Merck Mercuriadis - 2002 - November 2006

Aussie

A former A&R and marketing director at Virgin Records by the time he was 20, Merck commenced working for Sanctuary in 1986. In 2000 Merck relocated from London to New York to build the North American business when he was made CEO of Sanctuary Group North America.

GN'R first came into Merck's sphere of influence when Sanctuary purchased Doug Goldstein's Big FD Entertainment in 2001. (see Doug Goldstein bio for further details of the transaction).

In June 2001 the following statement was released:
"Contrary to the popular rumor, Axl Rose has not fired manager Doug Goldstein of Big F.D., although they are 'taking a break from each other.' According to Goldstein, no legal steps have been taken to dissolve their relationship. He admits that the pair did have (yet another) falling-out over touring issues."

This is presumably the time that Merck started becoming involved with GNR. Although it appeared that Goldstein was still manager since he was present on the bands rescheduled 2002 European tour as evidence by a statement he made after the Leeds Festival on 29th August 2002. In fact they may have even been co-managing the band from June 2001 up until the end of the rescheduled 2002 European tour.

It appears that sometime after the rescheudeld 2002 European tour endedGoldstein finally parted ways with Axl/GNR and Merck took over the reins.

In December 2004 Sanctuary reorganized its management team, rewarding Merck Mercuriadis for growing the American business to 50% of global revenues by naming him Group CEO.

After Sanctuary's share price had a terrible year Merck resigned from the Sanctuary Music Group on 31st October 2006. As Merck was not a director his resignation was kept very quiet. Mercuriadis declined to comment on his future plans at the time, but did say he was excited about moving forward with Axl Rose and Morrissey.

"It's no secret that I have been in negotiations with Sanctuary for several months to leave," Mercuriadis says. "That has now come to fruition and I am able to get on with completing my plans for the future."

He continues, "I'm very excited to be bringing Guns N' Roses and Morrissey with me, but it is still difficult to be leaving Sanctuary after 20 years. There are many wonderful artists and people that I'm leaving behind, particularly Elton, which has been heartbreaking for me."

Three days later Rod Smallwood, one of Sanctuary's co-founders, also announced his departure. Smallwood left to join fellow founder of Sanctuary Andy Taylor, who had been ousted from the group in May of 2006.

It was rumoured at the time that Merck was going to join mega-managers Irving Azoff and Howard Kaufman at Front Line Management taking GN'R with him. However, this rumour was dispelled a couple of months later with a very public spat between Axl and Merck. (Ironically Axl and GN'R would end up appointing Irving Azoff and Andy Gould as their manger approximately 18 months later):

December 14th 2006 - Open Letter from Axl Rose

An open letter to our fans:

Guns N' Roses regrets to announce that the following concert tour dates have been cancelled:

January 10th Sacramento
January 11th Bakersfield
January 13th Reno
January 16th San Diego

Due to the schedule of these particular shows valuable time needed by the band and record company for the proper setup and release of the album Chinese Democracy would be lost. Rather than delay the album yet again all involved have decided to remove these shows from GNR's schedule. We sincerely hope our fans understand and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused anyone. Tickets may be refunded at local point of purchase.

To say the making of this album has been an unbearably long and incomprehensible journey would be an understatement. Overcoming the endless and seemingly insanity of the obstacles faced by all involved, not withstanding the emotional challenges endured by everyone: the fans, the band, our road crew and business team has at many times seemed for all like a bad dream where one wakes up only to find they are still in the nightmare and unfortunately this time it has been played out for over a decade in real life.

The true ongoing behind-the-scenes triumphs and casualties are much more complicated than any negative speculation that media or otherwise has managed to hit upon. For much of the time some form or another of legalities have been taking place that really the best way to deal with publicly was to keep our mouths shut in an attempt to ensure the best outcome and especially one that wouldn't jeopardize the band or the album. One can easily point to how others have done things or how they themselves feel that they would were they in the same situations but without full knowledge of the various dynamics and circumstances involved, again these types of comments or commentary are uninformed, outside, generally useless and often hindering speculation.

When I agreed to do our recent North American tour I agreed with the understanding that I and my manager Merck Mercuriadis were in full agreement as to our strategy, touring plans and most importantly that any and all things needed to release the album at the latest by Dec. 26th were to be in place. Unfortunately this turned out not to be the case and not only do I regret to say that again the album will not be released by the end of the year but that though many things went extremely well and were very exciting there were in our opinion unnecessary and avoidable complications on our tour having to do with the tour routing, scheduling and album and video plans that played hell on all involved especially our crew. This was compounded by an overall sense of a lack of respect by management for the band and crew and each individual's particular expertise that has resulted unfortunately in the end of both Guns and my relationship in having a management or sense of band involvement with Merck Mercuriadis.

In regard to a release date for the album itself certain minor and by that I do mean minor things and or additions as well as contract negotiations need to be completed and barring any unforeseen complications these things have now been adequately scheduled. Both the band and I along with our record company feel that this record deserves the proper setup and promotion not the '13 Tuesdays left' and 'it may just appear in your record store' approach offered by management. We believe this strategy may have been used in order for management to sell this latest tour to the various promoters. We feel that if this was so, this was obviously unfair to them. The stress of dealing with this situation has been considerable for everyone as well as to the band themselves as a whole but that this was more importantly in our opinion something utterly insane to do to our fans. Our apologies and please know we have been laboring over this with management for the entire North American tour.

It takes approximately 8 weeks for an album to hit the shelves once it has been turned in to the record company. For whatever reasons it appears it may have been mistakenly inferred by management that this could be condensed to three. That being said this is not a promise, a lie or a guarantee but we do wish to announce a tentative release date of March 6th. This is the first time we have done this publicly for this album. Any and all other dates have been made up by others for their own reasons. We would like to assure the fans that though tentative everything in our power will be done to meet this date. Once it is finalized and official you will be notified. If we are delayed for unseen reasons you will also be notified as soon as possible in regard to a new date and the album will be released as shortly thereafter as is possible. We thank you for your patience.

In the end it's just an album and one that I, the band, our record company and all involved believe and feel is a true Guns N' Roses album. Ultimately the public will decide and regardless of the outcome our hearts, lives and our passion has been put into this project every step of the way. If for no other reason we feel those elements alone merit your consideration. We do hope you can hold on just a bit longer and if not we hope you would please feel free to take a break and we'll be more than glad (if you so choose) to see you again later.

Once again, our sincere apologies and our deepest thanks, Guns N' Roses would also like to thank all the fans who attended the 70 concerts in 21 different countries for their support in 2006. All the best to each and every one of you over this holiday season, thank-you and God bless.

Sincerely,
Axl Rose

Merck responded the following day wiht his own open letter

An Open Letter To Guns N' Roses Fans From Merck Mercuriadis - 15th December 2006

Along with all of the other Guns N' Roses fans around the world I read "An Open Letter To The Fans From Axl" this evening with much interest. About half way through it occurred to me that I had read much of this before. In fact, I had written the blueprint for it in an email for Axl's attention two days ago which I have copied below.

The reality is all of this year's touring was planned and agreed between Axl and myself, with a view to the album being in the stores before the 31st of December '06. This was confirmed by Axl in numerous interviews - most famously at the MTV Video Music Awards. We planned the tour in February, just after Axl's birthday and we were supposed to finish the album in May, before it started. We sent our engineers to New York, where we all waited, for over a month, for the muse to come but she never arrived. We then scheduled sessions in London in August and had our engineers meet us there at the end of the English tour. August came and went and once again the muse did not show. We postponed our proposed radio date of Labour Day for the first single and we came back to LA and tried to finish before the San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles shows but yet again she eluded us. Axl then asked me to postpone the North American tour which was due to start on 24th of September by a month and finally, early in that period after the euphoria of Inland Invasion, Axl made a break through and got two or three very productive days under his belt.

At this point we were very excited as Axl's feeling was that we had two or three days of work left to tidy things up and we still had three weeks before the tour started, so we were in good shape. Unfortunately the muse disappeared just as fast as she came and the tour started with no single at radio to support it and the album still needing two or three days of work. Despite this, it was a break through period as Robin, Bumblefoot and Frank had all made important contributions to the album that made it even stronger. By the way none of the above is meant as a criticism of Axl. It is the reality of trying to create something special under incredible pressure from the public - that wants and DEMANDS the record - and the record industry - that NEEDS it. The creative process is not something you can dictate and Axl is a true artist.

At this time I seriously considered postponing the start of the tour, again, as the album was of paramount importance but the reality was that our historic track record left us with very little good will with you, the fans, and we needed the money to be able to complete the album and keep the band alive. We scheduled sessions in New York and once again sent the engineers there for the first two weeks of November while the tour was based there - but the hectic touring schedule meant nothing got done. The record company refused to conclude the renegotiation until we were ready to hand over the finished album and refused to prepare a marketing campaign or commission video treatments until they had it in their hands. This is still their position as of this week.

At this point despite the success of many of the dates on the tour the pressure on all of us became unbearable. While some of Axl's letter is disappointing - As John Lennon once asked Paul McCartney "How Do You Sleep?" - until you have walked a mile in his shoes you cannot begin to comprehend the pressure he is under. I know I sleep well at night in the knowledge that when Chinese Democracy hits the streets in March that it is in large part down to my efforts over the last almost 5 years. I found the money and the motivation to keep Axl and the band alive and get the record made when everyone else had given up and walked away. We worked as a team united to make Chinese Democracy a reality. In the end the album will speak for itself but our relationship could not survive the pressure.

I have no regrets. I believe Chinese Democracy is one of the best albums ever made, Axl Rose is one of the greatest vocalists and front men and the new Guns N' Roses (which kicks the shit out of the old) is one of the greatest bands. What we accomplished in 2006 only hints at what is to come.

I believe in Axl Rose. I am the artist's manager and it is my responsibility and job to take the heat. I promise you Chinese Democracy is worth it and you should keep the faith. I will walk away knowing I have done my best and that next year will see Axl recognized not only as a great singer and rock icon but as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Merry Christmas and all the best to you for 2007!
Merck Mercuriadis

PS I apologize to all the fans irked by my facetious comments regarding the release date to Rolling Stone magazine. They were meant to poke fun at a magazine that had announced a definitive release date, causing us all lots of grief, when none had been set. Unfortunately many of you took them to heart and for that I am sorry.

Aussie

Digging through all this information trying to get details on Merck's split, I came accross quite a few business articles that were suggesting Merck would join Azoff after he announced his resignation from Sanctuary.

Merck himself said in October - "I'm very excited to be bringing Guns N' Roses and Morrissey with me, but it is still difficult to be leaving Sanctuary after 20 years..". So after he resigned GN'R were presumably following him.

Then less than 2 months later the open letter from Axl comes out and Merck is directly in the firing line and the two part ways. Even so Axl and GN'R eventually end up with Azoff anyhow.

A cynic may look at all the circumstancial evidence and argue that some shady negotiations that included Merck may have occured to help bring GN'R over to Azoff. Whilst GNR only announced in March 2008 they were with Azoff the appointment could have actually happened much earlier.

The announcement seemed to come at a time when fans were restless (yet again) with Robin returning to NIN and other shit flaring up. The announcement may have been made to calm fans and make them feel as if the wheels were finally beginning to turn - even though the move to Azoff could have actually occured many months prior.

Perhaps Merck was handsomly compensated for "setting up" the transfer to Azoff then conveniently fell on his sword to allow GN'R to save face for once again more album delays and concert cancellations. I know Merck was certaintly quite complimentary to Axl in his response to the "open letter", considering he had just been painted as the villian the previous day. Or perhaps Merck is just a gentleman?

Re: Merck Mercuriadis - 2002 - November 2006

Re: Merck Mercuriadis - 2002 - November 2006

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