Chinese Democracy which meant that the salaried musicians, engineers, and assistants were often unable to work; Zutaut said: "These fucking people are getting paid shitloads of money and they’re sitting on their arse doing nothing because Axl’s not coming to the studio and they can’t get him on the phone." Zutaut estimated that Guns N' Roses were working on 50 or 60 songs; he went through each with Rose, trying to decide which were worth finishing. According to Zutaut, during his time with the band they completed versions of "The Blues", "Madagascar", "Chinese Democracy", and a "good" version of "Atlas Shrugged". When
Chinese Democracy anti-piracy video with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Cogill said he never made the video with the RIAA because they did not want to spend money on production costs. In 2014, Cogill said that he could not be charged for releasing copyrighted material because the court could not prove that the album was being prepared for commercial distribution: "The US government would have to prove, in court, that "Chinese Democracy" was really coming. And no one at the RIAA or the label had informed the government that these songs had been lying around for 14 years. Only that