Michael Cohl, the Rolling Stones' longtime concert promoter, is claiming in a countersuit against former employer Live Nation that he (not Live Nation) has the right to promote a Rolling Stones tour planned for 2011. In a report published on January 31, 2011, The Hollywood Reporter broke the story about Cohl's countersuit, which has the next Rolling Stones tour at the center of the conflict.
In 2007, Cohl became chairman and the largest individual shareholder of Beverly Hills, California-based Live Nation, after Live Nation bought Cohl’s company Concert Productions International for $123 million in stock and $10 million in cash. Cohl left Live Nation in 2008, amid reported conflicts with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino.
All of this legal wrangling could delay the next Stones tour. When the tour starts still remains in question.
If not settled out of court, these type of civil lawsuits can typically drag on for a few years before they get a trial date. However, almost all of these type of lawsuits are settled out of court. It is highly unlikely that this case will go to trial, because a trial would be too costly for any planned Stones tour, and the Rolling Stones would not want all of their tour financials out on display in public court records if this case went to trial.
Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood told the media at this year's South Bank Sky Arts Media Awards that the Stones will work together again "maybe next year." He made this comment on January 25, 2011, just a few weeks after the Stones reportedly held a meeting to discuss the band's future.
Cohl is currently president of the Toronto-based company the BCL Group, named for its partners William Ballard, Cohl and John Labatt. Cohl has been promoting Rolling Stones tours since the band’s 1989 "Steel Wheels" trek. That tour, as well as other Stones tours that followed, broke box-office records. According to Billboard, the Rolling Stones’ "A Bigger Bang" tour (which lasted from 2005 to 2007) had revenues totaling $437 million, and it ranks as the top-grossing tour of all time.
Cohl’s exit agreement with Live Nation was confidential until Live Nation filed its lawsuit against him. Part of the exit agreement that has now been made public is that Cohl signed a deal to not promote any tours that would compete with Live Nation’s tours, with the exception of tours by the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and Barbra Streisand. Cohl was also allowed to produce a limited number of Broadway shows under the exception to the non-compete clause.
As part of the exit deal, Cohl agreed to pay $9.85 million in installments to Live Nation in return for various assets. According to Live Nation’s lawsuit, Cohl is accused of not keeping up his end of the bargain, and Live Nation is seeking payment plus interest.
In Cohl's countersuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he claims that Live Nation sent him a letter in February 2010, stating that the company would bid against Cohl for a 2011 Rolling Stones tour which had not yet been announced, and then later proposed that the next Rolling Stones tour would be a joint venture between Cohl and Live Nation.
The Hollywood Reporter says in the article:
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 Rolling Stones tour later this year is expected to be one of the biggest in concert history. It's the 50th anniversary for the band, which through the years has enjoyed a number of financially lucrative tours.
Cohl calls promotional rights on this upcoming tour "the crown jewel" of the agreement he made with Live Nation in 2008. He says the value of this asset would have more than accounted for the $5 million he owes the company. In other words, Cohl implies that Live Nation would have gotten its money if it hadn't been the first to breach the agreement.
Cohl's countersuit also reveals that members of the Rolling Stones, including Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, have been informed by both parties of the "spat" and that they have expressed a desire not to get dragged into the middle of the dispute. But Cohl says the fuss is causing damage anyway. Live Nation has attempted to hurt his standing with the band's representatives, maintains Cohl.
There are a few things things to note about this report. First, the Rolling Stones actually formed in 1962, not 1961, which would make 2012 (not 2011) the band's 50th anniversary. However, the writer of the article may not have known that, and it could simple be a fact-checking error by The Hollywood Reporter.
Second, and more importantly, is the timeline of all the insider talk about when the Stones will next tour again. Cohl says in his countersuit that far back as February 2010, he and Live Nation were in disagreement over a Stones tour which had been planned (but not yet announced) for 2011, which would explain why Richards and Wood kept dropping hints in their 2010 interviews that the next Stones tour would be in 2011.
However, Wood's most recent comments to the media indicate that the band may not work together again until 2012.
The bottom line is that unless this conflict between Live Nation and Cohl is resolved, any plans the Stones may have had to tour in 2011 are now in jeopardy.
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