Features
LN And Cohl Settle
Live Nation Entertainment and former chairman Michael Cohl have announced in a brief joint statement that they have amicably settled their differences.
“We’ve had a long and fruitful history, collaborating with Michael Cohl,” said Arthur Fogel, Chairman of Global Muisc and CEO of Global Touring. “We’re pleased that we’ve been able to resolve our differences, and can now get back to working together.”
“Live Nation has been a valued partner through the years, and I’m glad that we’ve been able to put this behind us and move forward,” Cohl said.
No other details were provided.
Previously:
Live Nation filed suit against Cohl and his S2BN Entertainment in U.S. District Court in Miami Oct. 18, 2010, claiming Cohl defaulted on $5.35 million in payments regarding a non-compete he signed with exiting the company in June 2008.
Live Nation sued Cohl for more than $5 million in November, claiming the famed promoter and now embattled producer of “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” hasn’t lived up to his end of the deal, defaulting on $5.35 million in payments for specific promotion rights. The company seeks the overdue funds plus interest and attorneys’ fees.
Cohl filed a countersuit in February 2011, claiming Live Nation played hard and heavy when it came to a potential Rolling Stones tour later that year.
In his countersuit, Cohl said Live Nation sent him a letter in Feb. 2010 saying the company had determined that he “will be unable to successfully negotiate the acquisition of the rights to promote the next Rolling Stones tour.” As a result, Live Nation claimed, Cohl breached the “Letter Agreement” of the deal.
Photo: AP Photo
“Live Nation now has the free and unfettered right … to bid or seek to obtain directly the right to promote the next concert tour of the Rolling Stones, whenever that may occur,” LN wrote. Thus, it no longer had any “duty to share, co-promote or jointly pursue with Cohl and such rights that Live Nation may acquire.”
But according to Cohl, the Feb. 8, 2010, letter was Live Nation’s “first and only communication” on the subject and LN had “made no effort whatsoever to discuss any concerns that it purportedly had regarding Cohl’s ability to acquire the rights to the Rolling Stones’ next tour.”
Live Nation exec Michael Rowles’ attempt to clarify the letter didn’t mollify Cohl, who responded that he believed the company’s actions violated the deal by mischaracterizing its provisions. He later declined to accept an amendment to the non-compete.
By the end of the year, according to court documents, Cohl met with the Stones, including Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and was “expressly invited to bid for tour promotional rights” for a 2011 outing.
Live Nation, Cohl alleges, then “attempted to interfere with and destroy Cohl’s potential” to win the promotion rights. Live Nation allegedly informed the Stones that Cohl was in a dispute with the company, and “denigrated Cohl” to Stones reps in a further attempt to “damage the ability of Cohl to obtain promotional rights.”
The Stones informed Cohl and his legal team they perceived a “spat” and did not want to get dragged into it. The band later issued a press release saying they have no exclusive tour promoter because there were no “firm” plans to tour at that time.