Editorial
Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed and back! To all those who were luck enough to get to Give It A Name this year will know what a rejuvenation it was. The UK's young upstart rock festival has proved… …more»
Elsewhere in columns
- Maria Lax
Our new Finnish correspondant on the impact of a little known Eurovision band... - James McLaren
Sound Nation's editor on The Internet, Profile Sites and Viral Marketing - Orianne
Rock Pics' Photographer Orianne takes a walk through the French rock scene
Media & Interactive Goodies
Goodies for your perusal also include live mp3 and video streams of the latest alternative bands…
Plus online radio, e-cards and other random online stuff!
New goodies this week include FRANK TURNER, AUGUST BURNS RED and HATEBREED …more»
The Big Feature
HORSE THE BAND
Whatever you make of their electro riffing, "Nintendocore"-branded mob Horse The Band just can't be ignored. With hardcore heart and sample-infused riffs, they've shunned the easy path, blowing their credit cards for a self-booked and self-financed world tour. In our new interview, Erik Engstrom tells us about bribing border guards, and why "the underground" no longer exists in the original sense. It's all here.
Elsewhere on the site right now... LIGHTS. ACTION! on riding tigers onstage... DAMN THIS DESERT AIR on what's come out of Nora, Instruction and Elemae... STAPLETON on their past, present and future... MAYBESHEWILL on deceptively rude artwork... THE TRUTH ABOUT COMETS on their Botch-bothering new demo... and last but by no means least, KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES give us a track-by-track of their debut album...
From the moshpit, we bring you reports on GLASSJAW, ROLO TOMASSI, ELLIOT MINOR, LIGHTS. ACTION!, BLAKFISH and THROATS and MATHS. There's Reviews of CULT OF LUNA, 36 CRAZYFISTS, NINE INCH NAILS, DOWN I GO, TORCHE and more... There's also Videos and Music from MESHUGGAH, FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND, and WEEZER...
…more»Elsewhere in features
DEATH BY STEREO…
BETWEEN THE SCREAMS…
THE ARUSHA ACCORD…
RABBIT JUNK…
NSDWOAH!…
Designer Label: HOLY ROAR RECORDS…
RIP Punktastic Recordings…
Track-By-Track: KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES - Smart Casual…
News
EMI vs 30 Seconds To Mars 6:17am, 19 Aug 2008
However, frontman Jared Leto posted on their myspace revealing that for all the success of their last album, they were $1.4 million in debt. How? Because they haven't seen any of the money they were owed for an album that sold two million copies.
In a myspace blog, Leto wrote:
"So, as you may have heard we are being sued by our former record company for the ridiculously oversized, totally unrealistic and pretty silly (but slightly clever) sum of $30,000,000. Insane? Yea that's what we said too.
...
We had been signed to our record contract for 9 years. Basically, under California law, where we live and signed our deal, one cannot be bound to a contract for more than 7 years. This is widely known by all the record companies and has been for years. In fact, so aware of it are they that they desperately try to make deals outside of California whenever possible. It is a law that protects people from lengthy, unfair, career-spanning contracts. This law also gave us the legal right to explore other possible opportunities.
Yes we have been sued by EMI. But NOT for failing to deliver music or for 'quitting'. We have been sued by the corporation quite simply because roughly 45 days ago we exercised our legal right to terminate our old, out of date contract, which, according to the law is null and void."
He went on to add:
"If you think the fact that we have sold in excess of 2 million records and have never been paid a penny is pretty unbelievable, well, so do we. And the fact that EMI informed us that not only aren't they going to pay us AT ALL but that we are still 1.4 million dollars in debt to them is even crazier. That the next record we make will be used to pay off that old supposed debt just makes you start wondering what is going on. Shouldn't a record company be able to turn a profit from selling that many records? Or, at the very least, break even? We think so."
An EMI spokesperson responded:
"We have been forced to take procedural, legal steps in order to protect EMI’s investment and rights during contract renegotiations initiated by the band and management. We hope to resolve these matters amicably and put them behind us so we can continue working in partnership with the band to take them to even greater levels of success."
It's a nice set of options for them, and sends a great message; Work with us or we'll sue you 'til your homeless.