Enjoy the read: Chinese Democracy leak story

[slashsbaconpit]

True, Best Buy and Dr Pepper made it possible.

Not true.  Dr Pepper had nothing to do with making the release of CD possible. 

In March 2008, as a publicity stunt, someone at Dr Pepper issued a press release stating that everyone in the USA would get FREE Dr Pepper IF the album were released within the year (thinking it would never happen).

Axl, knowing the release date and how much I like Dr Pepper, Axl instantly jumped on this FREE album promotion opportunity.   

You can read both Axl and Dr Pepper's press releases here:
http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=165



P.S. When CD was released, Dr Pepper tried to back out of this but GNR held them accountable to make good on their promise.
 
P.P.S.  I still have my FREE soda coupon!!! 

P.P.P.S.  Axl didn't really know that I like Dr Pepper.

So basically, Axl and crew released Chinese Democracy so that YOU could have a free Dr. Pepper?


Well, thank you then. I love both Dr. Pepper and Chinese Democracy!

[GypsySoul]

So basically, Axl and crew released Chinese Democracy so that YOU could have a free Dr. Pepper?


Well, thank you then. I love both Dr. Pepper and Chinese Democracy!

Yeah.  Basically. 
You're Welcome!!! 

P.S.  If you look carefully at the bottom of my post under where I said I still have my coupon, I wrote IN VERY SMALL PRINT that Axl didn't really know I like Dr Depper. 

I have to ask something.

Axl has shown himself over the years to be a fairly petty and often vengeful man.  And look, please don't tell me about the story you heard about the guy that met him at a bar and he was just delightful.  You all know what I'm getting at.  People that cross Axl tend to get both barrels.

So how is it that so many people seem to be able to double cross him and fuck him over, and he takes it all in stride and suffers in silence?  Does that make sense?  The jerkoff label, crooked promoters, scheming managers, etc.  They all do him wrong, and he lets it slide.  Even if he's the one that takes the brunt of the public flack, he never speaks out.

That doesn't catch any of you...off guard, at all?

Not exactly sure what you're getting at.  Caught off guard by what?

Nobody's a saint but say like over the past ten years, I'd bet that better than 85% of the people that Axl's worked with or associated with or interacted with have had a very positive opinion of him and the experience.  And there's a lot of interviews/articles that back that up. 

Now that's not to say he doesn't have his detractors or that he doesn't have faults or doesn't deliberately bring on some of the shit himself.

IMO he doesn't come across as the petty, vengeful, come-at-you-with-both barrels-ablazin' person he maybe once was, but make no mistake, he hasn't exactly sat quietly by and suffered in silence when people attempt to derail/destroy what he wants GNR to be.  Just google "GNR and ... Azoff / Eagles of Death Metal / that girl from the other forum / Mike Piazza / etc".

We have zero knowledge of what Axl/GNR is contractually obligated to do OR what Axl wants to do or not do so it's kinda impossible to gauge or judge if he's being petty/vengeful or if he's being a martyr or if he's reacting as any businessman/human-being would under those circumstances.

[HBK]

Guns N? Roses ?Chinese Democracy? Leak: The Inside Story

by Jeff Giles January 9, 2014 10:47 AM

If you?re interested in Guns N? Roses, 21st-century copyright law or just love any story in which federal agents draw their weapons on a music writer in his boxers, you?ll want to pack a lunch and pull up a chair, because the 8,000-word tale of how Antiquiet publisher Kevin Cogill got himself in legal hot water for leaking GNR?s ?Chinese Democracy? has finally been told.

Cogill, who wrangled himself free of the case years ago, says he continues to receive interview requests about the incident, which unfolded in the summer of 2008 after he made the (in retrospect, rather rash) decision to take nine tracks from the seemingly never-ending ?Chinese Democracy? sessions and stream them on his site. Even though he didn?t offer the songs for download ? and they weren?t up for very long, as the resulting spike in site traffic quickly forced Cogill to pull the files ? he found himself in the crosshairs of a high-profile federal case.

Given that he couldn?t really deny that he had shared the files, one might assume that the case against Cogill would have been relatively open-and-shut, but as he points out in his post, part of the prosecution?s case hinged on proving that there were actually plans to officially release the album ? and given that, at that point, ?Chinese Democracy? had taken on something approaching urban-legend status, the government found itself at a disadvantage. And once the defense?s attorney, in Cogill?s words, ?knocked out any talk of a felony copyright charge in the first round,? the case tumbled into a messy and expensive battle over a misdemeanor.

From Cogill?s perspective, the whole thing sounds like a nightmare, but for the reader, it?s both educational and entertaining ? a snarky, insightful look at how the RIAA?s panicked efforts to restore order in the digital era have contributed to some expensively ill-advised decisions on the part of the record industry, as well as some thought-provoking stuff about the extent to which artists are harmed (or can benefit) from pre-release leaks. The post is well worth a read, and you can check out the whole thing here.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-chinese-democracy-leak/