Green Day pulls the plug on Lookout Records

[B_Ko]

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/06/DDGK2E3BI81.DTL

Green Day pulls the plug on iconic Berkeley indie label Lookout over unpaid royalties
Aidin Vaziri, Chronicle Pop Music Critic

Saturday, August 6, 2005
Lookout Records, the Berkeley indie label that helped launch the careers of artists such as Green Day, the Donnas, Rancid and Operation Ivy, laid off its staff this week after Green Day reclaimed ownership of its pre- 1994 work from the label.

According to Lookout publicist Tristin Laughter, who is one of those out of a job, the move came as a result of unpaid royalties on four of the multiplatinum trio's early releases, including 1991's "1039/Smoothed-Out Slappy Hours" and 1992's "Kerplunk!," 60,000 copies of which the band originally sold from the back of a van.

"They made their decision because of royalties that are owed and the label is unable to pay at this time," Laughter said. "Like many indies, Lookout is suffering and they couldn't make the payments."

Green Day was roundly censured by the East Bay punk community, centered around the club 924 Gilman Street, when it left Lookout to sign with major- label Warner Bros. for its breakthrough 1994 release, "Dookie," which sold 12 million copies.

Yet Lookout continued to benefit from the band's skyrocketing popularity as interest in Green Day's older material rose, providing most of the revenue to support Lookout's new signings like Ted Leo, Mary Timony and Engine Down.

Green Day is not the first band to yank its music from the Lookout catalog. Avail, Screeching Weasel and the Riverdales have moved their material to different imprints. But Green Day's decision has effectively shut down the label.

Lookout has no new releases scheduled for the rest of the year. Six full- time staffers and two independent contractors will lose their jobs as of Aug. 15. The label's owners -- President Chris Appelgren, Vice President Molly Newman and General Manager Cathy Bauer -- are considering selling the building that houses Lookout's offices to settle some of the label's debts.

"Losing that catalog was the last straw of a period of financial hardship, " Laughter said.

Surprisingly, nobody at the label is blaming Green Day for its decision.

In a statement, Appelgren insisted there were no hard feelings: "Despite any rumors or conjecture to the contrary, Lookout and Green Day's long relationship has always been based on trust, friendship and partnership, and those bonds remain shared between the label and the band now and into the future."

Former Lookout president Lawrence Livermore, who started the label in 1988 and first signed Green Day, took to punk message boards indicting the label itself: "It's about money and also about bad faith," he wrote. "Lookout has been failing to pay Green Day (and other bands) for years now, and apparently using the money instead to put out a series of terrible records that very few people wanted to buy. Gambling on new bands is part of what a record label does but you don't do it with other people's money."

Livermore added, "Green Day has been more than patient."

The members of Green Day, who launch a 38-date North American tour this week in Rosemont, Ill., were unavailable for comment. The band is on the road in support of 2004's Grammy-winning Warner Bros. album, "American Idiot," which has sold 8 million copies worldwide. Plans for a movie are also under way.

The trio -- singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool -- was also recently nominated for eight MTV video music awards honoring its clips for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "American Idiot" in categories such as Best Cinematography, Video of the Year and the Viewer's Choice Award. The video for Green Day's latest single, the power- ballad "Wake Me Up When September Ends," premieres on VH-1 at 9 p.m. on Tuesday.

The band obviously doesn't need the money as much as Lookout does.

"Whether they need the money or not, they are owed the money," Laughter said. "Who's to say they should continue to write it off? There's no way this can be characterized as ruthless on their part."

Livermore agreed: "No matter how rich a band is, they shouldn't be expected to subsidize a failing label forever, especially when that label isn't doing anything particularly worthwhile."

It is uncertain whether Green Day will move their early material to Warner Bros. or Adeline Records, the upstart label Armstrong runs with his wife, Adrienne, and uses to release music by the band's alter-ego, the Network.

In the meantime, Laughter said, the remaining Lookout staff will take some time to reconsider their options.

"They want to come back from this," she said. "They hope to regroup and stay alive. We all hope that they do, even among the staff that lost their jobs. The label had a real family feeling, so we're all rooting for it. It's just going to have to be dormant for a while."

[rec|use]

who gives a shit

[junkie christ]

agreeing with recluse
wtf.

[iblis]