Come on, dudes. Guns n’ Roses have responded to the copy infringement claims made by both Independiente and Domino records that snippets of Chinese Democracy were lifted from work by German electronic artist Ulrich Schnauss. The two labels filed suit for one million dollars in damages, a claim to which Guns n’ Roses’ manager Irving Azoff responded so:
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.
This isn’t what you would call prudent. Vulture posted the samples in question side-by-side yesterday, as clear a piece of evidence as one, let alone a judge or civil jury, would need to recognize they’re the same. But does anyone really ever cop to this kind of thing?
