Why CD was finally released now (article)

gnrfan1987-present

Hope this hasn't been posted already... Interesting theory on why CD is finally out...

From: http://idolator.com/5094589/what-really … ng-release

One of the strangest narratives surrounding Sunday’s release of Chinese Democracy is that the music itself is something of a non-event, thanks to the circulation of live nu-GNR bootlegs and leaks of in-progress tracks. In fact, enough questions have been answered about how Chinese Democracy sounds that a bigger question looms: Why now? Why, out of all the dates on the calendar, would Axl Rose decide that November 2008 felt like a good time to drop an album?

Only Axl knows for sure. But part of the answer may lie in the idea that Chinese Democracy had, thanks to its many delays, transformed from an album-slash-punchline into a vehicle for Axl to resolve festering disputes and debts tied to his six-year stint as a client of the Sanctuary Group. Sanctuary, an ambitious British artist management firm, spent years-–and a small fortune—trying to branch into various segments of the music business. As financial disaster loomed last year, Sanctuary sold itself to Universal Music Group—which, you may remember, is the same company that puts out Guns N’ Roses’ music.

Axl effectively fired Sanctuary as his management firm in December 2006, after months of speculation and public comments from the company’s top manager, Merck Mercuriadis, trumpeting the imminent release of Chinese Democracy. Rose, in an open letter posted on the band’s Web site, cited “an overall sense of a lack of respect by management for the band and crew and each individual's particular expertise” as part of the reasons behind Mercuriadis’ firing. (He also claimed that the album would come out March 6, 2007. The best intentions…)

But Axl couldn’t completely kick Sanctuary to the curb—during his time as a client, he struck deals with Sanctuary subsidiaries and affiliates that resulted in them overseeing his music-publishing rights and the production of Guns N’ Roses merchandise. And since at least early 2004 (when Universal’s Geffen Records made clear it wouldn’t underwrite additional production costs for Chinese Democracy) Sanctuary had functioned as Rose’s bank as well, deferring or delaying some commissions for managing him and offering other financial support. According to sources familiar with the situation, Axl’s tab reached well into the seven-figure mark.

By the time Axl announced his firing of Mercuriadis, not only had he piled up a debt to the management company, he had been dragged into a series of disputes—public and private—tied to the publishing and merch deals. In 2005, ex-bandmates Slash and Duff filed a lawsuit alleging that he had switched publishers without their approval and pocketed the royalties, and there was a separate feud brewing where they raised similar charges about his dealings with Sanctuary’s merchandise unit, Bravado.

But two crucial events changed the course of Rose’s career: Sanctuary’s buyout; and Rose finding his way to the management fold of music heavyweight Irving Azoff and longtime hard-rock mastermind Andy Gould. Universal was in a position to sweep away all of Rose’s disputes at once, and Azoff was keen to deal—as it turned out, the number to remember in the Chinese Democracy saga isn’t 17, but 360.

Word is it was Azoff who initiated the push to resolve all the issues at once, in a negotiation led on the Universal side by the corporation’s president, Zach Horowitz—though who was leveraging who depends on who you ask. After months of back and forth, a deal was worked out to resolve all of Axl’s disputes, with Chinese Democracy—and a nice “thanks for the retail exclusive” check from Best Buy—underwriting the peace agreements. Slash and Duff are receiving a little payback for their troubles from Axl’s Sanctuary deals, and Axl himself received a new advance, though the currently undisclosed figure is said to be somewhat less than it would have been if he didn’t have to give something up to settle the outstanding debts.

It’s possible that the satisfaction of clearing both his books and his legal docket all by simply stepping away from the mixing board and saying “OK, I’m done” had no bearing on Axl’s decision to finally put out Chinese Democracy. But is it likely?

(And, of course, whether Chinese Democracy finally being off Axl's back will result in Guns N’ Roses’ next album coming out before the end of this decade is a question that should at least wait until Sunday's one-day SoundScan estimates are out.)

sic.

Thanks.

That's a good read, the facts seem to be in order and therefore, the speculation appears to be on a sound basis.

Smoking Guns

That was a great read, sounds logical.

Bright Eyes 2005

--Azoff has to be in heaven, as there is no doubt, he now has the leverage needed to convince Axl the only way his genius will be respected is through a reunion.

--There is almost no way the current line-up can tour, as they would struggle to sell out theaters--even with Bucket back.

--Album is under performing world-wide due to a multitude of mis-steps, namely as many have mentioned the stupid myspace gimmick and in the U.S. there only being about 1000 Best Buy's (not to mention Universal and Best Buy's horrible promotion efforts).

--I am of the belief that UMG held back promoting this either to force a reunion (Iovine's statement last Monday was a joke of some sort, as there has been no evidence of any push of this album from UMG, other than mailing a few hundred singles to the radio station with no notes or anything), or that they know one is already at hand. There is no other possible explanation that they only paid for the shiteous in-store promotion at Best Buy and did not push the songs at all to radio, or push for interviews, or gain exposure in one of thousands of other ways.

Again, if GNR are going to resurface in 2009 as a workable unit ever again, it will be with Slash, Axl, Duff, and Izzy together. That is the only conceivable way after this flat rejection.

monkeychow

I disagree that the band would strugle to sell out theatres....last year the band played was here in melbourne and played two shows at a venue that hold up to 16,000 people. And that was with no album - and the current line up + robin Fink and I doubt too many people were there exclusively for fink.

Bright Eyes 2005

I am talking about the U.S. I am warning people, be prepared for negative press this week, like this band has never seen before. This is bad enough to erode the old mantra, any publicity is good publicity. Be prepared, it looks like only the members of the forums buying their multiple copies of the cd made up the purchases in the U.S. Even with the fudging upwards by Best Buy to save face, people are going to be shocked at the lack of interest. All things considered, none of us should be. Moreover, maybe this is the wake-up call that will shake the parasites out of the system and allow the band to get back to being friends and making good rock music again; in addition, this will let those on retainer get on to projects closer to their roots and true artistic desires. Time to close the book on this nine year run.

DCK

I disagree that the band would strugle to sell out theatres....last year the band played was here in melbourne and played two shows at a venue that hold up to 16,000 people. And that was with no album - and the current line up + robin Fink and I doubt too many people were there exclusively for fink.

I tend to agree with you there, but remember, the cats out of the bag now.

WARose

i bet axl is half as obsessed with album sales and the release in general as 90% of the "fans" posting on the message boards....

does it have any consequences on your life if cd only sells 300.000 copies in the first week in the US?? i don`t quite get it.

as bright eyes mentioned, there are only 1000 best buys in the USA, you could listen to cd on myspace and there was no real promotion for it. it appears to me that sales was not everything they went after.... or something went terribly wrong.

i don`t care to be honest.

Smoking Guns

Bright Eyes 2005 wrote:

I am talking about the U.S. I am warning people, be prepared for negative press this week, like this band has never seen before. This is bad enough to erode the old mantra, any publicity is good publicity. Be prepared, it looks like only the members of the forums buying their multiple copies of the cd made up the purchases in the U.S. Even with the fudging upwards by Best Buy to save face, people are going to be shocked at the lack of interest. All things considered, none of us should be. Moreover, maybe this is the wake-up call that will shake the parasites out of the system and allow the band to get back to being friends and making good rock music again; in addition, this will let those on retainer get on to projects closer to their roots and true artistic desires. Time to close the book on this nine year run.

Wow, powerful comment. I agree, unless nuGNR likes being irrelevant.

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