Chinese Democracy leaker realizing harsh consequences
Mr. Cogill is in a world of pain, that is for sure. While the article may point out that it is up to the band to destroy him financially, the Feds do not take kindly at all to infringement that takes away the ability for an artist to enjoy a first to market advantage - and rightly so. This protection/right is probably the most important in all of copyright and is rather integral for any sort of market mechanisms (as distorted as they are in digital music) to take place. If first-to-market protection erodes, it would be a huge damper on the incentive for bands to create - why make any sort of music if it’s going to be stolen from you and distributed before you have the chance to make ANY money off of it?!?!!? I hope that Guns and Roses doesn’t take a hit from this and if that is the case then I hope they don’t destroy this guy’s life. I would venture to guess that he’s just a rabid fan of music, similar to you or I, that just got caught up in his excitement and lost track of what is right/legal (although the two are not always the same…). So as to keep this from becoming a precedent though I hope that the criminal charges are enforced and that others out there who to leak large volumes of material like this think twice. This isn’t because I’m on a high horse it’s because actions like that will only hurt the music industry more and keep us all from getting more of the tuneage we love.
