturday morning.

WAAF is the station in Boston playing IRS every hour.

Anyone out there that can confirm, corroborate, or put the kibosh on this, please do. My source works in the same building (New Balance building) and I have no reason to doubt him / her - but secondary confirmation is always good.

-darknemus

wow, I like the sounds of that one  :o

I like dark and he's a real smart cat... But he doesn't have the best luck, track record, or judgement when it comes to telling real scoops from bullshit...

i wonder what misterbrownstone has to say on this

I dunno.

LOL, probably:

SHHHHHH, don't mention a thing!

lol... : ok: :rofl:

Hey Darknemus, if you're here I have a question: Why would they leak such a bad quality demo to intentionally be played on the radio? That cant be how it sounds on CD. Why not just leak the version with 'finishing touches'? This story just keeps getting stranger.

I don't think GNR / Merck leaked it.  But I think they are taking advantage of the situation.  Which makes sense, when you think about it.

-darknemus

maybe they're not gonna play the ones that have been leaked, but sth they got from gnr itself!?

If this is true, it would explain why the radio stations are still playing IRS and why they haven't received a cease and desist letter. ?(assuming they haven't gotten one)

It does not explain the leaks, though. ?It states "track" as in one. ?

We'll just have to wait and see how all of this plays out. ? :-\

If management did, in fact, say to play the track in heavy rotation, calling it a "leak" --this may very well be the newly implemented marketing tactics that the guy from Adamstown heard about

Knowing these are demos makes you want to hear the finished product, right?  So revealing some of what the sound is, and finding out how people like it, may help to tweak the songs to better effect.  I know it makes me want to hear the finished product all the much more.

Seems like they would wait for the rest of Better to leak, and authorize that for radio play, since it seems to be the most 'polished' of all the demos.

:werd:

Plus its getting pretty good buzz

I just hope this isn't what Axl meant when he said, "You'll hear music this year." 

LOL...wow...I never did think of that through this whole thing.   I'd like to think that statement was not intented for the leaks but good pointing out.

Maybe they are paying attention to all the feedback on the different leaks to determine which song they want to make an "official" release for the first single?

Let me preface this by saying, I don't discount the story completely; I think the problem is easily found in the details.

1st, it's pretty well established that I-Scope and Sanctuary NY have relationships with Entercom, CC, etc. ?Secondly, they have pull with the PD's. ?I am sure that after the leak happened, they received phone calls asking for a back scratch. ?They are scratching. ?Never pass up an opportunity, esp. in Sanctuary's financial position, to get free marketing and buzz! ?But, a Saturday morning meeting of PD's is utter BS. ?I was at an Entercom office Thursday and Friday this week. ?Trust me, the PD's are gone by noon on Friday, either with the family or sipping on Red Bull's and Vodka at the local pub. ?

All it took was a phone call, even for GNR. ? I am also sure, it was made clear--IRS only, and if the DJ's played TWAT, let them know we don't like that as much and might not bring the blonde they like to the next mixer if they do keep playing it. ?

I still wonder if someone associated with the record company is the one who leaked it to "push" Axl into some sort of action. This is something I thought might happen a year or two ago, but it is obviously counter-productive if the wheels were already in motion in any way.

It is true that this "accident" could be a nice start to the promotion of CD (round one if you will). Then you take advantage by following up with the first single, which everyone is already salivating for and which just so happens to be on the soundtrack to the Da Vinci Code and on CD. ?;D

However, I will believe it when I see it because all we have ever seen from GNR regarding this album is more delays. This just doesn't seem to be how they operate.

Yeah, I think "Better" would be the best new track to play on the radio.. but I have to admit this marketing strategy is genuis. I got guys who have been ripping on gnr for years begging me to post all the tracks I have from the forthcoming album on a few boards I post on...

They hate Axl and rip on gnr, but yet they want to hear all these new tracks because they know they are leaks.... :rofl:

Dark, you know I respect you, but its a little hard to believe...

I think GNR are behind the leaks, but I don't know about them wanting it on radio. A fan was the first to get on the radio, then it snowballed. For the first taste of CD to be demos, especially to a lot of kids and non GNR fans... I don't know... The internet, yes, happened with Audioslave...

I doubt they would want a rough demo being played heavy on stations.

dark  is the man

Like I said, my source was in the building at the time of this meeting.  I'm sure these details can be easily corroborated or disputed as of Monday when people might actually be in answering their phones and stuff.  (Well, ok, Tuesday - as Monday is a national holiday in the U.S.)

I don't discount the possibility that the person who told me this is lying through their teeth - except the person has no motivation to lie to me that I can think of.  Who the hell knows.  All I know is *EVERYTHING* that has gone down in the last 48 hours or so has weird written all over it, so i'm inclined to at least entertain any possibilities at this point.

-darknemus

Well can I ask this...Mebbe it's exactly that...non gnr fans and kids...getting the songs played over and over to get into their heads to get the people that are expecting the old gnr sound and letting these songs grow on them??? ?Sort of a plan to let these songs or IRS rather grow on the people out there so that when the album does hit the stores they have more sales right off the bat...I dunno just throwing it out there.

One item of clarification (I apologize, I don't have much of a good sense of track of time, especially when travelling) (I'm in Orlando at the moment)

The meeting took place on Friday morning, NOT Saturday morning.  He / she told me "yesterday morning" and I, assuming today was Sunday, said Saturday morning.

My fault - apparently (for anyone that wants to fact check this) the meeting took place on FRIDAY morning - not Saturday

-darknemus

Dude, I am having a party at my condo right now.. and most the people over my age 23-27 like the new tracks... my little sister who is 19 has people over too... and all the younger kids are like "ohh my god, thats the new guns n roses leaked stuff I been hearing on the radio. where do you get it? can you burn me a cd?"

I.R.S isn't even the greatest song.. but people are loving it just because its kind of like taboo to have it... lol if I.R.S makes the billboard charts as demo.

I'd guess GNR never planned on releasing "IRS" as a single, and since it's becoming popular, they're just going to let it happen.

If the leak was part of some marketing strategy it is pretty smart. I mean, people always want what they are not supposed to have, and making this track a "leaked demo" will generate more buzz than if it was just an offically released single. And the fact that it is stated to be just a demo gives Axl an out if there is a backlash of people who don't like it. And people will be much more forgiving if they are not into it right away. Like many people might hear the song and think, wow that is really good for a demo I can't wait to hear what the final version sounds like, as opposed to saying, that's all Axl could come up with over the course of 10 years.

If real, it's a very smart strategy. I hope it's real because if it is that means that Chinese Democracy will actually be released "soon."

http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?showtopic=62365

yup yup.........pass the salt.

bugger all this crap. Im not believing ANYTHING until i wee an official statement, we know there is gonna be one soon.

WAAF knows of no C&D letter, they are playing IRS in 15 minutes.

it would suck if they wont.

I actually have a crazy theory about that.

If you leak the bad quality demo, you're not giving anything from the album actually away for free.  You're giving a "taste", which everyone will appreciate, and generating some good publicity in the process.  But you are not "destroying" the marketability of the final album.  If anything, you're increasing it because people are going to want to hear the final version.

Probably a hairbrained theory, I'll admit.   But it would be one reason why they'd allow this to continue.

You nailed it on the head, it's almost as if you are familiar with how marketing depts in the industry work? ;D

make sense to saturate the file sharing promgrams ie limewire, kazaa etc with the Demo's because then it makes it harder to find the real version when the album comes out.... the average jo will get annoyed and just go buy the album instead of downloading it

well hopefully this is the start and we will soon hear something about a real cd release date :beer:

We've heard lots of different things on what MANAGEMENT thinks and thank you for this as I believe you to be a reliable source, but Axl should give some kind of statement regarding the leaks or the album soon instead of still being quiet when all this is going on.

fyi...i agve twat and better to a dj yesterdayy and they played it 1/2 later...(just happened to be the time to play gnr and they scrapped pc for twat)...they really dont care and will play really whatever they want

Releasing a demo can also gives them an excuse.  Say (for some reason) not many people like it, the GNR camp can say "well it's only an old bad quality, don't worry about it the album will be killer"  wasn't something of nature said when Oh My God wasn't received  that well? 

Hate to say I told you so. The leaks are PROMOTION, nothing else. But just go on keep "respecting the management's wishes" it's fun to hear everyone's excuse for DOWNLOADING the leaks, but not having the guts to SHARE them openly.

 ::)

well hopefully this can get corraborated....and i dont think it's a hairbrained theory to assume that the demos are released as a distraction to stir up buzz while the actual product is being finished...and also to get poor quality tracks in cirucluation to confuse file-sharers when the actual record is released. you cant argue with results-the songs is getting airplay with a generally positive response

i agree. this shit has been locked up like Ft Knox for over 10 years, and now it just "leaks" out. after the fact that Axl said "people will hear music this year". this wasnt an accident. this was leaked for us to hear

You will never get anyone associated with the band to corroborate a leak.

Seems like they would wait for the rest of Better to leak, and authorize that for radio play, since it seems to be the most 'polished' of all the demos.

Well they have the originals, They don't have to wait for the rest to leak......

probably not. but one can wish....

in either case the important thing is that guns is getting heavy rotation and a generally positive response.

There is only one problem with this news.  WRKO has no program director, as Brian Whitmore got let go last week.

I doubt that the station went with out representation at a weekly meeting by an "acting PD"

Regardless we are dealing with 2nd hand info that dark was good enough to pass on (with a disclaimer) I don't think the employee of a siste station felt that "oh by the way there was a shake up at WRKO" was relevant to a GnR discussion. Maybe they could give us the finer details of Howie Carr's contract?

Has TWAT been pumped into rotation as much as IRS?  I have heard it a few times but it seems the first leaked track is getting more attention; a shame really b/c TWAT is a much better song.

We might not get a GnR statement for some time then; I  thought the situation demanded one on Monday, but it seems they have been reacting all along.

I believe that's because IRS is more radio friendly.

I contacted Merck to find out why some radio stations, such as WAAF, are playing at least one of the leaked tracks - IRS. I asked if GNR management had given them permission to do so.

He said no.

No quite the opposite. They have all stopped playing it as they are complying
with "cease and desist" letters.


So, if anybody is still hearing the track being played, please post the name of the radio station in this thread.

-madison

it`s as always....      nothing is official and the rumours claim the opposite...

i seriously hope to have some statement next week. it`s really needed.    do you remember all the "we`ll talk when there`s something to talk about." shit?     there`s a lot to talk about at the moment.....

^ I believe darknemus over Madison.

You mean you believe darknemus' source over Merck?

I do too.

World of GnR:

Rumor, rumor, rumor, Merck denies one rumor and leaves 2 standing, followed by a few more rumors and a Merck (monosyllabic) statement.

i believe darknemus over madison, too,  but darknemus is just the messenger.....

So is Madison.  It was correspondence with Merck.

I kind of agree with this. But in the market place people are quick to judge and it seems that you can say "demo" all you want, and nobody is going to really take that into consideration.

Although I may be totally wrong..........I dunno.

i know, but i still believe draknemus over madison : ok:

i just meant that if darknemus wasn`t the messenger, i`d believe it directly...

I really hope this thing charts next week on Billboard or RadioandRecords.  How sweet with that be

(http://www.thenewguns.com/chris.jpg)

that's funny  ;D

seriously, after noticing the keyboards in IRS i think he`s great : ok: (might be dizzy`s work thoguh...)

Yeah, this music has been locked up tight. No way it'd get out by accident. There's a method behind the madness...

At the end of the day it probably came from Axls people.  With as much time and money that was spent on this project, The marketing campaign for CD will probably be different from any album before it.

FYI

WAAF just played IRS at 5:05 EST. The dj then talked about how guns had threatened people hosting the song for d/l, but that he would offer people the link to it if they called the station. he didnt mention the station getting a cease and desist order from GnR and he reffered to IRS as a single.

as a single?!!? he's nuts.

leaking demosongs is a bad thing. those demos dont represent guns in current state or form. As much as I love the demo's it doesnt do guns justice even tho they sound pretty good.

It's the same as listening to songs on your computer and then on your stereo. You can't compare it. These demo's arent meaned to be heard. Only for the creators themselves to work and thinker on.

Dj's are running with a non-finished product and call them otherwise. Bad

Update 2:

I just called WAAF and asked if theyd gotten anything from GnR management about a cease and desist order, the dj said they hadnt but if they had they would comply-but as of now, they have not gotten anything

or they don't check their mail.

They unplugged their fax ;)

even though the leaks came from management i doubht they would ever admit it!

if someone screwd axl over, i don't dare think of the consequences...

There is only one explanation for ther being no cease and desist order sent to WAAF, and that's that GNR (their management and band) approve of them playing the demo.  I know its the weekend, but if they wanted it pulled, they would fire off an email, phone call and fax.

I think this was leaked by GNR.  As another poster said, this stuff has been locked down like fort knox for 10 yeras.  Hard for me to believe after all the work, all the money and all the secrecy, the songs just start leaking.

Based on the buzz right now, Axl should have a press release tomorrow to (1) discuss the leaks, and (2) announce a release date for CD.  There won't be a better time.  I am actually looking forward to read this board tomorrow to see if there is anything more official.

CC

I've thought about that. One thing is for sure: Axl shows up at a press party for Korn, out of the blue (and very un-Axl like) where he mentions two "new" songs to the press... Those two new songs just happen to find their way on the net soon after...

I think it was leaked by the band to generate Buzz... But could it also be a feeler to see which song would be best as a single? Perhaps they never expected for it to get so insane where it leaks on Howard Stern and playing in rotation on the radio... But Maybe it was planned, who knows... Whatever the reason or motive, its def. garnered them a lot of buzz and attention. I also have to say these leaks have made me even more excited about Chinese Democracy than I was before.

WAAF is playing IRS as I type this.  (9:56 PM eastern time).  I don't believe for a moment they are just ignoring a C&D - I don't think they ever got one, period.

-darknemus