The rockers are believed to have left EMI for good

Jun 15, 2008

The Rolling Stones are believed to be leaving record label EMI and signing with concert promotion giants LiveNation.

The band, whose contract with the troubled record label expired in February this year, have already released their live 'Shine A Light' album through a one-record deal with Universal.

The Observer report that the group are on the verge of signing the deal with LiveNation, allowing them to take over the marketing of the group's back catalogue, worth over £3m a year.

The group will likely also take over control of touring and merchandising rights.

EMI has seen stalwarts, including Radiohead and Paul McCartney, leave recently, while Madonna, Jay-Z and U2 have all signed deals with LiveNation.

http://www.nme.com/news/the-rolling-stones/37385

I can see them signing a deal but it no doubt will be based on what if anything they actually deliver besides the post Klein catalog.As much publicity and spin for Live Nation as it is about generating tons of new revenue I d think.Then again if there were no thoughts whatsoever about touring thne why bother going through the process I suppose?

from The Observer

The Rolling Stones are on the verge of ending their 31-year (* ) relationship with EMI, dealing a blow to private equity owner Terra Firma, led by Guy Hands, which acquired the label in a £3.2bn deal last summer.

Sources say the group is close to clinching a deal with Live Nation, the world's largest concert promotion firm, which would market its back catalogue, depriving EMI of around £3m a year. Live Nation, which last year poached Madonna from Warner, would also take highly profitable merchandising and touring rights for future Stones shows, some of which have grossed as much as £750m.

Details of the new deal could be announced in the next fortnight. It is understood that Universal will have a role, with Live Nation licensing new versions of the catalogue to the American label, which would sell them online and as CDs.

-Richard Wachman





(*) - 31 years? Eh?

Stones deny label move from EMI

LONDON (Reuters) - The Rolling Stones have played down a weekend report that the band planned to ditch long-term record company EMI to join concert promoter Live Nation.

But industry experts still believe the British group could soon part ways with the label, which was taken private in 2007 and has struggled to keep some of its biggest artists.

"We are not in talks with Live Nation in connection with any record deal," London-based Rolling Stones spokesman Bernard Doherty said on Monday, reading from a brief statement.

EMI was not immediately available for comment.

The Observer weekly newspaper reported on Sunday that the Stones were on the verge of ending their relationship of more than 30 years with EMI and were "close to clinching a deal with Live Nation". It quoted unspecified "sources".

The report also said the band, a hugely successful touring act estimated to have sold over 200 million albums worldwide, would allow Live Nation to market its back catalogue, depriving EMI of about three million pounds ($5.9 million) a year.

Live Nation Inc already has deals with Madonna and Jay-Z, reportedly worth $120 million and $150 million respectively, as artists look beyond traditional recording deals to tap into increasingly lucrative touring and merchandising revenues.

Profits from music sales have been badly dented by online piracy, and record companies are struggling to come up with answers to declining demand for physical CDs.

EMI lost two of its biggest acts in 2007 -- Paul McCartney and Radiohead. The former Beatle struck a deal with coffee retailer Starbucks while Radiohead offered their album "In Rainbows" online in a "pay-what-you-want" scheme.

http://uk.reuters.com/resources/r/m=02&d=20080616&t=2&i=4779798&w=&r=2008-06-16T...

EMI could lose the Rolling Stones too.

"It is probably safe to assume that the band will be walking away," said one source familiar with the situation who asked not to be named.

The fact that the Rolling Stones released the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's documentary "Shine a Light" through rival label Universal this year in a one-album deal should have been "seen as a sign" that the end was nigh, the source added.

EMI was taken over last year by private equity firm Terra Firma, which has been unpopular with some of the acts signed to the label. It announced up to 2,000 job cuts in January.

It has not all been bad news for the label's new owners, however.

Coldplay's latest album "Viva La Vida or Death And All His Friends" sold 302,000 copies in Britain in the first three days, taking it to the top of British album chart on Sunday.

It is on track to beat the band's 2005 hit record "X&Y", which sold 465,000 copies in Britain in its first week. The new album goes on sale in the key U.S. market this week.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

- REUTERS

God, Coldplay sold more records in three days than all the Stones releases since 1997 combined (except 40 Licks)

the band have now released a statement denying they've had any contact with Live Nation

The Rolling Stones 'not signing to Madonna and Jay-Z's label'

Band say they have had no contact with Live Nation

   
The Rolling Stones, whose contract with record label EMI expired in February this year, have denied that they are set to sign a multi-million pound record deal with concert promoter Live Nation.

Rumours that The Rolling Stones were set to sign with Live Nation – with whom the likes of Madonna and Jay-Z have lucrative contracts – were circulating on Sunday (June 15).

However, the band have since issued a statement denying they have had any contact with the company.

The statement read: "We are not in talks with Live Nation in connection with any record deal".

http://www.nme.com/news/the-rolling-stones/37427

Negotiating ploy, on the face of it.

Jeep wrote on Jun 20^th, 2008 at 9:28am:



the ins and outs of all this is over my head, but any business deal that sees Cohl being ousted cant really be that bad or fan-unfriendly!

With the price of gas going sky-high this summer, I can't see a tour in the works for any major talent like the Stones.  Rumblings are McCcartney will tour later in the year, but fuel for the tour trucks will run through a great deal of money.

Whither Jake?

So Cohl "who helped usher in the $500 concert ticket" is being forced out. Best of all this prick lost $54million on his stock dropping 44%.Looks good on him.I've been paying through the nose since his early Toronto days with CPI and have no use for him.He now has sold U2 to Live Nation and that leaves him with only one card left in the deck of course being The Stones.I hope he does have a non compete clause which will ensure he isnt "ushering in the era of $1000 Stones tickets" (fuck who am I kidding we're already there)

AEG Report Slow Sales For George Michael, Sheryl Crow, STP
6/13/08

SAN DIEGO -- George Michael recently announced that his touring days are coming to an end and a recent article in the San Diego Weekly Reader may shine some light on why. According to the Reader, tickets for Michael's upcoming June 17 gig at the Sports Arena are not moving as well as might be expected, leading some observers to speculate that it may be a lean summer for promoters.
The Reader is reporting that out of 15,000 tix for the event, only about 4,000 have sold so far, just over 25%.

"AEG is hurting with George Michael," an apparently well-informed insider told the Reader "Michael is kicking off his first U.S. tour in 18 years at the Sports Arena, and they have only sold 4000 tickets.

And its not just Michael, Sheryl Crow and the Stone Temple Pilots are also selling below the hoped-for numbers. Local promoters told the paper that sales appear to be off overall by as much as 20%.

"You always hear about the high cost of tickets with extra Ticketmaster charges and everything and that eventually the promoters will respond and bring tickets back down to earth. I think the promoters will get burned so badly this year that this will finally be the year they wake up and start bringing prices down for next year." the unnamed promoter told The Reader.

Not everyone is quite as sure. Some suspect that people are waiting until the last minute to buy tickets.

"I would say that advance ticket sales are down 30 percent, but day-of-show sales are actually up. By waiting to buy tickets on the day of show, people are avoiding Ticketmaster altogether." another local promoter told the paper.

a change might do them good and hopefully they'll come out with something a tad better than their last effort.  i am still digging on bigger bang but, usually i like to hear more than 4 good songs from a 15-17 [whatever it was] cd.