Rolling Stones Tour Plans Revealed In Lawsuit
According to legal documents the band were due to tour later this year
The Rolling Stones' potential tour plans appear to have emerged in a bitter legal feud between tour promoter Live Nation and their former Chairman, Michael Cohl.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that in November, the music giant sued Cohl for $5.35 million for allegedly breaching the terms of an agreement made at the time he left the company. Now Cohl has struck back, saying that it was Live Nation that first breached the very same contract by attempting to "interfere" and "destroy" his opportunity to procure promotional rights to a Rolling Stones tour later this year.
When Cohl left in 2008, he signed a financial agreement that spelled out how exactly he would compete against Live Nation going forward. Cohl was to pay $9.85 million in installments to Live Nation in return for various assets, including a non-compete exemption to continue working with and promoting tours by the Stones, Pink Floyd and Barbara Streisand.
Live Nation sued Cohl for allegedly failing to pay $5.35 million in the 2008 agreement. But Cohl says that Live Nation never lived up to its side of the deal.
Last February, Live Nation sent Cohl a letter informing him that it was going to bid against Cohl for the Rolling Stones' next concert tour, which hadn't yet been announced. The company followed up with an e-mail stating that Cohl could still pursue the band's tour, but only through a joint venture. Live Nation also wanted Cohl to detail his negotiations with the Rolling Stones, which Cohl says would give Live Nation key info that could be used to undercut his own bid.
Later, Live Nation allegedly proposed competing separately for a Rolling Stones tour. Cohl says the proposal amounted to a breach of his contract with his former employer. Cohl says he paid Live Nation $20 million for the right to not bid against the company for the Rolling Stones tour, to have Live Nation finance the tour, to have Live Nation perform the services of "Executive Global Promoter" of the tour, and to receive two-thirds of the promoter's profits from the tour.
The case continues.