Courney Love settled her suit against Universal instead of going to court - here's why:
- Rock star Courtney Love strode into the Beverly Hills Hotel in late February for the recording industry's hippest party: the annual pre-Grammy bash thrown by music mogul Clive Davis. When she walked into the hotel, she had been at war with her record company, Vivendi Universal's Universal Music Group, for more than a year.
So it was all the more shocking to the music industry heavyweights present that night to see Love plop down in a chair next to Universal Music Group President Zach Horowitz and settle in for a two-hour heart-to-heart talk. It was the first step in a seven-month-long negotiation that resulted in a complex settlement this week that freed Love's rock band, Hole, from its recording contract and cleared the way for Universal to release new recordings by Nirvana, the iconic grunge rock band led by Love's late husband, Kurt Cobain.
The two sides did not reach a settlement based on personal contact alone. Sources close to Love say she felt pressure to settle after losing a series of legal rulings in Los Angeles County Superior Court and felt her remaining leverage slipping away. Love also was facing legal bills in a separate lawsuit with the two surviving members of Nirvana.
Love sued Universal in February 2001, accusing her record company of using unlawful business practices to keep her locked into an unfair contract and cheat her out of royalties. Universal blasted Love's claims as a publicity stunt and a negotiating ploy. The singer vowed to take the case to the Supreme Court if necessary to help the artists' rights cause.
Love then filed another lawsuit to block Universal or her late husband's former bandmates from releasing any Nirvana recordings. The two musicians, drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic, countersued and accused Love of trying to wrest away control of Nirvana for use as a weapon in Hole's contract dispute with Universal.
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Article comments
1 - Martin
Eric,
Strange as it may sound, I believe this story. Zach is a real mensch, just a lovely person. He also used to be the head of Business Affairs back in the day. He could have gotten the deal done.
-- mmd
2 - Kenan Hebert
This interests me:
Universal blasted Love's claims as a publicity stunt and a negotiating ploy.
They were. She as much as said so herself. Knowing she had little actual legal ground to stand on, she opted instead for being as loud as possible. Stick to what you know, they say. Eventually, this was going to have to be settled on a business level, because in a courtroom, this would have been a sham -- BUT it would have been a sham that made Universal look bad. Courtney knew that.
Still, I would stop short of congratulating her. This was a loutish tactic that was only marginally effective. She has gained little, and Universal has lost nothing.
Here's what I know about Coutney Love: on a old rerun of The Howard Stern Show the other night, I saw her say, "I'm smart. Not like the porn stars you always have in here."
Smart people don't say things like that. Can you imagine Henry Kissinger on Leno comparing his intelligence to that of Hollywood stars? It would be ridiculous and unnecessary. Smart people don't have to say they're smart, because they are. Courtney protests too much, because she's not.