Def Leppard settle dispute with Universal, put catalogue up for streaming, downloading
The original versions of one of the biggest selling back catalogues in the world are finally available for streaming and downloading … and the market has shown there is a huge demand for Def Leppard online.
The British band chose to sit out the digital revolution because of a lengthy dispute with their record company Universal Music.
Universal offered them too small a digital royalty rate, a quarter of what they were getting for their CDs.
In the meantime, while the dispute was being worked out, Leppard re-recorded some of their classic tracks and put them out online themselves.
The 2012 recording of ‘Pour Some Sugar On Me’ generated 86 million streams.
The band and record label came to a deal in 2010 but that was rescinded two weeks later.
Singer Joe Elliott later explained to the Hollywood Reporter: “We made a deal with a gentleman at Universal who was pretty much on our side — he was a fan, a smart businessman and a fair guy — and we shook hands.
“Fifteen days later, somebody above his head said the deal’s not going through.
“To an Englishman, when you shake hands, it’s a binding contract, and Universal reneged on it.
“So we dug in our heels and said, “We’re gonna say a blanket no to anything that you ask for.”
The singer added:” It’s about principle. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was about money because the problem we’ve got is, they want to pay us what we think is a ridiculously low rate.
“It’s a well-known fact: Artists throughout the years have always been shafted by record companies. …”
However he said on announcing their new digital chapter, personnel have changed at Universal and were more on-side of the band’s demands.
When asked if digital and physical would co-exist, the singer replied, “Absolutely. It’s all down to the choice.
“Some people will go on Spotify, or the streaming site of their choice, listen to an album and go ’OK, I’ve heard it, that’s all I care about,’ and they’ll listen to it again in six months’ time.
“They’re paying their fee to Spotify and that’s all they do.
“And there’s other people who’ll listen to it on Spotify and go ’Oh, I’ve so got to buy that record.’
“You can take those two isolated incidents into the corner of the room and the one guy is going ’Why would you consider buying it, what’s the point?’ and the other guy going ’Because I have to feel it, I have to be able to smell it.’
“That’s why there’s multiple choices of food in every restaurant.
“ Everybody has their own way of doing things, and they do rub shoulders.
“Since 2009 when we did re-records, ‘Mirror Ball’, the stuff from Vegas or Detroit or the latest studio record, they sell physically just as well as they did whether they’re streaming or not.
“In fact, there’s an argument that you sell more if you’re streaming than if you’re trying to protect yourself by not streaming.”
Following a similar deluxe reissue of Hysteria to celebrate its 30th anniversary, Def Leppard will be rolling out more issues over the next few years on vinyl and CD with box sets, bonus tracks and booklets.
Def Leppard has sold 100 million albums since they stormed out of Sheffield, England, in the latest ‘70s and clicked with radio and MTV as well as with live audiences and the hard rock media.
Two of them are on the list of biggest sellers of all time.
Both Pyromania and Hysteria sold 10 million each in the United States alone, winning them the rare diamond certification.
They yielded the hits ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’, ‘Hysteria’ and ‘Foolin’’.
Before sessions began on Hysteria, producer Mutt Lange asked them, “Why can’t a rock band have seven hit singles off one album?”
Hysteria went to #1 in Australia and certified 4 x Platinum for sales of 300,000.
The catalogue also incorporates their expanding into the world of film, covers, and new collaborations including ‘Two Steps Behind’ from the film Last Action Hero, ‘No Matter What’, ‘Waterloo Sunset’, and ‘Nine Lives’ with Tim McGraw as well as Def Leppard hits ‘When Love and Hate Collide’, ‘Slang’, ‘Work It Out’, ‘Promises’ and ‘Now’.
The catalogue consists of:
The Def Leppard EP (1979)
On Through The Night (1980)
High ‘N’ Dry (1981)
Pyromania (1983)
Hysteria (1987)
Adrenalize (1992)
Retro Active (1993)
Vault (1995)
Slang (1996)
Euphoria (1999)
X (2002)
Yeah! (2006)
Songs From The Sparkle Lounge (2008)
Mirror Ball – Live & More (2011)
Def Leppard (2015)
A number of major acts as The Beatles, AC/DC, Garth Brooks, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin initially held out for a long time against adding their catalogues to streaming.
But they eventually went with the flow.
However among those still not on the streaming services are Tool, Suede, Yoko Ono, Aaliyah, De La Soul, King Crimson, The KLF and Bikini Kill.
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