GNR sued for plagiarism

[Howard2k]

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews...538697220091005

NEW YORK, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Two independent record labels sued U.S. rock band Guns N' Roses for $1 million, claiming the group used portions of two songs by a German musician on their last album "Chinese Democracy."

Guns N' Roses and Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen A&M label were sued by British label Independiente and the U.S. arm of Domino Recording Company, who own the licensing rights to songs by German electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss.

Singer Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses band members and album producers copied portions of two of Schnauss' songs -- "Wherever You Are" and "A Strangely Isolated Place" -- for a song used on the band's last album called "Riad N' the Bedouins," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday but made available on Monday, seeks $1 million in damages. A spokesperson for Interscope-Geffen A&M, owned by Vivendi's (VIV.PA) Universal Music Group, was not available for comment.

"Chinese Democracy," the band's first new album in 17 years that was released last November, resulted in disappointing sales.

Besides Rose, the only original member in the band, the other current and former band members named in the suit include guitarist Brian Carroll, better known as "Buckethead," bassist Tommy Stinson, and Robin Finck, who currently plays lead guitar with rock act Nine Inch Nails. (Reporting by Christine Kearney; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Philip Barbara)

Sounds like good publicity for both GNR and for Ulrich Schnauss to me.

[CheapJon]

sounds almost the same as the intro actually:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm39G26PGAo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn604M1IfDk
add on some sounds and it's the intro to riad

I remember some months or years ago where there were som clip in maybe the youtube thread and people thought they heard the riad intro in it, it was probably from this guy..

[sofine11]

Sounds like a computer effect.  Can you sue for using the same one? 

Sounds like it might be just a coincidence resulting in a shady cash grab. 

[Baby Firefly]

Interesting indeed, I think people are scraping the barrel with accusations...

[+Rocker+]

It is a joke isn't? I can note the similarity...

[Howard2k]

sounds almost the same as the intro actually:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm39G26PGAo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jn604M1IfDk
add on some sounds and it's the intro to riad

I remember some months or years ago where there were som clip in maybe the youtube thread and people thought they heard the riad intro in it, it was probably from this guy..

Thanks for posting those.   The second one sounds like a direct lift. 

[PJ]

guns n roses sampled them..
they are the exact same tracks as the intro...

[Mysteron]

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews...538697220091005

NEW YORK, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Two independent record labels sued U.S. rock band Guns N' Roses for $1 million, claiming the group used portions of two songs by a German musician on their last album "Chinese Democracy."

Guns N' Roses and Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen A&M label were sued by British label Independiente and the U.S. arm of Domino Recording Company, who own the licensing rights to songs by German electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss.

Singer Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses band members and album producers copied portions of two of Schnauss' songs -- "Wherever You Are" and "A Strangely Isolated Place" -- for a song used on the band's last album called "Riad N' the Bedouins," according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday but made available on Monday, seeks $1 million in damages. A spokesperson for Interscope-Geffen A&M, owned by Vivendi's (VIV.PA) Universal Music Group, was not available for comment.

"Chinese Democracy," the band's first new album in 17 years that was released last November, resulted in disappointing sales.

Besides Rose, the only original member in the band, the other current and former band members named in the suit include guitarist Brian Carroll, better known as "Buckethead," bassist Tommy Stinson, and Robin Finck, who currently plays lead guitar with rock act Nine Inch Nails. (Reporting by Christine Kearney; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Philip Barbara)

Sounds like good publicity for both GNR and for Ulrich Schnauss to me.

The claim looks dubious, to be fair.

Even if the claim was true, the damages have to reflect lost revenue to the artist, and there is no way that the little tidbits taken are worth 1 million dollars.

[PJ]

yeah clearly gnr sampled them
but they dont really are worth a million dollars

[The Glow Inc.]

lol

If Chris Pitman did that I guess he will have to work pro bono on the next tour 

It sounds strictly the same to me...

[Mysteron]

yeah clearly gnr sampled them
but they dont really are worth a million dollars

Or maybe they sampled gnr? Given the amount of people Axl has links with, you never know. Studio staff can link very random people together.

It is for the court to decide.

[daviebuckethead]

im pretty sure when we first heard a studio version of Rhiad, there were a few people commenting on the similarity of the intro to other songs/ samples made by other artists...........who knows.

I cant believe soemone like axl, who has been involved in so many legal wrangles, could fall foul of somehting like this.........

I dont thnk that it is good publicity either, almost everything out there about GnR is negative, and this only adds to that negativity IMO.

I also wouldn't dismiss this either, the recent thing with colplay and joe satriani made the music press is in a similar vein, and in the end coldplay settled out side of court (i think- although i may be wrong).

[Mysteron]

yeah clearly gnr sampled them
but they dont really are worth a million dollars

It is not worth a million dollars. Two minutes on wiki can determine that.

[The Glow Inc.]

Honnestly, I'm kinda disappointed by that news...

It's really stupid anyway. It's not even plagiarism : they clearly sampled the songs.
Why wouldn't they ask for clearance ? They did it for the samples in Madagascar so why not for these ?

[Mysteron]

Honnestly, I'm kinda disappointed by that news...

It's really stupid anyway. It's not even plagiarism : they clearly sampled the songs.
Why wouldn't they ask for clearance ? They did it for the samples in Madagascar so why not for these ?

Without knowing everything, it is unfair to judge.

[D]

People usually sue for an outrageous price hoping to get more of a settlement.

so if u sue for a million, u might get 250k whereas if u sued for 250k u may only get 50.


clearly the same effect but I don't know many people who bought CD for Rhiad and The Bedouins with all due respect. Probably the worst song on the album.

[Howard2k]

People usually sue for an outrageous price hoping to get more of a settlement.

so if u sue for a million, u might get 250k whereas if u sued for 250k u may only get 50.


clearly the same effect but I don't know many people who bought CD for Rhiad and The Bedouins with all due respect. Probably the worst song on the album.

Riad rocks.  I never liked it initially, but recently realized that it had really grown on me. Give me Riad over Scraped or Oh My God any day.  Great track IMO.

[D]

just listened and yeah, i don't know about a million but that is clearly a rip off

[FunkyMonkey]

How far back does "Riad N' the Bedouins" date?

Because I show here that "A Strangely Isolated Place" was released in 2003?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Strangely_Isolated_Place

And "Wherever You Are" in 2006?

http://www.discogs.com/Ulrich-Schnauss-Passing-By/release/713466

[younggunner]

yea they both sound similar. On the Wherever You Are clip I also hear a Radiohead song after the intro lol

should be interesting to see the outcome