Guns N' Roses Deny Any Wrongdoing
As we mentioned earlier this week, indie record labels Independiente and Domino Recording Company are both suing Guns N' Roses. The companies claim GNRs copied two songs for their album, Chinese Democracy.
Both labels own the licensing rights to German musician Ulrich Schnauss' music and claim GNRs used the songs on their track Riad N' the Bedouins, and are asking for $1 million in damages.
But now GNRs' manager, Irving Azoff, claims the band "vigorously contests" those claims.
Azoff says the band plans to respond accordingly and adds:
"The band believed when the record came out and still believes that there are no unauthorized samples on the track. The snippets of 'ambient noise' in question were provided by a member of the album's production team who has assured us that these few seconds of sound were obtained legitimately.
Artists these days can't read the minds of those they collaborate with and therefore are unfortunately vulnerable to claims like this one. While the band resents the implication that they would ever use another artist's work improperly and are assessing possible counterclaims, they are confident this situation will be satisfactorily resolved."
Ambient noise?
Riiiight.
[Image via PNP / WENN.]
Illiterate! R. Kelly Doesn't Read!
My Perezcious managed to put together an entire tour consisting entirely of nothing BUT ambient noise.
I wouldn't fuck with Irving OR Axl. Axl may be hard work but he kept FASTIDIOUS records of the 10-year recording sessions of Chinese Democracy. With the advent of the internet and hard-to-trace samples — I doubt anyone will have a claim to 1m in damages to prove willful theft. At best they'll get a licensing fee which is a pittance. Just because you put out a press release and tailcoat GnR with claims of a lawsuit means jack. Move on.
axl sux nutz
I love how this post got only 3 comments prior to mine. What does that tell you? Perhaps it's time to blog about something people actually care about and find interesting….hmmm..
It's not GnR anymore, more like Axl Rose and Friends. GnR is Axl, Duff, Slash, Steve, Izzy and Tracii
I long for a return to their 'Appetite for Destruction' days; before they went poncy with 'November Rain'.
They/He sucks now.
I have a copy of "A Strangely Isolated Place", and yeah, Axl is totally ripping it off on "Riad N' the Bedouins". What a douche! I hope he gets the shit sued out of him. This is not someone riding on his coattails; this is about someone getting ripped off and expecting some compensation.
Re: LastTemptationofHomer – True that. Axl should respect the greatness of what they put together in the mid 80's and retire the name. Owning the trademark to the name does not make it Guns n'Roses, Axl. Could be wrong, but don't think Tracii contributed much to GNR beyond "Guns" in the name. No production credits on Appetite or even that Suicide EP…
can you show both lyrics, the original and the copied, so that we can compare them for ourselves, Perez? I'm not sure who to believe, right now.