The Contract between GN'R and Universal.

[Loaded]

I read Tommy's interview today (about GN'R not recording in the near future) and it got me thinking...

If i'm Axl and i don't feel comfortable doing things as The Record Label tells me, why should i record a single note that will end up in their pockets. Everything Axl has done in the past 15 years makes no sense. He is digging his own grave, if you ask me.

1. No promotion of the band (They don't even have a band picture to be put in a newspaper ,when they go on tour)

2. No videos (yes videos, they are very much alive)

3. In Axl's own words he doesn't make appearances when he doesn't have anything to promote. What's he promoting now? Appetite? 'Cause if he's promoting CD he should of done it in November 2008.

4. He has like what? 40 songs that he won't put out????

The only explanation to me is that he wants the label off his back.

Are they under the same contract that they signed in 1986? If anyone has any info about their contract i'd like to hear it.

[Nick85]

I would love to know what, if anything, is delaying the release of the next album. Statments from within the band as well as those close to them seem to suggest that it's the label, not Axl, who's responsible for the lack of more new music from GNR.

[AGS]

If im not wrong, GNR still have to make another record for Universal, cant remember if they signed for 3 (GH+CD+...) or five records.

I remember an interview when they told what happened when a disc was handled to the label, they wanted to change a song or two, then back to the studio, after the record returned, they wanted that some producer mixed some things, then went back to recording, and so on... ill try to find it, it was very interesting read.

I guess its hard to get a record label like Universal off your back, even if u have lots of money and etc

AVC: Chinese Democracy took all of 10 years to make. What was the recording process like? I mean, you couldn’t have been working at it every day for 10 years.

Tommy Stinson: At first we were in there a lot. We were working on the writing aspect of it, but it just kept going on. We had [interscope Chairman] Jimmy Iovine intervening in a not-so-productive way, and we had other guys coming and going with nutty ideas. My summation of the whole thing is that Interscope, when they took over Geffen, really led Axl to believe that Jimmy Iovine would be involved, and would help get this record done and make it happen. But basically what he did was let it completely fall apart. Then he had this great idea to bring in [producer] Roy Thomas Baker to make it sound better. All he did was re-record everything three or four different times, trying to make it sound like something it didn’t need to sound like, and spend $10 million in the process. My two cents on the whole thing is that I really think Jimmy Iovine fucked the whole thing up.

It was a bummer. Most of the songs that are on the record now were done 10 fucking years ago. But all the talking heads in the mix were saying, “Make ’em sound better! Make ’em sound better!” So we kept redoing this and that. And it ended up coming back down to the same fucking songs that they were 10 years ago, except that now they were a super-dense mishmash of a bunch of instrumentation. That whole era pretty much sums up what happened to the record industry. Those kinds of people, making those kinds of decisions and not really helping the artist.

Edited August 31, 2011 by AGS

[Nick85]

Yeah, I would imagine that after what went down with CD and all the bad blood that followed, that Axl and the label are still at a standstill. Yeah Axl has another album, or however many songs ready to go, but what good does that do when you hate your record company and they probably hate you back?

Wish they could put that aside, and just figure out a fucking way to get the music to the fans.

Edited August 31, 2011 by sofine11

[Bards]

That's weird, because didn't Axl say in the chats or the Billboard interview that Iovine was a great help when he was around? Of course he also complained about the lack of a producer, despite having burned through several on the project and when given a list of sample CD's he backed over them with his truck.

[Chewbacca]

Honestly? I just don't give a fuck anymore. I'm just gonna sit down and wait for any releases.

They will come... eventually.

[Nick85]

This is a quote from Merck's letter to the fans from December 2006. For those who dont know, Merck was Axl's manager through 2006.

"The record company refused to conclude the renegotiation until we were ready to hand over the finished album and refused to prepare a marketing campaign or commission video treatments until they had it in their hands. This is still their position as of this week."

The record company could still very well be refusing to offer Axl a marketing plan for the next album until, again, they have it in their hands. After CD, I'm sure Axl expects a marketing plan first before he agrees to put out another album. Thus, the current standstill...

Edited August 31, 2011 by sofine11

[feconroses]

As for now and without having Axl's side of the story, only a few things make sense in the NU-GNR era.

Until Axl speak up about EVERYTHING, we'll don't know what really happened.

[Apollo]

There probably is truth to that.

But..........other bands manage to record albums and release them. And they end up sounding great.

[The Wicked Hand]

I doubt its all the labels fault.

Why wouldnt they want to make $ off a record they already paid for.

They probably just wont do EXACTLY what Axl wants across the board, and Axl wont do what they think the singer of a band should do for a proper release.

Something like this is most likely happening IMO.

Its sad that business and egos outweigh the MUSIC in the music business.

If they are at a stalemate such as this IMO we will probably never hear new songs.

AND FUCK THAT SUCKS.

I hope im wrong.

[wasted]

I like all the super dense instrumentation.