30 Seconds To Mars Sued For $30 Million By Virgin
30 Seconds To Mars has been hit by a lawsuit that claims the band owes its record label, Virgin Records America, three albums. The $30 million suit, filed August 15 in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges the band "repudiated" its 1999 contract in July by refusing to deliver the albums, according to an Associated Press report.
The band, fronted by actor Jared Leto, sold a million copies of their last album, A Beautiful Lie and hit the mainstage at Warped in 2006.
A spokesperson for the band told TMZ that 30 Seconds To Mars has sold more than 2 million albums for Virgin and has not been paid accordingly.
Jared Leto has responded to the lawsuit. In his open letter, he explains:
"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. [...] It is a law that protects people from lengthy, unfair, career-spanning contracts. [...] We have been sued because roughly 45 days ago we exercised our legal right to terminate our old, out of date contract, which, according to the law is null and void.
"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.
"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. There is not a single employee at Virgin Records who was working at the company when we signed."
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