Attorneys for Danny Wimmer Presents filed a cross-complaint against AEG Presents on Monday as part a long-standing disagreement over two festivals the promoters had co-promoted for more than a decade.
Two-and-a-half years after AEG accused Danny Wimmer‘s company of “stealing” the Rock on the Range and Carolina Rebellion festivals in a 25-count lawsuit, DWP is sharing its side of the story. Attorneys for DWP argue that it was forced to walk away after AEG spent years trying to force the indie promoter to impossible terms and allege that after the split, AEG tried to sabotage their new festivals. They are countersuing for breach of fiduciary duty and intentional interference.
AEG’s attorneys claim that Wimmer and company chief executive Danny Hares “relied upon deceit and fraud to achieve its goal” to create duplicate events, saying the 2019 Epicenter festival at Rockingham Festival Grounds was a carbon copy of the Carolina Rebellion festival, while Sonic Temple at MAPRE stadium in Columbus was an alleged knock off of Rock on the Range which had taken place at the same facility.
Both Epicenter and Sonic Temple lost money in their launch, and if AEG really believes they have ownership in the events, they should help cover the losses, DWP Attorney Johnny White beginning in 2015 that AEG refused to commit to the event more than a year in advance.
But LA-based DWP says they launched the competing events after reaching an impasse with AEG, which was hell bent on taking control of the two festivals the two had operated together for 11 years.
“For DWP, a smaller concert promoter than AEG and the major creative force behind the festivals, the uncertainty of this arrangement was unsatisfactory and made it difficult to plan for the future. AEG, on the other hand, saw the uncertainty as a means of maintaining more power over DWP by wielding the threat of shutting down a festival at any time,” White wrote in a five count cross-complaint filed Monday.
AEG would only agree to sign a master co-promotion pact if DWP consented to never sell its share of the festival to AEG’s biggest competitors — Live Nation or Irving Azoff and Tim Leiweke‘s Oak View Group. When asked why AEG was taking such a hard line against DWP, AEG’s chief operating officer and general counsel Shawn Trell allegedly responded, “Because we’re AEG. We’ll never give you equal rights.”
Billboard reached out to AEG for comment, and the company declined for this story.
“With no three-year-deal in place, both sides agreed to continue co-promoting the festival tvia one-year co-promotion extensions. After the 2017 festival wrapped, DWP chief executive Danny Hayes met with Ted Fikre, chief legal officer for AEG to discuss a path forward, but a deal could not be reached.
The parties did not enter into any written agreements for the 2018 festival season, but they co-promoted four events in 2018, White explains — Northern Invasion in Somerset, Wisconsin, Fort Rock in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Carolina Rebellion and Rock on the Range.
In 2019, DWP prepared to break out on their own and “was open with AEG about its intention to proceed with the promotion of festivals in Ohio and North Carolina in 2019 with or without AEG,” White wrote. “DWP confidentially provided AEG with the names of the artists that DWP was contracting to perform at the 2019 festivals as well as the financial terms.”
AEG allegedly countered with an offer to buy out any interest DWP had in the festivals in exchange for a five-year non-compete clause “that would have stretched across 13, states,” White wrote. When DWP again declined, AEG apparently contacted the same artists playing DWP’s 2018 festivals and told their camps that “AEG would be promoting its own event in Columbus, Ohio to compete with DWP’s event on the same weekend.”
Both Sonic Temple and Epicenter had to be partially evacuated due to the inclement weather, White says, prompting Trell to allegedly send an email to one of DWP’s representatives, stating: “Big time karma for you and your guys. Bad guys. All of you.”
Both sides will be back in court later this month for hearings on several motions including whether a move by AEG to begin communications with Joe Litvag, who previously worked at AEG and now works for DWP.
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