From: Kelley Lynch <kelley.lynch.2010@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Oct 26, 2014 at 2:22 PM
Subject: Re:
To: "irs.commissioner" <irs.commissioner@irs.gov>, Washington Field <washington.field@ic.fbi.gov>, ASKDOJ <ASKDOJ@usdoj.gov>, MollyHale <MollyHale@ucia.gov>, nsapao <nsapao@nsa.gov>, fsb <fsb@fsb.ru>, "Doug.Davis" <Doug.Davis@ftb.ca.gov>, Dennis <Dennis@riordan-horgan.com>
Hi IRS,
These are two emails with Ian Mackay and Denise Donlon, Sony Canada, and Stuart Bondell. The email to Ian (with Denise copied in) is dated July 22, 2004 and relates to contract negotiations I was involved with re. the Dear Heather studio album, advances, etc. At this point, I had phoned Stuart Bondell to see if we could deliver the album and leave certain negotiations open because it was becoming a legal nightmare. We did ultimately resolve all of this quite quickly. I forwarded my email to Ian Mackay to Stuart Bondell because Leonard Cohen was absolutely adamant that he did not want to be viewed as a Canadian roster artist. Denise Donlon was the President of Sony Canada and Ian Mackay was in Business Affairs. It is important to note that Leonard Cohen is one of the only international artists not signed to his home country, Canada. My letter addresses Cohen's positions. Cohen was very concerned about Canadian residency and tax issues. Neal Greenberg addresses this in his Complaint. Cohen raised the issue about Canada being an international territory. This letter addresses the fact that, unlike many artists, we would deal directly with the international territories.
See my emails - Cohen received email copies of these and noted that they were excellent letters. He micro-managed his affairs.
All the best,
Kelley
Dear Stu,
We need to address what seems to be a random and arbitrary assignment of Leonard Cohen to Sony Canada (which I assume is an internal issue as he is contractually assigned internationally through New York). Neither Leonard nor I are clear on how this has occurred. The issue was raised a number of years back and at that time (and now) Leonard strongly rejected being assigned in any manner to Sony Canada.
Additionally, Leonard categorically refuses to have Canada administer and oversee European territories and the U.S. Canada is just one of the international territories and not one of the strongest. Perhaps all of this has arisen out of Sony's restructuring. In the recent past, Paul Burger has overseen Leonard's releases in Europe and due to Leonard's long-standing relationships with many of the foreign affiliates (which would include Canada, France, etc.) we have worked closely and directly with them. Historically, we have always worked directly with the U.S (in fact, John Hammond signed Leonard) on matters of artwork delivery, album delivery, marketing, promotion, press, and so forth and so on.
It seems that if Leonard has to be "reassigned" in some manner internally then he should be assigned to the U.S.because this is where he lives. The logic for "assigning" him to Sony Canada must have arisen from some belief that Leonard resides there.
In any event, this matter needs to be addressed at this time and I thought the best place to start would be with you.
All the best,
Kelley
Kelley
Dear Ian,
Is it possible that Sony really thought we were asking for a worse royalty rate than what Leonard had? We had agreed to an REDACTED % royalty. This contract reads REDACTED % subject to a REDACTED % reduction which makes it a REDACTED % royalty. Leonard's current is REDACTED points with a floor of REDACTED on top line CDs. This language has to be adjusted to reflect what was agreed to.
We need to clarify some things before Stuart Fried replies because this will take time to work through. There are certain things that are obviously fair and then there are things that are embarrassing. The digital downloading rate: Leonard should net REDACTED on a typical iTunes and you are recommending a little over REDACTED cents.
We are trying to figure out how to deliver this album in a timely manner for everyone. We agreed that certain points could be left open. Obviously a lower royalty rate than what Leonard currently has is not one of them. Neither is the promotion or the digital downloading royalty. The tv advertising royalty reduction is something that is not in Leonard's contract and is a significant point. The promotion matter was discussed with Rick and Artie originally, and then Artie, Stu, and Stuart Fried. It was agreed that this was not going to be part of these negotiations.
How do we proceed in expediting this matter (which means getting the record delivered, getting the full advance paid) while there are these significant issues that Leonard's attorneys cannot advise him to sign off on as open points. As you will recall, we had said that we would agree to leave certain points open to discussion but after reviewing the proposed amendment, there are a number of them that cannot be left open.
All the best,
Kelley
