Jared Speaks!
Filed under: Music Minute > When Celebrities Blog > Jared Leto
Jared Leto is speaking out about that lawsuit brought against him by his own record label.
And, you know what????
We agree with Leto!
The actor/singer just wrote the following on his official blog:
A LETTER FROM THE FRONT: 30 SECONDS TO MARS / EMI (THE LAWSUIT)
To our Friends and Fans,
Despite rumors to the contrary, 30 Seconds to Mars is NOT calling it quits. We are incredibly happy, healthy and very much together here, in Los Angeles, recording our new record. Besides this ridiculously overblown lawsuit (courtesy of Virgin/EMI), we are having one of the most inspiring, wonderful and exciting times that we've experienced to date. (More on that later…)
Beyond this distraction, we are so incredibly grateful to all of you around the world that have supported us so passionately. We would never consider stopping this just yet. These past few phenomenal years have been beyond imaginable and we owe every single bit of it to you. Thank you all for that!
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.
A little history…
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sued by the corporation quite simply because roughly 45 days ago we exercised our legal right to terminate our old, out of date contract, which, according to the law is null and void.
We terminated for a number of reasons, which we won't go into here (we'd rather not air any dirty laundry) but basically our representatives could not get EMI to agree to make a fair and reasonable deal.
A few things to note…
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.
That, and other issues, like the new regime at EMI firing most of the people we know and love, wanting to place advertisements on our website, EMI owning 100 percent of the masters of our record…forever, and basically having a revolving door of regimes at the company made it easy to not want to continue as is.
As the result of this takeover - and the firing of over 2000 employees - we have lost many of the people that were near and dear to us at Virgin/EMI and crucial to the success of 30 Seconds to Mars. A few of the great ones are still there, but it is hardly the same company we have known. After more than 5 regime changes in 9 years you'd think we would be used to the inconsistency, but the team that took the journey together for A Beautiful Lie was a very very special group of people and it's a huge loss that so many of them are gone. (Quick fact: There is not a single employee at Virgin Records who was working at the company when we signed.)
FYI Virgin/EMI was not required to make this lawsuit public or to list such an egregiously and stupendously large amount of mullah. In fact, they were not required to set any price even close to this. We did not want to take this public, but we felt it best to explain our point of view to you, our
friends and fans, in hope that you can better understand our point of view.We would always do our best to avoid a fight, but sometimes it's important to stand up for what you believe in. We hope that by doing what's right we can help to change things for the better, for ourselves and possibly others.
P.S. We will always remain grateful to the people at Virgin/EMI who were so integral to our success. And we hope that, above all, we can find a resolution to this in as civil and kind a way as possible.
There are certainly more important things out there in the world to spend time and energy on.
To be continued…
Jared Leto
30 Seconds to Mars
Shady record labels are out to screw ya!
What do U think about the situation and what Leto says?????
[Image via Mavrix Online.]
Mr.Leto: I want everything that comes out of your body smeared on my face. Twice.
looong ago, and oh so far away.
i read this freaking entry, and aged another day….
SEXY SEXY!
No ones happy unless they're suing someone!!!
I'm not a Leto fan either, but this is definitely a royal screwing! These stupid record companies were left in the dust with the advent of peer-to-peer music sharing and they still haven't fully adapted. So they decide to screw the ARTI$T$? WTF?
thats f*ckup !!!!
he's right
.:swoon:. he is soooooo easy on the ojitos..
Despite Perez having had a poke at Jared in the past for "being a douche" I've met him several times and he's actually a really nice guy and so are the rest of 30 Seconds to Mars. To add to that, last year before the annual Kerrang! rock magazine awards in London, this band spent over AN HOUR signing and taking photos with their fans who waited patiently outside the venue and they did the same after the event.
Jared is RIGHT. The major records labels, not just Virgin/EMI have all been having a lot of changes going on within the last year and so many staff have been left with no jobs. This same shit has been happening at Sony and Warner Music, too. I have a friend who worked for one of these major labels, not saying which one, but she was left without a job in publicity over a year ago now and others followed. When a band sell a lot of records, FUCKING PAY THEM. Jared, Tomo and Shannon should damn well sue back and get what they are owed! Every last dollar of it!
Wow. Stupid record labels eff everything up
This explains a lot!!! I'm glad you posted this. The truth comes out…
i HATE the fact that i agree with mr. soul glow himself but i do…. but regardless that he actually had someone write something that makes sense for him…. i say FUCK JARED LETO AND HIS GREASE TOP.
good for him standing up to the company bitches. that is ridiculous that they haven't seen any money from their huge success. labels are killing the music!!
Yuck! That's outrageous that he's never even been paid and now they say he OWES them?? Something's not right here.
30 Seconds to Uranus is getting reamed.
Jared should stick with movies. They pay and with less hassle. Then, he can go make his own music in his own studio and cut the music biz right out entirely.
FUCK THE RIAA
i'm so glad Jared has stepped forward to clear this up for us fans and he didnt even have to! (and yes he did write that.. it has Jared's personality written all over it) the band is getting royally screwed and i have to agree that they should sue them back for not receiving their compensations for the work THEY did… i wonder if that's the reasons why they toured for so friggin long (3yr +)…
PROHEVITO IN ALTUM!
He writes perfectly!!!! Not like some stupid blogers who just don´t know any gram.
I think he is right…you have to stand up for what you believe in.
Ugh. Not only is he right, but he sounds very reasonable and articulate. Damn it, I never thoought I could be team Leto - damn you, EMI.
i think hes right. and i think record labels are greedy and evil.
Jared is a big ass but I think he's a pretty smart guy when it comes down to it. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
BUT! IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME FOR ANOTHER RECORD.
Perez¡¡¡ porque tienes esa mania a Jared??? que te ha hecho el chico???
I think I threw up in my mouth a little but….
you know, i hate to say this, but i'm on 30 Seconds to Mars side on this…even though their emo music sucks =) i thought his post was well written, giving enough information on the situation (which is MOST unfair) without making everyone on the other side seem completley evil. very mature and well handled.
TEAM LETO!
It's outragous what EMI/Virgin has done to 30 Seconds to Mars
Come on, to sell 2 million albums and tour endlessly since 2005 and not
get a dime? That's insane. Yes there was a contract but the artist should
also be properly compensated for services rendered and procucts produced.
evil record company…
I know a lot of ppl dont like him but i do and respect the hell out of him.
He is tremendously talentented and if you had ever been or seen any of his live shows you would understand how much passion and dedication he has to his music. And to boot when he sings accapella he can put goosebumps on your entire body, his voice is that amazing.
I didnt even know who he was when i 1st heard his band on the kerrang music channel here in the uk and got addicted to the from yesterday video, and then i fell in love with the rest of his music.
To think that i have purchased both of his albums and the band have never been paid ? Absolute disgrace, i do not buy albums from ppl i love to have them get screwed by record companies.
Jared sweetheart start your own record company and we will just buy all your future music directly from you.
Take care and stay strong xoxo
THANK YOU for seeing that emi is the douche in this case. you can think what you want about leto, but I agree with him sfm in this case.
30Million is more than ridiculous and I think he is being very good at explaining things for us.
team leto in this one!!
Re: Andy27 – YOUR COMMENT IS DISGUSTING!!! REPULSIVE & MAKES ME WANT TO VOMIT!!! And it's not the fact that you want something smeared on your face….I'm all with you about that. It's the fact that you want it from Jared Leto that makes me sick to my stomach. He's not good looking - AT ALL!!! Now…if you were to say you want fluids from Kiefer Sutherland to be smeared up & down & all around….your face - then I would understand. I mean….who wouldn't want Kiefer's love juice all over them?
wow he made really good points, he can write a long long text and show how smart he is! Love it! I hope he gains more fans and his new record label gives 20SM enough space to create their own music and experiment in the way! They are great!!!!
It's a cold day in hell when you're on Leto's side…and I like it!!!!
Jordan Catelano 4 ever!!!
He is right! And he is so fuckin hotttttttt
Wow, sounds like the record company tried to pull a fast one and Leto caught them on their bullshit! TEAM 30STM
I agree with Jared! Record labels are a$$hole$!
I love him! & he's right.
Perez, go after EMI the same way you go after Jared. They at least deserve the beat-down. It wastes a considerable amount of our tax dollars to file lawsuits that have no merit. EMI should be forced to repay the State of California for filing a frivolous lawsuit.
(=
i have to admit i am a bit of a fangirl to jared leto.
but if it was really the fault of his and 30stm's i wouldn't deny it.
he and the band caught Virgin records screwing them over and now they are paying for it.
hopefully when they take it to court people will see that this big label fucked up and if 30stm wasn't as successful they probably wouldnt be sueing.
i mean when they did the whole contract thing im sure they knew jared has his acting career.
he just finished two movies, the band finished their international tour, jared just hosted asia tv awards, and they are just getting back from beijing. and not to mention jared writes all the songs and its not like the company was giving them songs and they were refusing to record.
i mean they should be thankful that 30 seconds to mars brought in soo much money for them from their success,
its all bullshit.
Damn,Virgin/EMI needs to pay those bitches!
30 mios are more than perverted !
You're right, Mr. Leto. I hope you will without war.
You're right, Mr. Leto. I hope you will WIN without war.
(sorry dyslexia)
Industry rule #4080
a) never been paid? guess he forgot they got an advance.
b) can't imagine why they're unrecouped? it took a lot of money to break them. a LOT. and te band being recouped has nothing to do with the label making a profit or breaking even.
c) album contracts are for album options, not years of service. you can't take your sweet ass time delivering an album and then claim the contract's expired.
They were represented by an attorney when they signed.
He can whine all he wants.
In fact, since their record is almost complete, hell, all these "news" stories are garnering more press for 30STM then they could afford to pay for. Sounds like a stunt. And with the way EMI has been dropping artists and employees, there's got to be something to it. It's called HYPE
I hope that the money from the new album doesnt go to EMI, and I hope the guys counter-sue to GET money instead of PAYING more. Its just fucked up. BUt Perez I'm glad you can at least see the truth. People who don”t like you and say bad things should look at this, you dislike Jared but you are on the side of right. I'm proud! Maybe you'll start to like Jared!
Team Leto!
Virgin/EMI embodies everything that's corrupt about corporate America.I hope they not only lose, but also have to pay out to 30 secs from Mars!
This is like what happened to TLC…remember how they didn't make any money from their most famous and top selling CD Crazy Sexy Cool, and then had to file for bankruptcy??