down for the upload
axl rose. photo by kevin mazur/wireimage.
Looks like the one person who did any visible publicity for the Titanic of all rock albums, Guns N’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy, was rewarded on Monday with a year’s probation for his work.
OK, OK. The guilty party wasn’t an actual music industry publicist, but blogger Kevin Cogill. He leaked nine tracks online from the album ahead of its official release date last November.
Chinese Democracy has since become one of the biggest clams in rock ‘n roll history. It took 14 years, an estimated $13 million and what waning credibility GNR leader Axl Rose still possessed to complete. After entering the charts at No. 3, it fizzled and disappeared altogether in a matter of weeks.
There was little promotional push given to the record, no touring to back it up and no discernable publicity help from Rose. Now, roughly seven months after the album died a quick death, the guy who actually got the word out on the record gets sentenced.
We all know the evils of up/downloading copyrighted material. It’s illegal as can be, even though it’s done on the internet with laughable regularity and seemingly minimal corrective oversight. Among Mr. Cogill’s rites of remorse: making public service announcements on behalf of the Recording Industry Association of America. That’s kind of like asking a drunk driver to endorse Jim Beam.
Oh, brother. No wonder the music industry as we know it is at the brink of extinction.
I am a native Kentuckian and freelance journalist who has been writing about contemporary music for the Lexington Herald-Leader since 1980. I have not a lick of honest musical talent myself, just a pair of appreciative ears for jazz, folk, blues, bluegrass, Americana, soul, Celtic, Cajun, chamber, worldbeat, nearly every form of rock 'n' roll imaginable and, when pressed, the occasional tango and polka.