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Share float cash or we quit, Linkin Park tells Warner

This article is more than 18 years old

Rock'n'roll used to be all about sex, drugs and wrecking hotel rooms. For today's angry young men of music, add share prices.

Linkin Park, the best-selling American rap metal band, is demanding to be released from its contract with Warner Music, complaining that it will not see a penny from the company's planned stock market flotation.

In a statement from the band's management, Linkin Park claimed it has been responsible for 10% of Warner Music's sales during the past five years.

Its albums, including Hybrid Theory and Meteora, have together sold more than 35 million copies worldwide. The band has threatened to delay its next album, which is due to be released in 2006.

"The new owners of Warner Music Group will be reaping a windfall of $1.4bn [£740m] from their $2.6bn purchase a mere 18 months ago if their planned initial public offering moves forward," the statement read. "Linkin Park, their biggest act, will get nothing."

The Grammy award-winning band also said it had become "increasingly concerned" that Warner Music's "diminished resources will leave it unable to compete in today's global music marketplace". It added: "We feel a responsibility to get great music to our fans. Unfortunately, we believe that we can't accomplish that effectively with the current Warner Music."

It noted that only $7m of the $750m proceeds of the IPO had been earmarked for corporate purposes.

The investment team led by Edgar Bronfman Jr that bought the business from Time Warner last year has since cut $250m in costs, reducing the workforce by 20% and its roster of artists by about 30%.

Warner responded by saying the threat was nothing more than an attempt to wring extra cash out of it. "While Linkin Park's talent is without question, the band's management is using fictitious numbers and making baseless charges and inflammatory threats in what is clearly a negotiating tactic.

"Warner Bros Records has made significant investments in Linkin Park, and they have always been compensated generously for their outstanding success worldwide."

The company contends that the band accounted for less than 3% of sales in the past five years, not 10%.

According to reports, the band's management, the Firm, is seeking a $60m payment and a 50:50 split of future profits as part of a new deal. The band's current contract demands four more albums.

Warner's other artists include Madonna, Green Day and Missy Elliott.

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