Rock Group Hawthorne Heights Sues Label, Denies Being 'At War' With Rap Artists
Modern rock group Hawthorne Heights is leaving Victory Records and the band has filed a $10 million lawsuit, claiming the label made it appear the group was "at war against rap artists."
In a lawsuit filed in the District Court of Northern Illinois, Hawthorne Heights claimed Victory Records has damaged their reputation with fans and that despite selling millions of records, they have never "seen a single dollar in artist royalties from Victory Records."
Hawthorne Heights claims that Victory CEO Tony Burmmel sent out letters under the guise of the band, calling for fans of Hawthorne Heights to help the group's sophomore album If Only You Were Lonely secure a #1 spot on the charts for their by physically moving competing R&B singer Ne-Yo's In My Own Words around the store when their CD's were released in Feb. 2006.
"If you were to pick up handful of Ne-yo CDs, as if you were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn't bother to put them back in the same place, that would work," the letter circulated read. "Even though this record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all the stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the store will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in stock and not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo will lose a few sales later in the week. This is most important in stores were we are competing with Ne-yo, which is in the big chains that sell pop and urban product. The stores listed above are in the order you should hit them up. The main thing is to keep the pressure up all week. First day sales are important but keeping our sales going and having a strong weekend are equally important to grabbing the #1 slot that belongs to us."
The band dismissed Victory Records' tactics in a statement and denied writing the letter or calling for fans to try to interrupt the sales of Ne-Yo's In My Own Words.
"Many of you are familiar with the greed-driven letters sent out by Mr. Brummel: his manifesto calling rock supporters to arms and virtual declaration of war on hip-hop and [Rapper] Ne-Yo done under the guise of a band message; as well as the street-team letter which instructed people to re-arrange our CDs, putting them in higher visibility areas in stores," the band said in a statement. "At the time of the letters we were branded as racists by some, all over a letter we did NOT write, targeting a genre which we have NOTHING against whatsoever....when questioned about the letters Tony was more upset that we had told the press that he actually wrote the letters (not us) because he was more worried about rumors surrounding Taking Back Sunday and Thursday's exoduses being justified than the credibility and reputation of his current biggest band."
Taking Back Sunday and Thursday are two groups who recorded for Victory Records, but have since left the label.
Victory's campaign failed to work, as Ne-yo debuted at #1 in Feb., moving over 300,000 copies of the record, as compared to the 114,000 sold by Hawthorne Heights, who landed at #3 that week, behind the soundtrack to Disney Channel's original movie High School Musical, which sold almost 130,000 copies.
The band also claimed that despite selling a combined 1.2 million of copies of their albums The Silence In Black And White and If Only You Were Lonely, they have never seen royalty checks.
"Tony will claim that we have not recouped, a term used by those in the music business which means the label has spent more money in advertising than has been made by CD sales. In fact questionable accounting practices are the culprit and we are in fact owed substantial amounts of money much like audits from Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and Atreyu have uncovered," the band said in regards to three other groups on Victory.
"We've accomplished more in three years than most bands do in a lifetime and for that we are extremely grateful and consider ourselves very fortunate," the group said. "Our situation with Tony Brummel is indicative of issues that all bands on Victory Records encounter on some level or another."
In a lawsuit filed in the District Court of Northern Illinois, Hawthorne Heights claimed Victory Records has damaged their reputation with fans and that despite selling millions of records, they have never "seen a single dollar in artist royalties from Victory Records."
Hawthorne Heights claims that Victory CEO Tony Burmmel sent out letters under the guise of the band, calling for fans of Hawthorne Heights to help the group's sophomore album If Only You Were Lonely secure a #1 spot on the charts for their by physically moving competing R&B singer Ne-Yo's In My Own Words around the store when their CD's were released in Feb. 2006.
"If you were to pick up handful of Ne-yo CDs, as if you were about to buy them, but then changed your mind and didn't bother to put them back in the same place, that would work," the letter circulated read. "Even though this record will be heavily stocked and you might not be able to move all the stock, just relocating a handful creates issues: Even though the store will appear to be out of stock, the computer will see it as in stock and not re-order the title once it sells down and then Ne-Yo will lose a few sales later in the week. This is most important in stores were we are competing with Ne-yo, which is in the big chains that sell pop and urban product. The stores listed above are in the order you should hit them up. The main thing is to keep the pressure up all week. First day sales are important but keeping our sales going and having a strong weekend are equally important to grabbing the #1 slot that belongs to us."
The band dismissed Victory Records' tactics in a statement and denied writing the letter or calling for fans to try to interrupt the sales of Ne-Yo's In My Own Words.
"Many of you are familiar with the greed-driven letters sent out by Mr. Brummel: his manifesto calling rock supporters to arms and virtual declaration of war on hip-hop and [Rapper] Ne-Yo done under the guise of a band message; as well as the street-team letter which instructed people to re-arrange our CDs, putting them in higher visibility areas in stores," the band said in a statement. "At the time of the letters we were branded as racists by some, all over a letter we did NOT write, targeting a genre which we have NOTHING against whatsoever....when questioned about the letters Tony was more upset that we had told the press that he actually wrote the letters (not us) because he was more worried about rumors surrounding Taking Back Sunday and Thursday's exoduses being justified than the credibility and reputation of his current biggest band."
Taking Back Sunday and Thursday are two groups who recorded for Victory Records, but have since left the label.
Victory's campaign failed to work, as Ne-yo debuted at #1 in Feb., moving over 300,000 copies of the record, as compared to the 114,000 sold by Hawthorne Heights, who landed at #3 that week, behind the soundtrack to Disney Channel's original movie High School Musical, which sold almost 130,000 copies.
The band also claimed that despite selling a combined 1.2 million of copies of their albums The Silence In Black And White and If Only You Were Lonely, they have never seen royalty checks.
"Tony will claim that we have not recouped, a term used by those in the music business which means the label has spent more money in advertising than has been made by CD sales. In fact questionable accounting practices are the culprit and we are in fact owed substantial amounts of money much like audits from Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and Atreyu have uncovered," the band said in regards to three other groups on Victory.
"We've accomplished more in three years than most bands do in a lifetime and for that we are extremely grateful and consider ourselves very fortunate," the group said. "Our situation with Tony Brummel is indicative of issues that all bands on Victory Records encounter on some level or another."
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