Courtney Love sues record label
Just when it seemed that Courtney Love was maintaining a long, uncharacteristically low profile, the take-no-prisoners grande dame of grunge has exploded into activity.
In one day, Love resolved to sue her record label, Universal, to get out of pending contractual obligations; announced that she intends to create a union for recording artists; said she wants unreleased Nirvana recordings to come out on Epitaph Records; and revealed plans for an all-star, all-women punk band.
On Wednesday, Love filed a countersuit against the Universal Music Group, which sued Love in January 2000, claiming she was backing out of her contract before delivering all of the albums it required. Love claims major labels, acting together as an illegal trust, force artists to sign unfair contracts that give the labels the upper hand while leaving artists little means by which to collect what they have earned.
Standard recording contracts typically require, Love laywer A. Barry Cappello said, "unconscionable, impossible-to-perform" duties put "upon recording artists with the full knowledge that the artists have no choice except to sign them if they want access to the marketing campaigns that only a major label can provide."
Love and her attorney are also targeting the industry's 1987 amendment of California Labor Code 2855, known as the "De Havilland Law." The 56-year-old labor code, which allows the termination of contracts between creative artists and entertainment companies after seven years, was amended to allow record labels to sue artists for damages if they fail to fulfill their contracts. When fighting for the amendment, the record industry claimed that heavy investments in the development and marketing of artists required long-term contracts in order to recoup those expenses.
In her statement, Love said, "record companies lied in 1987 to convince the California legislature that recording artists should be indentured servants at no pay for their entire careers, even though writers, directors, actors, athletes and anyone else in the arts is able to exercise their rights under the 'De Havilland Law.'"
Should Love prevail, the relationship between artists and record labels could fundamentally change, and the Big Five labels' purported stranglehold over the business workings of artists could be weakened.
Love and Cappello could not be reached for comment; Universal had no comment at press time.
A Universal spokesperson described Love's contract to the Los Angeles Times as a "fair, industry-standard agreement" that was "willingly" signed. Universal also maintains, in legal papers, that Love's lawsuit is a "meritless, inflammatory diatribe" designed to attract media attention.
Universal's suit against Love was filed after she announced Hole were leaving their label, Geffen, despite only finishing two records of a five-album deal. In announcing her departure, Love said the Geffen Records that Hole signed to is not, as far as she is concerned, the same as the one that exists now. David Geffen sold his label to the Matsushita corporation in 1991, which then sold Geffen Records and all the other labels under the MCA umbrella to the Canadian liquor company Seagrams in 1998. Last year Seagrams sold its entertainment holdings to Vivendi, a French waste-management/communications corporation.
In another statement released Wednesday, Love accused Universal of threatening her — unless she agrees to their terms, she said, "no record of mine or of Nirvana's will ever see the light of day."
Love controls the catalog of Nirvana, who were led by her late husband, Kurt Cobain. "There are amazing songs that Kurt wrote and recorded that no one has ever heard. I can't wait to put these recordings out," she said. "Of course, Universal had also threatened to destroy the Nirvana catalog by not releasing these unheard songs."
She said she hopes Epitaph Records will consider releasing the songs, but so far Epitaph has only agreed to help her assemble a "femme-punk" supergroup and fund work on her next album while she wages war with Universal. An Epitaph spokesperson could not provide any further details.
Love also said she wishes to start a union for recording artists — one that would protect the their interests better than existing musicians unions. She accused the Recording Industry Association of America, the music industry's lobbying organization, of discouraging past efforts to establish strong unions.
"I'm driven by the misfortune of other artists who don't have my privilege and ability. Beyond protecting my music and Kurt's music and Kurt's family, I want to protect and create opportunity for other artists," Love said in her statement.
Melissa's departure
Be A Man - Hole's new single
•Courtney Love to present Golden Globe Award
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•Hole stop to help injured motorists
•More on Hole's Heroic Rescue
•Courtney to Guest on Dawson's Creek?
•Kid Rock asks Courtney to appear in new video
•Melissa to appear on cover of "Paper"
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•More on Hole's departure from tour
•Melissa displays her photography skills in Flaunt magazine
*Lilith Shows Cancelled Hole backed out of Lilith for Courtney's new movie.
*Melissa to Model for Calvin Klein Calvin Klein came out with
*Edgefest Compilation According to my friend Jenn,
Hole will be included on an upcoming compilation cd to support Edgefest. Hole's song will be
Best Sunday Dress.
Courtney Love Explains Where Her Rock Rage Has Gone
Sporting the attitude that has elevated her to the pop spotlight, Courtney Love went on a media blitz Monday, eager to stir further interest in Hole's latest record, "Celebrity Skin," which debuted in the Top 10 earlier this month.
Some critics have accused the makeover in Hole's sound and Love's image as Love having turned her back on the punk-driven, girl-rage image reflected in the band's earlier albums. As Love recently told MTV, such a take on her four-year interim since Hole's last album would be a misreading of her musical loyalties -- which answer to a higher calling.
"I grew up with a guitar in my hand," Love said, "I grew up being told to find the hook in everything. And I made this weird detour in life that I wanted [to do], and that I'm glad that I made. When I made 'Pretty on the Inside' and then towards when we made 'Live Through This,' the whole thing, the whole time was the internal AM radio, the internal Top 40 radio that was going on in me."
"It's not my job to articulate female rage," she added, "I think it's more my job to craft songs really well, because I don't see a lot of rock women doing it."
Real Video version
Courtney Promises To Stay On Stage For Hole Tour
With the band's "Celebrity Skin" arriving in stores this week, fans can expect Hole to hit the road in the near future, but not in the same way that concertgoers may be accustomed to.
When asked recently if she'll be participating in any of the stage diving antics that she became infamous for the last time around, Hole frontwoman Courtney Love said, "I don't think I can do that anymore. That's one contrived thing. I was watching Shirley (Manson, Garbage singer) actually, and I knew she wanted to."
Love joked about the legal consequences that have squashed such primal concert displays, saying, "I think that's over, and if you watch Court TV... oh forget it." [28.8 RealAudio]
Fans can get a taste of what Hole's approach to the stage this time around may be when the band plays this week's Video Music Awards on Thursday. The band will roll out the title track to "Celebrity Skin," and will join a list of performers that includes the Beastie Boys, Marilyn Manson, Master P, Brandy and Monica, the Backstreet Boys, Madonna, and others.
Hole and Courtney Love are featured in the lastest issue of Addicted to Noise.. http://www.addict.com
Surprise Semisonic Show Draws Courtney Love, Howard Jones
Courtney Love and Howard Jones were among the guests on hand for a surprise Semisonic show Saturday night at the Viper Room in West Hollywood, celebrating the end of the band's recent tour with Soul Asylum and Matchbox 20.
The tour actually ended a night later at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater in Irvine, California. The band will take a short break before heading back on the road to
headline its own set of fall dates. After that, the band plans to head overseas for a European tour in support of its sophomore album, "Feeling Strangely Fine," which is just being released in many countries abroad.
Semisonic is also preparing to release its next single, "Singing in My Sleep," the video of which was directed by Chris Appelbaum, the same man behind the clip for the band's breakthrough "Closing Time" (see "Semisonic Wants Fans To Sing Them To Sleep For New Video").
Garbage's Manson Talks About Returning Courtney Love's Admiration
Like most everyone else on the planet, eight-time Video Music Award nominee Garbage is anxiously awaiting the release of the upcoming Hole album dubbed, "Celebrity Skin."
In a recent interview, Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson told MTV News how much she admires her fellow rock act and its singer, Courtney Love. For those of you keeping score, you'll remember that Love -- also a fan of Manson's -- spoke up last month at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards' press conference about her own deep admiration for Garbage (see "Courtney Love Talks About Hole's Video Music Awards Date"). Upon hearing of Love's endorsement, Manson, decided to return the compliment.
"I've been a long-time admirer of Courtney and she came to our show in L.A. and we actually had a joke about it," Manson told MTV News of a meeting between the two. "She goes, 'You rock!' and I said, 'That's just 'cause... you're just saying that 'cause I've been nice about you in the press, and she was laughing her head off and saying, 'Bleh...' Whatever. I love her dearly, and for her to say such nice things about our band and me, I take it as a huge compliment because I think she is an amazing rock star and up there with some of the greats, and there's not many you know. If you look back over the last 20 years, and there's not many who are even in her league. So it's a compliment that she came to our show and she likes what we do. I'm dying to hear the new record. I've heard it's amazing."
Both acts will be in attendance at the 1998 Video Music Awards ceremony held at the Universal Amphitheater in Universal City, California on September 10. Love's band, Hole, will be performing, while Manson's band, Garbage, will be there to support their heavily nominated video "Push It."
New videos from Hole, Marilyn Manson, Pearl Jam, Lauryn Hill, and Rob Zombie should all be hitting the airwaves before the end of the month.
First to the plate will be shock-rocker-gone-glam Marilyn Manson, whose first video from his upcoming "Mechanical Animals" album, for a song titled "Dope Show," will premiere on MTV this Thursday. The Paul Hunter-directed clip will debut at 11 a.m., and again at 3 and 9 p.m.
Pearl Jam will also soon return to the video fold with the Todd McFarlane-animated clip for "Do The Evolution" which should hit MTV early next week.
Monday will see the premiere of the first solo effort from the Fugees' Lauryn Hill, the video for "Lost Ones" from Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." The clip will make its first appearances Monday, August 24 at 11 a.m., and at 3 and 9 p.m.
Later next week, Hole will unveil the first video from the band's upcoming "Celebrity Skin" album. The clip, for the album's title track, will premiere on MTV on Wednesday, August 26 at 11 a.m., and at 3 and 9 p.m.
Finally, fans should also soon be getting a taste of Rob Zombie's solo work. The first solo video from the White Zombie frontman, "Dragula," has been added to the MTV playlist. Zombie, who directed the video himself as he so often did with White Zombie, will release his solo album, "Hellbilly Deluxe," next Tuesday.
