Source: Official Facebook
Avenged Sevenfold are reportedly being sued by their record label Warner Bros. Records for attempting to get out of their recording contract by citing the Californian state’s “seven year rule.”
The “seven year rule”, FYI, allows parties to leave personal service contracts under certain circumstances after seven years have passed. The law was amended in the 1980s to allow record labels to claim lost profits on uncompleted albums, however there’s a catch – they only have 45 days to do so when an artist exercises their right to terminate the contract.
Warner Bros. have demanded a trial, claiming that the rockers have breached their contract and are seeking compensatory damages.
In response to Warner’s allegations, the band addressed their fans by posting the following message on their website:
“We recently exercised our rights under California law and notified Warner Bros. Records we would no longer record for them. Few of the executives who have been integral to our continued success are still at the label, and we love and are grateful to them for their hard work. However, since we signed with the label, Warner Bros. has had 3 different regimes, multiple heads of marketing, and none of the senior management or A&R executives who were at the company and responsible for signing us are still there.
Whatever the activity, it takes a full team to compete, and we no longer know most of our teammates. In the coming days, you may read about the lawsuit our label filed against us for exercising our legal rights, rights the State of California granted specifically to protect artists. You may see mistaken facts or worse.
One such error we want to make sure you know about: Avenged Sevenfold has never renegotiated its original recording agreement with Warner Bros. Records. Billboard has now corrected its story to reflect the real facts.
Most importantly, we want our fans to know this: we are in the middle of writing a record we cannot wait for you to hear. We expect to go into the studio very soon, and look forward to releasing our new album later this year.
Until then, we wish all of you a happy, healthy 2016.
Love,
A7X”
