Longtime Rolling Stones promoter claims that Live Nation was sabotaging his negotiations with the band

A federal judge in Florida has agreed to allow veteran concert organizer Michael Cohl sue his former employer Live Nation over rights to promote the next tour by the Rolling Stones. This is unusual, as the band have not made any commitments to tour in the near future.  

Cohl, the former chairman of Live Nation, is being sued by the company for allegedly violating the terms of a 2008 contract in which he was expected to pay a $9.5 million charge for being allowed to work with the Stones, Pink Floyd, Barbra Streisand and other major acts after his departure from the concert promotion giant. Cohl is now allowed to go forward with a countersuit claiming that Live Nation was deliberately sabotaging his negotiations with the Stones about working with them on a possible 50th anniversary tour next year.

Cohl has a long preexisting relationship with the Rolling Stones, and has produced every world tour they have gone on since Steel Wheels in 1989. Nevertheless when news about these lawsuits broke in January, the Stones issued a statement making it clear that they have not been professionally associated with Cohl since the conclusion of their A Bigger Bang tour in 2007.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/concert-promoter-to-sue-live-nation-over-...