AfterDawn: News

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

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with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to create an anti-piracy message, the $371,000 figure was withdrawn.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.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 15 Jul 2009 20:42

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• 8 comments

• 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.

  15.7.2009 21:42 #1

• windsong

  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!

  16.7.2009 01:41 #2

• hikaricor

  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

  16.7.2009 03:04 #3

• 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."*

  16.7.2009 05:10 #4

• EricCarr

  They have made a whipping boy out of this guy.

  16.7.2009 07:06 #5

• windsong

  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!

  16.7.2009 16:43 #6

• sssharp

  Very funny nintenut, people(many) believe that downloading is a total crime and would agree with that commercial.

  17.7.2009 00:39 #7

• kapo13

  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

  18.7.2009 23:09 #8