Police in Los Angeles arrested a blogger Thursday who is accused of posting nine unreleased songs by the band Guns 'N Roses online. Kevin Cogill, 27, reportedly admitted to allowing public access to the songs on the Antiquiet blog. He was arrested on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws, the dpa reported.
The songs were being prepared for commercial release on the album Chinese Democracy as part of the veteran rock-band's comeback campaign. Judging by the response to the unauthorized release the comeback might succeed. The site received so much traffic after the songs were posted that it crashed, prosecutors said in court papers. The arrest was welcomed by the Recording Industry Association of America, the main trade group fighting the proliferation of music online. "The arrest of Kevin Cogill is great for the recording industry related to our online investigations. We are very pleased with the FBI's interest and the US attorney's office's aggressiveness in pursuing this investigation," said Kathy Leodler, the RIAA's director of investigations. "We think we'll see more and more of these pre- release cases."