A new legal precedent could be set next year should Warner Bros. Records‘ lawsuit against Avenged Sevenfold go to trial. Billboard.com report that nearly every, if not all, similar cases in California have been settled out of court before trial. Back in November of 2015, the band exited their contract with Warner Bros. Records, citing the California Labor Code’s ‘seven-year rule’. Said rule allows for parties to exit contracts after seven years if certain unfavorable conditions exist.
The band argued that turnover in the label staff had left them with an unsatisfactory working relationship. In turn, they effectively left the label with one album still remaining on their contract and have since went to setup their own imprint at Capitol Records. A provision in the ‘seven-year rule’ allows labels to collect money that would have been made on undelivered albums, as such Warner Bros. filed suit against the band for damages this past January.
Should the two parties not settle prior to the reported June trial date, Warner Bros. will effectively have to argue to a jury what the band’s latest album—which has since turned out to be “The Stage“—would have made had it been released on their label, with their own promotional plans, etc. setup. Should this actually come to pass, the numbers established in the case could be reflected upon as an example for other cases to come.
This could be particularly complicated however given the unconventional surprise release plans the “The Stage” actually received, which no doubt played a part in it selling less than half of what its predecessor “Hail To The King” did during its first week of sales. For more on the case head to Billboard.com.
Meanwhile, the band are also said to have recently attempted to block an Avenged Sevenfold ‘greatest hits’ release put out by Warner Bros. Records earlier this month.
