…and “Federal Copyright Law” is what they are calling it.

Kevin Cogill has never been shy about the implications of his actions and he is fully aware what he could be facing. After leaking nine tracks from the Guns N Roses album (not yet released) - Chinese Democracy, the blogger had this to say:

“If legal proceedings come my way, I’ll face them 100 percent. I’m not afraid of that. I did what I did, and I’ll face the music if I have to.”

Kevin was arrested in his home yesterday and has admitted to the charges against him.

I am not sure whether this guy is smart or incredibly stupid.

First, he posted the songs on his own website (www.Antiquiet.com). Dumb move? Maybe.

If he is smart enough he may have figured that the publicity of being linked to by half of the Internet would mean great things for his PageRank (a Google term for how high it lists you in its search results). Then the subsequent lawsuit would bring more traffic to his site.

This could bring in muchos advertising revenue.

On the other hand, he could go to prison.

I am not sure if this will happen as no court will be able to determine how many times the songs were downloaded and hence the monetary value that he should be penalised for. I am sure the prosecution will create some exhorbinant figure to highlight Axl Roses losses but proving this financial deficit will be difficult.

Since the full album was not released, the defense can argue that they have not hindered its sales - as people will still need to buy the album to hear the other tracks. Radio stations will probably feature as many songs from the album when they review it. People can record of the radio - right?

Furthermore, the buzz around the case will only move to increase the fever around the albums release. It’s weak - but they could argue that this was good and free publicity and more of a preview of the album.

What do you think?

Is he going down?

A new tell-all book set to hit the shelves in September tells how Kurt Cobain and Axl Rose hated each other so much they couldn’t even bare to be in the same room together!!

Danny Goldberg, music business manager , also previously vice-president of Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song Records, talks candidly about the pair in his new book entitled ‘Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside The Rock And Roll Business’.

He writes:

“Rose had the kind of macho rock persona that Kurt detested.”

Goldberg said he witnessed these events himself and describes once how when Axl asked to meet Cobain after one of his shows, the Nirvana front-men slipped off, not so politely refusing the offer.

In the book he suggests that Cobain even turned down an offer of a GunsN’Roses/Nirvana/Metallica joint tour, which would have probably made all parties very rich and famous indeed, solely due to his dislike of Axl Rose.

And it seems like Cobain and Roses’ better halves had somewhat of a disdain for each other too. Goldberg tells in his book how Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love had little or no time for Axl’s girlfriend at the time Stephanie Seymour, a Victoria Secret Model.

He reports that once after a show, Seymour asked Love, “Are you a model?” Snapped Courtney: “Are you a brain surgeon?“. The slanging match didn’t end there - after a war of words between the two, Rose allegedly told Cobain:

“Shut your bitch up or I’ll knock her to the pavement.”

Danny Goldberg’s new book is due out on September 18th and could make for very interesting read.