Nickelback Nation

Canadian rock outfit Nickelback has just inked a multi-rights deal with Live Nation, joining the already impressive roster of Madonna, Jay-Z, Shakira, and soon-to-be-U2 on the Live Nation team. The four piece, fronted by singer/guitarist Chad Kroeger, will have all of its assets controlled by the touring and promotions company for an estimated $50-$70 million dollars.

Canadian rock outfit Nickelback has just inked a multi-rights deal with Live Nation, joining the already impressive roster of Madonna, Jay-Z, Shakira, and soon-to-be-U2 on the Live Nation team. The four piece, fronted by singer/guitarist Chad Kroeger, will have all of its assets controlled by the touring and promotions company for an estimated $50-$70 million dollars. Live Nation, headed by industry powerhouse Michael Rapino, has altered the “360 Deal” model for the band by working a three album, three tour cycle deal instead of a time based model, like Madonna’s groundbreaking 10-year, multi-album investment.

Live Nation had to acquire twelve different rights in order to pull off the Nickelback deal, including touring, tour sponsorship, tour merchandise, tour VIP/travel packages, secondary ticketing, recording, clothing, licensing and other retail merchandise, non-touring sponsorship and endorsements deals, DVD/broadcast rights, fan club ownership, the Nickelback website and finally, literary rights. Talk about some hoops to jump through.

Nickelback has been signed to Road Runner Records since the release of their debut album and have seen multi-platinum success through the label, selling more than 26 million records around the world. Their sold out arena tours have also propelled the band into the spotlight for a touring giant like Live Nation; over 1.5 million fans saw their 2006/2007 North American and Australian tour and the band raked in a cool $67 million.

“Our relationship with everyone at Roadrunner has been amazing…we look forward to continuing that same great relationship for the remainder of our recording commitment with them,” says Kroeger. 
Not bad for a band whose debut didn’t break the top 100 on the charts. But with a follow-up entering the charts at number one, and constant hits on rock and top 40 radio, this type of success could have been predicted for the Canucks. Eh?