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Guns N' Roses pirate to participate in anti-piracy PSA

15 July 2009 20:42 by James "Dela" Delahunty | 8 comments

Kevin Cogill, a Los Angeles man who pleaded guilty to uploading tracks from Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy album, is set to participate in an anti-piracy advertisement as part of a deal to avoid jail time. He was also given one year probation and two months' house arrest. The prosecution had demanded a six month sentence originally, valuing the infringement at $371,000.

The calculations were made based on an estimated value of 99c per download, in line with the pricing of the iTunes store. The larger the estimated damages, the longer the sentence was expected to be. According to court documents however, when Cogill agreed to work with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to create an anti-piracy message, the $371,000 figure was withdrawn.

Cogill admitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that he uploaded the 14 track album on June 18, 2008. In March this year, the RIAA claimed that damages were as high as $2.2 million, but said it would accept $30,000 if Cogill was prepared to, "participate in a public service announcement designed to educate the public that music piracy is illegal."

The PSA, which will either be a radio or television address, will stress the importance of protecting the rights of copyright holders.

Permalink to this article | Topic: MP3 & Digital Audio

Joel Tenenbaum opens FAQ to help explain file sharing ruling (10 August 2009)

Joel Tenenbaum is guilty of copyright infringement (31 July 2009)

Jailtime sought for Guns N' Roses uploader (14 March 2009)

Guns N' Roses uploader pleads guilty (12 November 2008)

Guns N' Roses pirate pleads not guilty (21 October 2008)

Man arrested over leaking Guns N' Roses songs (27 August 2008)

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ROMaster2 (Newbie) 15 July 2009 21:42
Take this note pirates, if you get caught (if you're smart enough, you shouldn't), simply do what this man does and do the Anti-Piracy crap. Doesn't mean you AGREE with it, just do it to get out of fines and prison time. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 16 July 2009 1:41
*Originally posted by ROMaster2:* Take this note pirates, if you get caught (if you're smart enough, you shouldn't), simply do what this man does and do the Anti-Piracy crap. Doesn't mean you AGREE with it, just do it to get out of fines and prison time. For a minute there, I thought you said "do the Anti-Piracy rap". Like this guy: (dont copy that floppy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xfqkdh5Js4 Personally I'd rather do the hard time! [ + quote]
hikaricor (Newbie) 16 July 2009 3:04
*Quote:* *Originally posted by ROMaster2:* Take this note pirates, if you get caught (if you're smart enough, you shouldn't), simply do what this man does and do the Anti-Piracy crap. Doesn't mean you AGREE with it, just do it to get out of fines and prison time. For a minute there, I thought you said "do the Anti-Piracy rap". Like this guy: (dont copy that floppy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xfqkdh5Js4 Personally I'd rather do the hard time! They're making a sequel.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHaAFqoVLtI [ + quote]
nintenut (Senior Member) 16 July 2009 5:10
Fade from black to image of Mr. Coghill's face Hi, I'm Kevin Cogill, here to tell you about the damaging effects of piracy on lives, and the music industry. I had a good life. I owned a home, had pets, was engaged to my girlfriend of four years, the future was bright... But that all changed when I uploaded a fifty-megabyte file to a torrent tracker, giving the new Guns 'N Roses album the biggest promotion it's gotten in nearly ten years, for free. Most fans didn't even know it was going to come out, but despite that, what I did was wrong. Camera zooms out, showing Mr. Coghill in black-and-white striped prison uniform At least, that's what the judge decided, and that's all that matters. My fiance left me when she discovered the horrible practice I had been carrying out right from our living room. Our dog got cancer, and our home was leveled by an earthquake. Now I have no home, no future, and a shitty outfit. But that's nothing compared to the damage I did to Axl Rose and his record label. Hundreds of people downloaded the demo I uploaded, and even if all of them did buy the album when it would eventually become available legally, it somehow works out to millions of dollars in lost sales. So please, don't make the mistake I did and give a band's little-known comeback free promotion. Picture fades to RIAA logo, with subtext reading "Screw the rules, we have money." [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 16 July 2009 5:15
EricCarr (Member) 16 July 2009 7:06
They have made a whipping boy out of this guy. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 16 July 2009 16:43
*Originally posted by nintenut:* Fade from black to image of Mr. Coghill's face Hi, I'm Kevin Cogill, here to tell you about the damaging effects of piracy on lives, and the music industry. I had a good life. I owned a home, had pets, was engaged to my girlfriend of four years, the future was bright... But that all changed when I uploaded a fifty-megabyte file to a torrent tracker, giving the new Guns 'N Roses album the biggest promotion it's gotten in nearly ten years, for free. Most fans didn't even know it was going to come out, but despite that, what I did was wrong. Camera zooms out, showing Mr. Coghill in black-and-white striped prison uniform At least, that's what the judge decided, and that's all that matters. My fiance left me when she discovered the horrible practice I had been carrying out right from our living room. Our dog got cancer, and our home was leveled by an earthquake. Now I have no home, no future, and a shitty outfit. But that's nothing compared to the damage I did to Axl Rose and his record label. Hundreds of people downloaded the demo I uploaded, and even if all of them did buy the album when it would eventually become available legally, it somehow works out to millions of dollars in lost sales. So please, don't make the mistake I did and give a band's little-known comeback free promotion. Picture fades to RIAA logo, with subtext reading "Screw the rules, we have money." LOL.. Even better..have him in "pink" stripes out in Arizona courtesy of Sheriff Joe! [ + quote]
sssharp (Junior Member) 17 July 2009 0:39
Very funny nintenut, people(many) believe that downloading is a total crime and would agree with that commercial. [ + quote]
kapo13 (Junior Member) 18 July 2009 23:09
What a load of tripe The worst piece of crap not worthy of GnR The entire cd isnt worth 99 cents What a total let down This guy got real ripped [ + quote]