Axl Rose Slams Irving Azoff In $5 Million Countersuit

[bigcash2002]

Not sure what all the issues have been over the years, maybe we'll hear Axl's version in a book one day....but man, the band certainly has been mismanaged, or struggled with finding and retaining solid management.

[volcano62]

Not sure what all the issues have been over the years, maybe we'll hear Axl's version in a book one day....but man, the band certainly has been mismanaged, or struggled with finding and retaining solid management.

Bad management is the only thing stopping this band from taking over the world!

[GNR4L]

Yeah it's too bad the Better video never came out... only could imagine that it had something to do with Azoff. 

[Jdog0830]

Not sure what all the issues have been over the years, maybe we'll hear Axl's version in a book one day....but man, the band certainly has been mismanaged, or struggled with finding and retaining solid management.

Bad management is the only thing stopping this band from taking over the world!

Aint that the truth dam leaches!!!



Joe

[Albert S Miller]

Honest people can kind of be far and few between these days, especially when it revolves around the almighty dollar.  There is that saying ya know "Money is the root of all evil", I can't help but believe this to be pretty accurate!!

[FunkyMonkey]

Settlement Efforts Between Axl Rose And Former Manager Hit Sour Note

Monday April 11, 2011

Efforts to settle dueling lawsuits involving Guns N' Roses front man Axl Rose and his former manager have hit a sour note, but attorneys told a judge today they will continue their mediation efforts.

During a brief hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rita Miller, the lawyers for Rose and Irving Azoff said they plan to meet with the mediator, a retired judge, on April 25. Trial is scheduled the next day.

Azoff sued Rose in March 2010, claiming the musician owes his company, Front Line Management, more than $1.8 million and broke a verbal agreement to pay the company a 15 percent commission for performances by the band in Taipei, Seoul, Japan, Canada and South America.

Rose countersued last May 17, claiming the manager tried to force him to reunite with the original Guns N' Roses band members and failed to properly promote the band's Chinese Democracy CD.

The suit also claims Azoff lied about a prospective Van Halen super tour and mishandled the band's tour dates.

The countersuit refers to the U.S. Justice Department's recent antitrust lawsuit that sought to stop Ticketmaster and Live Nation from merging over concerns the new entity would have too much control over artists and venues.

Afterwards, Ticketmaster entered into a consent decree with government regulators that allowed the merger to go forward under certain operating provisions.

http://www.bhcourier.com/article/Local/Local/Settlement_Efforts_Between_Axl_Rose_And_Former_Manager_Hit_Sour_Note/75607

[richwoman]

Reading through the article it seems as if Azoff has tried to settle but Axl wants to go ahead Axl must feel like he has a very strong case i think it`s going to get interesting

[Spirit]

Reading through the article it seems as if Azoff has tried to settle but Axl wants to go ahead Axl must feel like he has a very strong case i think it`s going to get interesting

Impossible to say from the article which side was most eager to settle. Could be Axl as well, getting this thing out of the way would certainly pave the way for the most important thing (for us) - the music.

Of course, if Axl feels he has a strong case, I wouldn't count on him backing out of it now.

[willow]

Wish you the best of luck Axl. It's about time someone comes out ahead when it comes too this guy! I don't know a lot about Azoff but I know enough too know he has done nothing but damage the music industry. In my book anyway!

[Spirit]

Ok, richwoman you might be right. Funky didn't include the last part of the article (I just read it now). However, seems to me like typical lawyer-talk where each side are blaming one another.

[FunkyMonkey]

During a brief hearing before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Rita Miller, the lawyers for Rose and Irving Azoff said they plan to meet with the mediator, a retired judge, on April 25. Trial is scheduled the next day.

It looks like this is going to trial.

Funky didn't include the last part of the article (I just read it now). However, seems to me like typical lawyer-talk where each side are blaming one another.

Exactly.

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

Would be easy for Axl to settle, I hope he continues this righteous fight!  Good luck!

[cineater]

Interesting

Concert Ticket Sales Down? No Matter, Biz Deals Lead To Rocking Pay At Live Nation

By DAVID LIEBERMAN

It's fascinating to watch companies in decaying industries resort to financial sleight of hand to try and survive -- which is why we're going to start paying attention to the music business.

But you'd never know that music, including the concert business, is in trouble from the huge compensation packages that Live Nation just revealed it paid last year to its two top executives: chairman Irving Azoff and CEO Michael Rapino. They collectively made $38.7 million, mostly because they engineered several business deals including a merger with Ticketmaster -- a combination that tightened Live Nation's grip over the concert business but provided no discernible benefits for consumers.

The financial gamesmanship certainly worked well for Azoff. He picked up a lot of Ticketmaster stock back when Barry Diller controlled the company and wanted to merge it with Azoff's Front Line, a management firm that handles performers raging from The Eagles to a blues band that Cablevision CEO Jim Dolan fronts in his spare time, JD and the Straight Shot. Diller left Live Nation last year after losing a boardroom battle. Still, Azoff made $22.8 million in 2010, which included $13.8 million for his Ticketmaster and Front Line holdings.

Live Nation also paid $731,130 to a private airplane company that Azoff owns -- as well as salaries to his son, daughter and son-in-law, who hold non-executive jobs at Live Nation. Rapino ended up with nearly $15.9 million, a 138% raise over his compensation in 2009. The total includes a $3 million bonus, $5.4 million in stock awards, and a $3.8 million award that the company says it gave him for "obtaining 2010 financial performance goals." We'll assume that those goals didn't include last year's 9.4% drop in attendance at Live Nation events or concluding 2010 with a net loss of $228.4 million vs. its net loss of $60.2 million in 2009.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/concert-...at-live-nation/

[Chief]

wow this guy is ridiculous. i hope Axl wins!  i cringe when i am forced to buy a ticket from them!!

[richwoman]

22million plus other little bonuses like 731grand to his own private jet company i mean he really needs that extra couple of million from Axl what a greedy little man he is !!

[cineater]

I was thinking incestuous.    Or fuzzy math.

[LunsJail]

I agree that LiveNation/Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly and Azoff is the guy sitting in the big chair behind it all. But it is very interesting how this particular case has gotten so convoluted. Azoff sued because he didn't get paid royalties on tours that he booked for GNR. Simple as that. Then Axl countersued with all this other stuff irrelevant to the original lawsuit. I'm sure that's the reason there's been no US tour and we have yet another chapter in the self-sabotage known as GNR.

[wight gunner]

I'm hoping that not only does Axl win this, but finally goes public and does an interview on the back of a story that has global repercussions.  It would, in my view, be the perfect time to get the real deal about the band into the open. Things like the tour of Japan without the management doing what they were supposed too, but still putting on shows lasting over 3 1/2 hours.... Like touring South America and Europe to sell out audiences, without the promotion that thge management would ordinarly do.... And being shafted on the promotion of CD and how it damaged the creditability of the band because the management didn't do what was needed to be done.

When you add up the little* issues like these, plus the many that we aren't even aware of, $20,000,000 doesn't seem so excessive, baring in mind the gross totals of the shows that are of 10K+ in crowd sizes.

Axl in particular, is treated as a joke, but on this, he needs to be measured and get the story out. To some, many won't regard this line-up as anything but the Axl Rose and friends show, Fcuk 'em. But to many more, its about the music and for them and their kind, Axl needs to reach out and return to doing what he does best, making good ol' Rock n' Roll.  If Axl wins, this potentially has as much impact as the Napster story, music needs it and without the likes of a major name to do so, the promoter [sic] will always cash in on the backs of people more deserving than what they get in return. Axl Rose is that name. He will possibly be the one that see's the world entertaining artists get the deals they deserve and not the shoddy practices that stop the artist from bothering to release music for their fans.

*Bet there's a host of other stuff that is kept out of the limelight also...

[NaturalLight]

Mediation ot arbitration (yes, they're two different things) are almost obligatory in civil suits so this isn't unusual. Don't be surpised if they go before the judge the next day and ask for more time.

[One.In.A.Million]

What makes me really angry about this whole situation, is how everyone was so hopeful about Azoff's involvement with GN'R. I remember everyone googling his name, when Axl announced he was the new manager. 

Too bad he turned out to be yet another snake in the grass, who was only interested in making money for his own cause, while fucking GN'R over.

The court system needs to make an example out of Azoff here, to send a message to all people in the music business who try to screw with artists.