Bon Jovi and all problems with their Label

I think that we can put here all confirmed or unofficial informations with "silent war" between Jon/BonJovi and label through the years.

All what I remember:
1997
Jon said that his label wish him to put another band album but he wanted realise his first real solo album.
- This can show that label give him little preassure to another Band album but he rejected that.

1999
There were informations that he write songs for another solo album but after few months he tell that this songs will be included on next solo or band album. He didn't know yet at that time.
- Maybe label again put preassure for another band CD?

2001
Jon said that they working on material for special 2-3 CD special for 2003 when their will celebrate 20 anniversay. He said that it will be Box set with 1 live cd, 1 cd with demos and something else.
They didn't realise it in 2003.

2002
Bounce was re-recorded.
- We don't know if label refused first version of album or Jon really decided to re-work half songs.

2003
Jon had first real official "battle" with label and decided to not include 2 new songs which were prevously anoucment as a singles for upcoming special re-worked GHits.

2005
First version of HAND was refused by label. They said that songs are too similar. Jon re-worked them and said that he wanted to do it and it wasn't done because label wanted it.
- In video from Box-set Jon says with exitment about this CD. They even played HAND live (demo version) and then Jon thought this CD isn't good and they must change it? I don't think so. Jon was forced to change something on this CD.

2005
Jon decided to not record video for Who Says and give all money for people in need.
- I think that this decision had 2 inspirations. First - Jon hate videos and he could help others. Second - no video = no promotion on TV. Little revenge from Jon.

2007
Jon want do Country record and label said yes but only if he give them permission to put another GHits which Jon hate.

2010
On one of O2 show Jon tell to people that he's angry that UMG not promote they singles.

2010
In interview about songs from GH Jon tell about title "What Do You Got" that this isn't good title for love song.
- When I watched this video I thought - Why the hell he put song with that title if he think that it's awful? I think that label has something to do with this too.

Last years were poor with promoting Bon Jovi. Only 1 singles from Circle and WAN had massive promote from label. No vinyls, no real bucklets, no reall photo sessions. I'm happy that Jon want to change it.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong or put other informations.

I posted this on Facebook fan page re bj and label

Around the time of HAND in 05 Tico said that they wouldn’t be with the label for much longer as the music industry was changing. He said they would probably go down the Indie route.
That was 2005.
They’ve managed to stay with Universal for another 10 years which is good going for a band that’s been going for 31 years.
But let’s be honest. It’s not Bon Jovi’s record sales that make the label money now. It’s the touring. The albums hardly sell. The peak of the band is over. They don’t have a NJ or SWW in them anymore in terms of huge albums. But to be fair no band does. That’s the way music is.
Bon Jovi don’t have massive streaming figures either because a lot of their fans are old school who have the CD so they don’t stream it.
So the label can’t make any money from the band anymore. Super groups with super sales are a thing of the past.
The song BB is clearly a dig at the label but the label owes the band nothing now. Jovi made the label millions and vice versa in glory days. But that was then this is 2015.
Would you sign a footballer/baseball player on huge contract who was always injured because he scored goals or runs many years ago? Nope.
The band owe the label one more album but JBJ clearly didn’t want to give them new one so gave them Burning Bridges which is a collection of songs (bar 2 new ones) deemed not good enough or relevant for previous releases.
It’s sad that a band as big as Jovi are now no longer under the Universal umbrella (I used to work there and have friends who do so there goes my free Gold Circle tickets!) but all things must come to an end.
The band and the fans need to focus on the future not the past

It's a good idea to collect this stuff in one thread.
But I disagree with some of your points.

Turned out to be a 4 CD + 1 DVD Box Set in 2004. So we got even more than promised. I don't see trouble with the label here.

Was it? Never heard of it.

You talk about Last Man Standing and Thief of Hearts which were taken off TLFR!? News to me that he took them off the record because of some battle with the label. About LMS Jon said in the Box Set interview that this song was too important to him so that he didn't want to just put it on a compilation album. Futhermore I can't remember any announcement to release 2 new singles back then.

There is a video for Who says...a terrible one where a guy in a dog costume runs through town and ends up with Bon Jovi on stage.

Pretty much far-fetched.

I don't know what kind of deal they had around that time, but for 5 years, they'd put out something EVERY YEAR:
2000 Crush, 2001 OWN, 2002 Bounce, 2003 TLFR, 2004 the box set, 2005 HAND.

I agree. I always like learning more about the band's history; and the relationship with the label is an important part of it.

I'm okay, too, with including both 'confirmed' and 'unconfirmed' stories; but it would be nice to know which is which. It does make a difference if something is a verifiable fact or if it's rumor, speculation, or just fuzzy memory. That would also help to keep it from devolving into a 'he said/she said' debate at some point, where people start getting accused of making something up or remembering it wrong. A thread like this will, at times, pit one person's memory against another's and official BJM statements or what Jon said against another version of the story. That's apt to ruffle some feathers. (Trust me. I know whereof I speak. )

So if people know where the info came from, like an interview or event where they heard it, as well as the general timeframe, I think it would be helpful if they included it in the post. Even if it's not the "exact" citation, if it's close people could look into it further if they're interested or if they doubted it, kinda like the OP indicated that Jon said in "one of the (2010) O2 shows...". JMO

I can't contribute much to a discussion like this because I didn't start following the band until around 2005, but I do remember reading where Derek Schulman said that when they were first signed to PolyGram Jon wanted to be signed as a solo artist but PolyGram wanted to sign the band. IIRC, Jon said the opposite - that he wanted to sign as a band but the label only wanted him to sign. I think I read it in Daniels' Bon Jovi Encyclopedia but I can't get to the book to confirm that (because I'm sitting on my ass posting on JT instead of bringing some kind of order to my house, which is what I should be doing. )

I don't think it's accurate that the label wanted another band album in 1997. Richie was already planning a solo album and Jon was planning a solo album. Also label execs said (in Billboard) that DA was going to be their #1 priority that year. Thenin they failed to follow through in the USA.

Back in 1988 Jon wanted NJ to be a double album and label wouldn't back it.

Before KTF, the label guys were freaking out saying "We don't hear a hit."

When the label was bought out by Universal, they got put on Def Jam which was not an appropriate spot for a rock band--it's one of many reasons Crush wasn't released for 5 years after These Days.

I wonder how much of the "paint by numbers" singles have been dictated by what the label wants to hear/release?

It's a nice effort and all your info & comments are very interesting but most of it is a he said/she said story. It's tempting to consider record companies as the big bad wolf and the artist as the innocent victim but real life is a little bit more complicated than this!

All artists have "problems" with their labels in the long run because they disagree on one thing or another. The label usually wins the argument and the artist pouts, that's life! Now there are times when the label knows best. For example when the label obliged Jon and Richie to write songs with Desmond Child in order to have hit records after the first 2 BJ albums failed to reach the record company's expectated sales figures. The offer was a "take it or leave it" one: either they accepted to team up with a total stranger to the band or there would be no third album. And the label was right: the teamwork was very successful and a new friendship was born.
Desmond Child told the story in many interviews (some are on YT), Jon and Richie rarely mention it but they did in the past, when it happened (I'll let you look for interviews, I don't remember whether there's something on YT or elsewhere, there was no internet when it happened!) and Rocking the Rock Vault displays the story on a big screen during the show
https://youtu.be/8T17v9aBLR8
I know you can't read the screen but there are several pics where you can. I'll post them when/if I remember where they are. There's at least one with Richie when he just attended the show but was invited to join the band onstage (Hugh told the story in his latest radio interview with an Argentinian fan).

One more thing. Artists rarely have control over the singles, the label usually decides what songs will be released as singles and when.

Aloha !

Pretty much all drawn conclusions in this topic are based upon assumptions made by the poster itself. Not by what Jon actually said. And besides, Jon often doesn't tell the full truth either.

Obviously the label wanted another band album. The label is about selling albums, and everyone, including Jon, knows a band album sells better than a solo album. There was no pressure, Jon just wanted to release a solo album instead and the label subsequently promoted it as such.

He didn't know, because he didn't know as to whether he wanted to continue with Bon Jovi, his acting "career", or his solo venture. The band eventually came back together and he brought in a lot of songs he'd already written by himself. It had nothing to do with the label not backing another solo album, but Jon knew that as a solo artist he had pretty much nothing to offer in America.

They didn't release the box set, because Jon went out of his way to get This Left Feels Right out.

Back in 2001, when the live album came out, the label originally wanted another Greatest Hits record to ride on the success of It's My Life. Jon said no, but considering how they needed something to back up the new tour, a live album was quickly put together.

In 2003, Jon needed to come up with a new compilation record, and once again a Greatest Hits record was dismissed by Jon. Instead, the acoustic live album was offered instead, and then turned into another Greatest Hits album. With a twist. Once the box set was released in 2004, it was also branded as "The Greatest Hits you've never heard".

Box sets with unreleased material aren't feasable for record labels. They cost a lot to make, and not a whole lot of people will buy them. It's why record labels often want to put old material on it, to attract more people, and to recoup some of the costs. They make money of songs that have already been released, meaning low production costs etc. In the end the box set was still 3 CD's with new material, and one with old. It's no coïncidence how there were exactly 12 songs on it which were already released.

Bounce wasn't re-recorded. Once the album was half-way done, Jon wasn't satisfied with it as it was too 9/11 orientated. Both Jon and Richie didn't feel like making a 9/11 orientated album, and thus new songs were written. At the time the album had been recorded, several people who'd heard it before it was released, had called it terrible, yet the label backed it full force.

There was no such battle. Jon just didn't want to put the songs on This Left Feels Right. They were out of place. The purpose of putting new songs on a Greatest Hits album is to attract people who've already got certain songs. With all of the album being new versions of old songs, no new songs had to be released.

Jon was told by the label that Jon could do better than what he offered on the first edition of Have A Nice Day. With a full European tour already booked, but not yet announced, Jon went back to the studio and delayed the album by recording several new songs.


Revenge for what? The label backed him by offering him money to shoot a video, and Jon gave the money away and recorded a shit video for it. How is this revenge?

Yeah, but Jon wanted to record and release an album the record label wasn't sure of would sell. It's the labels money that gets invested once he goes out recording something. What if the album had tanked? It didn't, but outside of America no one cares for country rock. It'd have been a major loss for the record company, thus a Greatest Hits album was promised to make up for the money they'd eventually lose on it.

Yeah, because they were shit. The Circle had no hits on it, and the label knew this. Besides, by the time The Circle came out, the recording industry had changed, and no money would be made on singles anymore. Jon didn't exactly go out of his way to promote his music either, now did he?

How would the label have got to do something with the title of a song? Jon just agreed that the title was shit, and it is. If it'd been a hit, he'd still agreed that the title was shit. A record label doesn't dictate the title of a certain song, unless it'd be something like "All Hail Adolf Hitler".

Only 1 single had massive promotion, but both singles didn't take off. If the first single doesn't take off, why try again with a second one? They lose money on the promotion of the first one, and with Bon Jovi being completely irrelevant as a studio act nowadays, there's no point in promoting something that won't sell in the first place.

There's a lot of things that can dictate a recording contract, and thus influence decisions made. No one knows the exact details here, but with all speculation done on your part, I very much doubt you, and many others, having any idea as to what could all be included in a record contract.

Considering how Jon stuck to the same record label for 30 years, I very much doubt he feels they treated him poorly. A label backs an album only if they believe in it. If Jon wants money from a label to promote an album, then surely a record label should be able to dictate what's on it.

Don't get me wrong, record labels often treat artists poorly, but Jon's got no reason to complain. They promoted the **** out of Crush when the band was dead in 2000. They promoted the **** out of Bounce when they knew it was shit. They've let him record an album they didn't believe in. When Jon started whining how Superman Tonight wasn't promoted properly, he did nothing about it. Refused to promote it by himself. He's signed quite a few poor promotion deals himself, but publicly shames a record company that backed him for a long time.

What I do think though, is that the deal he signed a few years ago has gone to shit with Richie leaving. When key members leave, a record company has the option to terminate a contract. And even though Jon's name is on the contract, they sign the brand Bon Jovi, existing out of those 4 members etc. This is an assumption on my part, but would explain the lyrics in Burning Bridges, and why there's still a song on it written by Jon and Richie.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

And also, perhaps, why Jon hired Miracle Manager, Irving Azoff?

But a few months ago, Jon said in an interview, who has nothing signed that would compromise with Richie, and could go on without him.

Although you right about one thing. Why the hell is one song co-written by Richie on this album?

Maybe Jon keep the open door to Richie for the next album(s)?