Back in October, it was reported that Rick Dunsford was banned for life from Guns N’ Roses shows for allegedly leaking unreleased demos from the band’s Chinese Democracy sessions. Now, TMZ reports that Universal Music Group is taking legal action against the self-described “diehard” fan.
As we previously reported, Dunsford was apparently stopped by security on his way into Guns N’ Roses’ show in Wichita, Kansas, where he was told he was banned from the band’s shows for life. He wrote into Consequence of Sound, describing the incident, saying he is a “diehard Guns N’ Roses fan” who recently named his newborn son Axl, and had previously seen GN’R in concert 32 times.
It was speculated that Dunsford’s ban stemmed from him supposedly leaking tracks from a 19-disc collection of unreleased Chinese Democracy demos. Now, according to TMZ, Universal Music Group has issued Dunsford with a cease-and-desist and are threatening to sue him for monetary damages.
The music was obtained by Dunsford and others when GN’R’s former A&R rep Tom Zutaut auctioned off a storage unit filled with digital recordings of the band’s music.
Upon learning of the auction, Guns N’ Roses’ management paid $15,000 to Dunsford and the others to sell the recordings back to them. However, Universal claims that Dunsford violated the agreement, as the recordings began to leak online a month after that transaction.
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Dunsford insists that someone else leaked the recordings and that he informed the band’s management as soon as he found out the tracks were shared online.
In a statement to TMZ, a rep for GNR said, “It is tremendously disappointing, sad, and unfortunate that a record executive involved with the band in their early years found it appropriate to auction off the unreleased materials owned by his former employer.”
Meanwhile, Guns N’ Roses recently extended their mega-successful “Not in This Lifetime Tour”, announcing a whole new run of 2020 dates for Europe and Latin America. Pick up tickets here.