Guns n’ Roses Deny Song Theft. Face $1 Million Lawsuit.

photo credit: sreichenbach

Two independent music labels are suing Guns n’ Roses and Universal Music Group, alleging a track off Axl Rose’s Chinese Democracy copied parts of two songs by German electronic music artist Ulrich Schnauss, according to a report on RollingStone.com.

(Listen: Compare all three of the songs here)

In a statement released to the press Guns’n'Roses’ manager Irving Azoff denied that the band did anything improper. “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,” he said.

According to the site, Independiente and Domino’s lawsuit against Guns n’ Roses says that the band’s “Riad N’ the Bedouins” used portions of Ullrich’s “Wherever You Are” and “A Strangely Isolated Place” without permission. The labels are seeking $1 million in damages.

RollingStone opined that the lawsuit will indeed be difficult to win because it only concentrates on 45 seconds of ambient soundscapes at the beginning of “Riad N’ the Bedouins,” before the song “breaks into full guitar assault that shares no resemblance to Schnauss’ body of work.”

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