"The General" is officially delayed... but "The General" AND "Monsters" is (unofficially) out of the bag

[Its Tino]

So funny how if they don’t announce something, many of us go off the deep end. 
 

and if the DO announce something we still go off the deep end 

Vinyl only b-side Instrumental. Hilarious. 

[Nick85]

Be cool if this dropped next week in time for the CA gigs. It won’t, but it’d be cool.

[metalavenger99]

I hate that we have to wait until the end of October to hear this, so i wouldn't say that The General is coming soon, is coming kinda soon-ish

That's my own crazy post 

[Voodoochild]

So, if I got everything right, The General will be an instrumental piece only released in vinyl because it's just a B-side. 

1 hour ago, Powerage5 said:

But one thing that we on the forums tend to forget is The General is the most anticipated GN’R song of all time…for a few hundred people. We put it on a pedestal, but 99.9% of GN’R fans have never heard of The General. It’s very easy for us to oversell the song’s mythological status, because we ourselves have wanted to hear it for so long. But most GN’R fans out in the wild probably don’t care to hear it, or anything else as long as the band keeps touring the hits. 

Tens of thousands, and the most vocals ones, that's for sure. 

Just a quick search on YouTube and you see how much visualizations have those videos about the song. 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+history+of+Guns+N'+Roses+The+General

Keep in mind: it will have press coverage that will reach a lot more people outside of the fanbase. And even if most GNR casual fans don't care to hear, the new releases get attention - just see how many reaction videos came out after Perhaps. I don't think we should underestimate the impact that we have both in the band and in the general public perception of the band.

 

[Nick85]

The more I consider it, the more I think this whole no digital release rumor surrounding The General is just a ruse to build anticipation…mostly because it’s just too off the wall dumb to be the truth.

[Cosmo]

52 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

So, if I got everything right, The General will be an instrumental piece only released in vinyl because it's just a B-side. 

With Buckethead's and Robin's original recordings.

[AtlasShrugged]

It's not going to be physical only you losers. Christ almighty. One person said this and now everyone's running with it. 

[El Guapo]

13 minutes ago, AtlasShrugged said:

It's not going to be physical only you losers. Christ almighty. One person said this and now everyone's running with it. 

But if it IS physical only, would you change your username to AtlasFucked?

[jimisbatman]

8 hours ago, Blackstar said:

 tinfoil hat territory.

 

Lol, so good

[themadcaplaughs]

7 hours ago, Blackstar said:

I have looked it up and the legal ownership/copyright stuff is complicated. However, even if a track is partially re-recorded (or even if it's just a new mix), it's considered a "new" recording, so the ownership of the rights changes.

As a former entertainment attorney (in a past lifetime), I can provide a little more insight While the re-recording would be a new recording, and you are right that the ownership of this likely belongs with GN'R. If, however, this follows past releases where we have a mix of old recordings (vocals, drums. keys) and new recordings (guitars, bass, and whatever additional beeps and bloops get added), the label would still need to give their permission for the materials they own. How GN'R negotiated this is an unknown as it could have been a multitude of ways: the band could pay the label a flat fee for each song, they could have reached some sort of revenue deal, or (as someone else suggested but unlikely) the band could have simply bought the rights to the masters of the versions recorded while the band was under contract with the record label. My educated guess, seeing as the label still seems to be involved on a distribution level, would be that they get a small cut of revenue from streams/sales in addition to the revenue they receive as distributor. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by themadcaplaughs

[gnrjanus]

As the vinyl is about to ship. Should there be leaks already?

[drlaban]

4 minutes ago, gnrjanus said:

As the vinyl is about to ship. Should there be leaks already?

In one month, yes.

[bumbleslash69]

1 hour ago, themadcaplaughs said:

As a former entertainment attorney (in a past lifetime), I can provide a little more insight While the re-recording would be a new recording, and you are right that the ownership of this likely belongs with GN'R. If, however, this follows past releases where we have a mix of old recordings (vocals, drums. keys) and new recordings (guitars, bass, and whatever additional beeps and bloops get added), the label would still need to give their permission for the materials they own. How GN'R negotiated this is an unknown as it could have been a multitude of ways: the band could pay the label a flat fee for each song, they could have reached some sort of revenue deal, or (as someone else suggested but unlikely) the band could have simply bought the rights to the masters of the versions recorded while the band was under contract with the record label. My educated guess, seeing as the label still seems to be involved on a distribution level, would be that they get a small cut of revenue from streams/sales in addition to the revenue they receive as distributor. 

Fascinating. I've often wondered about the ownership of the music. I was under the impression that "Guns N' Roses" was an imprint for Geffin since Geffin and UMG are still listed on materials and GNR was still on the UMG roster. Is it possible that the the label owns the music and rights while the Guns n' Roses imprint is in place so the band has more control over the distribution of the music? Such as pressing their own records? 

It's all stuff out of my wheelhouse but pretty interesting. Appreciate the insight you shared. 

[themadcaplaughs]

14 minutes ago, bumbleslash69 said:

Fascinating. I've often wondered about the ownership of the music. I was under the impression that "Guns N' Roses" was an imprint for Geffin since Geffin and UMG are still listed on materials and GNR was still on the UMG roster. Is it possible that the the label owns the music and rights while the Guns n' Roses imprint is in place so the band has more control over the distribution of the music? Such as pressing their own records? 

It's all stuff out of my wheelhouse but pretty interesting. Appreciate the insight you shared. 

That could definitely be a possibility, but I do know @Blackstar would know more about the band's status with UMG at this point. My understanding was that they were more or less operating as free agents at this point, but I really have not kept up with the business details the ways some have post Slash and Duff rejoining. 

[DeNfr]

[Blackstar]

40 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

That could definitely be a possibility, but I do know @Blackstar would know more about the band's status with UMG at this point. My understanding was that they were more or less operating as free agents at this point, but I really have not kept up with the business details the ways some have post Slash and Duff rejoining. 

Here is the registration of the sound recordings of Hard Skool and Chinese Democracy with the US Copyright Office. What can we make of this information?

https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/34248480

https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/34248471

https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/22833810

(Regarding CD, I see that although Axl had used Black Frog as an imprint, the recordings are copyrighted by Geffen/UMG).

Edit - Also regarding the UYI reissue:

Geffen/Universal seems to own the copyright of the recordings of the studio tracks, while GN'R owns the recordings of the live tracks:

https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/34869380

https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/detailed-record/34783647

Edited September 19, 2023 by Blackstar

[DoMw94]

Everyone saying how it'll definitely be ripped if it's a vinyl exclusive (which it won't be, but anyway), why haven't the Absurd and Shaddow of your Love live exlusives been ripped and surfaced online?

[Twinaleblood]

1 minute ago, DoMw94 said:

why haven't the Absurd and Shaddow of your Love live exlusives been ripped and surfaced online?

I had no idea. If anyone wants to hear the live Absurd, I can help tomorrow.

[colonizedmind]

20 minutes ago, Twinaleblood said:

I had no idea. If anyone wants to hear the live Absurd, I can help tomorrow.

And shadow? You charging for that one? 😉

[Its Tino]

31 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

Everyone saying how it'll definitely be ripped if it's a vinyl exclusive (which it won't be, but anyway), why haven't the Absurd and Shaddow of your Love live exlusives been ripped and surfaced online?

Not exactly fair comparisons 

They’re out there, I just don’t think anyone cares. 

[DoMw94]

13 minutes ago, Its Tino said:

Not exactly fair comparisons 

They’re out there, I just don’t think anyone cares. 

The only way it's not a fair comparison is because there's no way on earth The General will be a vinyl exclusive 😂 Whereas we know the two live tracks already are.

If anything, it highlights how moronic the 'vinyl only' theory is. Of course throwaway live tracks will be. An unrealeased studio take from a band that operates like this absolutely won't be.

And are they out there? I've looked, and haven't found them. (I care – love any sort of live material)

Edited September 19, 2023 by DoMw94

[Its Tino]

3 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

The only way it's not a fair comparison is because there's no way on earth The General will be a vinyl exclusive 😂 Whereas we know the two live tracks already are.

If anything, it highlights how moronic the 'vinyl only' theory is. Of course throwaway live tracks will be. An unrealeased studio take from a band that operates like this absolutely won't be.

And are they out there? I've looked, and haven't found them. (I care – love any sort of live material)

Just now, Its Tino said:

4 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

The only way it's not a fair comparison is because there's no way on earth The General will be a vinyl exclusive 😂 Whereas we know the two live tracks already are.

If anything, it highlights how moronic the 'vinyl only' theory is. Of course throwaway live tracks will be. An unrealeased studio take from a band that operates like this absolutely won't be.

And are they out there? I've looked, and haven't found them. (I care – love any sort of live material)

Expand  

I’m sure it is. Just need to ask the right person. 

[Powerage5]

4 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

So, if I got everything right, The General will be an instrumental piece only released in vinyl because it's just a B-side. 

Tens of thousands, and the most vocals ones, that's for sure. 

Just a quick search on YouTube and you see how much visualizations have those videos about the song. 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+history+of+Guns+N'+Roses+The+General

Keep in mind: it will have press coverage that will reach a lot more people outside of the fanbase. And even if most GNR casual fans don't care to hear, the new releases get attention - just see how many reaction videos came out after Perhaps. I don't think we should underestimate the impact that we have both in the band and in the general public perception of the band.

 

Views on YouTube videos don't necessarily correlate with the level of anticipation the forums have, nor do they account of repeat viewings (Not saying there's necessarily a lot of those, but certainly a small number). You don't hype the song up to be the myth it is because a YouTube video told you to - it's a totally different experience than being on the forums, getting the tiniest breadcrumb about it every few years, etc. That's why we in particular have built it up so much compared to a wider audience. There are surely not tens of thousands of unique forum users who have had that experience with this song and all hold it in that regard. 

[axlslash]

3 hours ago, AtlasShrugged said:

It's not going to be physical only you losers. Christ almighty. One person said this and now everyone's running with it. 

Feels like it's almost certainly one of those exclusive limited edition vinyls being released someplace, and something got lost in translation.

[megaguns1982]

I won’t believe it until it’s playing on my speakers. It’s sad that being a guns fan is like this.

once it’s been delivered to the record pressing plant I’ll assume it’s a safe bet.

I only say this because years ago it was mentioned that they pulled a song from CD and switched it out at the final hour and literally changed it out at the Compact disc factory lol

Axl must seriously overthink things sometimes hey

Edited September 19, 2023 by megaguns1982