June 12, 2008. NEW YORK (Reuters) - A battle has broken out among Live Nation Inc's top executives over the concert-promotion company's strategy to reshape the music industry by making big, expensive deals with artists, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site on Wednesday.

Live Nation Chief Executive Michael Rapino has tried to slow the pace of multimillion-dollar deals with artists, while Chairman Michael Cohl wants to accelerate it by striking deals with as many as 15 more artists, the Journal reported.

Live Nation struck a $120 million deal with Madonna and a $150 million deal with Jay-Z, the paper reported. It has held talks for a similar deal with South American pop star Shakira, according to several people involved, though no agreement has been reached, the Journal said.

The disagreement between the two executives in recent weeks resulted in Cohl threatening to leave Live Nation, and the board at one point was prepared to intervene, the Journal reported.

The executives are speaking again and Cohl has changed his mind about leaving, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

A Live Nation spokesman was not immediately available for comment.

Music companies are trying to sign up artists to such "360-degree" deals which can include recording, publishing, touring, digital and other rights. The deals are all-encompassing as a way for music companies to try to make money even as their traditional business of selling music is undercut by free, and often pirated, music on the Internet.

A 12-year global contract signed earlier this year with Irish rock band U2 includes merchandising and licensing rights, sponsorship and strategic alliances, digital rights, fan clubs and Web sites and other marketing and creative services.

"15 more artists" huh? I wonder who they're trying to get next? Prince? Janet?

These deals don't seem 2 make a lot of sense 2 me. Sounds like money laundering 101.

Graycap23 said:

Me either. I've been trying to make sense of it all since the Madonna deal but I'm still confused.

These deals don't make much sense. Shakira is about the only artist where they'd really make their money back and thensome, unless there's something i dont' know about Madonna & Jay Z. Deals like this are just them trying to stay afloat, nothing more, nothing less. And like most of the tacks the industry has tried, it'll only work for so long.