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 title: Tool Engaged In Legal Battle With Record Label
author: 

Tool is coming under fire from its record label for what the company 
calls "a course of action that contradicts the legal and binding terms 
of their contract."  Freeworld Entertainment, formerly Volcano 
Records, announced on Monday that it filed a formal complaint against 
the band on Friday in New York State Supreme Court. The complaint 
claims that Tool made a "wrongful attempt to abandon its exclusive 
recording contract" with Volcano. 

     A spokesperson for Freeworld told MTV News Online that the 
camel's back was broken when the label learned that Tool's management 
was courting offers from other record labels while still under 
contract with Volcano/Freeworld.

     In announcing the record label's move, Freeworld founder Kevin 
Czinger says, "(Tool) have left us with no other choice but to protect 
our company and artists by filing this suit." 

     A label spokesperson says that the band then filed a complaint of 
its own in Los Angeles claiming that Volcano/Freeworld never renewed 
Tool's contract, and that the group is consequently now free to find 
another label.

     In his announcement, Czinger says, "Tool has taken what was a 
creatively and financially successful relationship and has recklessly 
abandoned it... We will do what is necessary to preserve this 
relationship."

     Before these legal hiccups, the relationship seemed to be working 
just fine. For its part, the band had earned a level of creative 
control that most artists rarely see as the group directed its own 
videos, designed its own cover art, and chose to do interviews only 
rarely. For its part, Freeworld (then Volcano) scored a chart-topping 
album when Tool's latest effort, "Aenima," was released. Tool's 
management was unavailable for comment at press time.
Posted to t.d.n: 09/15/97 19:49:01