Avenged Sevenfold surprised and delighted fans by dropping a surprise new album at a huge live-streamed, 360-degree virtual reality event at the back end of last week, but the record The Stage is at the centre of a legal battle between A7X and their old label Warner Bros Records.
The band left the label before the completion of their contract, something that can be considered legal under California’s ‘Seven-Year Rule’ which allows parties to exit contracts after seven years if certain conditions are evident.
Now, The Wall Street Journal has revealed that the case is due to go on trial in 2017, with Warner Bros needing to firmly establish what the album would have earned them if they had released it. At this point it will be incredibly difficult to do so, especially given A7X’s decision to surprise release the record.
“We don’t know what Warner could have done with an Avenged album other than screw it up,” Avenged Sevenfold’s lawyer Howard King told The Wall Street Journal. “These are two completely different companies.”
The Journal also reported that Warner have announced they’ll be releasing a Best Of 2005-2013 Avenged Sevenfold album, having not informed the band in advance – a move that was described by King as “the height of vindictiveness.”
You can stream Avenged Sevenfold’s The Stage album in full here.
Watch: Avenged Sevenfold – ‘The Stage’
