Last month Guns N' Roses managed to sic the FBI on a blogger who was leaking tracks from Chinese Democracy, its perpetually delayed album. Guess what happened next?

The following is an email exchange between music writer Bob Lefsetz and Eric Garland, who runs BigChampagne, the online media measurement company. It was originally published via Bob's Lefsetz Letter.

From: Eric Garland
Subject: Re: More Irving/Leaks
Date: September 3, 2008 11:12:17 AM PDT
To: bob@lefsetz.com

So often I hear "artists, labels, and publishers have the right...". Well of course they have the right, both under law and in principle. Is anyone you know really disputing that?

Let's all agree:

1) Artists/owners have the right to control their creative works.
2) These rights will be habitually, and increasingly, violated (sometimes by your most loyal fans).
3) As these rights are violated, of course artists can avail themselves of legal remedies.
4) However, this will not impact the ongoing, chronic, and mass violation of those rights. See #2, above.

What is there to argue about? Your work has been illegally wrested from your control. Hey, that's not right! Agreed. Now you have a simple strategic decision to make: pursue criminal or civil relief, or don't.

But let's be very clear about the facts and the numbers.

Arresting the GNR leaker has had a measurable impact on GNR piracy. It has increased it, necessarily, by drawing a lot of attention to it. News cycles do that every time.

All of the leaked tracks continue to be easily obtained from a wide variety of the most popular destinations on the web. Google, for one. Same as it ever was.

___________________________________

From: Bob Lefsetz
To: Eric Garland
Sent: Wed Sep 03 18:14:59 2008
Subject: Re: More Irving/Leaks

Can you provide me with statistics as to the increase after the
leak, after the lawsuit, etc?

___________________________________

From: Eric Garland
Subject: Re: More Irving/Leaks
Date: September 4, 2008 12:41:13 PM PDT
To: bob@lefsetz.com

Well, only the leaker (nd now the FBI) knows for sure how many people grabbed the tracks directly from his own blog before he was shut down, but nothing like the more than 60,000 people (and counting) who have snagged it since the story of his arrest hit.

Most people learn about these leaks in the press. The bigger the news cycle, the bigger the leak.

___________________________________

From: Bob Lefsetz
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 1:23 PM
To: Eric Garland
Subject: Re: More Irving/Leaks

But how many downloaded it before the story about the arrest hit?

___________________________________

From: Eric Garland
Subject: Re: More Irving/Leaks
Date: September 4, 2008 1:39:18 PM PDT
To: bob@lefsetz.com

Sorry, should have been clearer: almost no one on torrent sites, as the initial downloading was directly from his blog. The news story broke five days later and the torrent downloading has been going gangbusters ever since.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/06/24/guns-n-roses-chinese-democracy-leaker-gets-fbi-visit/

___________________________________

From: Bob Lefsetz
To: Eric Garland
Sent: Fri Sep 05 11:29:02 2008
Subject: Re: More Irving/Leaks

Just so I'm clear, and maybe you have the statistics...

How big was the jump after the arrest?

Thanks.

___________________________________

From: Eric Garland
Subject: Re: More Irving/Leaks
Date: September 5, 2008 10:16:09 AM PDT
To: bob@lefsetz.com

Since the news cycle broke, almost all of the public (torrent) downloading has taken place, as the increased media attention created awareness. 90+% of torrent activity has been since the story broke. But what's more important is that people are _still_ downloading it apace and it is more public than it was when it was only on the leaker's blog.

Do a Google search for keywords "chinese democracy torrent."

Photo via Dave1968