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- gnrfan1987-present
- Rep: 9
Re: FBI Arrest of GnR Blogger Backfires
Not sure if this has been posted yet. I found it pretty interesting and ironic.
http://www.gnrdaily.com/news_detail.asp?id=1552
Last month, of course, there was a big story around the FBI arresting a blogger who was accused of posting the music files from Guns N' Roses latest album. He now faces many years in jail, despite simply being a fan helping to promote GNR. As we pointed out, this was a huge mistake by GNR, as appearing anti-fan is a move that will almost always backfire.
As if to provide even more evidence of that, Bob Lefsetz does a quick email back-and-forth with Eric Garland of BigChampagne, the company that tracks file sharing activity. Garland points out that prior to the arrest, there was almost no file sharing of the album, despite the fact that the leak happened a while back. However, since the arrest, the numbers have shot way up, as the arrest has really only served to alert the public that the album is available for download on BitTorrent.
Now, the cynical among you (you know who you are) may conclude that this is all a marketing ploy by the band, knowing that it would attract a lot more attention for the album, and that's why they did it. Of course, that doesn't explain why the FBI is involved and why a fan of the band may now have to sit in jail for many years for helping to promote the band. If this really is a cynical marketing ploy, it's rather sickening that the FBI is assisting and a big fan of the band may end up in jail for it.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: FBI Arrest of GnR Blogger Backfires
It's not a marketing plot. It anger's the general fan community (not me - but most people like with metallica vs napster), and as the article says all it would do is encourage people to steal the album.
- Bright Eyes 2005
- Rep: 27
Re: FBI Arrest of GnR Blogger Backfires
The tech dirt story they link to is chock full of inaccuracies. If I was GNR, I would have discussion immediately with Tech Dirt (linked to in GNR Daily story), for insinuating falsely (McSamesque) that GNR was behind this arrest. They weren't, it was the RIAA who initiated this after Skwerl gave them no chance to ignore it, by publicizing the leaks to benefit his website. There were torrents all over the place prior to the Skwerl arrest story. While there ma have been an increase in torrent sharing, and a significant one, Lefsetz is now trying to do everything possible to hurt GNR. Him and Azoff are at a loggerhead, and Lefsetz is acting like a 5 year old know it all. What's new with this dude--he is smart, but also about as mature as my three month old Bob Cat. On the other hand, GNR is getting some good pub out of this, and would love it if Skwerl (he eventually will) gives up who at Universal leaked this.
Re: FBI Arrest of GnR Blogger Backfires
It's not a marketing plot. It anger's the general fan community (not me - but most people like with metallica vs napster), and as the article says all it would do is encourage people to steal the album.
it's not the "general fan community" they want. they already have them
they want more people hearing the name guns n roses at every turn so that they check it out
Re: FBI Arrest of GnR Blogger Backfires
monkeychow wrote:It's not a marketing plot. It anger's the general fan community (not me - but most people like with metallica vs napster), and as the article says all it would do is encourage people to steal the album.
it's not the "general fan community" they want. they already have them
they want more people hearing the name guns n roses at every turn so that they check it out
I don't think it is a ploy for marketing. Think about it, the guy who only downloaded the album after hearing about the arrest is not gonna buy it cause chances are he doesn't care about GNR enough. He heard it whereas if it would've been released maybe he would've bought it. GNR needs to make a statement that they are not behind this if they are not. They don't have to say they're against the arrest but that they had nothing to do with this. It's a shame it got to this. GNR don't need a Metallica scandal like this.
Re: FBI Arrest of GnR Blogger Backfires
I don't think it is a ploy for marketing. Think about it, the guy who only downloaded the album after hearing about the arrest is not gonna buy it cause chances are he doesn't care about GNR enough. He heard it whereas if it would've been released maybe he would've bought it. GNR needs to make a statement that they are not behind this if they are not. They don't have to say they're against the arrest but that they had nothing to do with this. It's a shame it got to this. GNR don't need a Metallica scandal like this.
good - anyone who downloaded the songs after hearing the story has been reeled in. again, "there is no such thing as bad press". anything that gets people on their computers wondering what all the fuss is about. many will download but what are they gonna do when the album is an exclusive at best buy or wal mart with several unheard songs, and the quality of their leaks pale in comparison to the official version? if you answered "buy the album" you are correct. other acceptable answers include "tell their friends about it". 
this is nothing like metallica's napster situation. if you can't tell the difference that's on you because i don't feel like explaining it right now but i will say this: gnr/axl is already seen as a villian so it makes no difference to his reputation having association with this kind of story.
Re: FBI Arrest of GnR Blogger Backfires
I don't get the "backfire" aspect of this story.
GNR's fanbase has never been smaller and they've never faced a bigger uphill climb then they do now. I don't know anyone outside of these boards who's even heard about this story. It never gets mentioned on rock radio when they play GNR and no one really talks about it.
It's not creating anything other then threads at GNR sites from what I've seen.
Yeah I can't say I've heard it anywhere outside of the GNR community. Maybe we were giving them too much credit comparing it to Metallica/Napster. That was a huge story, this didn't seem to exactly sweep the nation.
