Federal Court Sustains Black Promoters' $700-Million Anti-Trust and Civil Rights Complaint; Case to Proceed to Trial.

Entertainment Editors

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 10, 2000

Five major African-American promoters of popular music concerts - Rowe Entertainment, Bab Productions, Sun Song Productions, Summitt Management, and Lee King Productions - will proceed with their $700-million anti-trust and civil rights lawsuit against the nation's top concert promoters and talent agencies. They charge the 8 talent agents and 26 promoters with systematically excluding them from promoting concerts, or even bidding on concerts. A 35-page decision by a federal judge here rejected the motions by the defendants to dismiss the case, and ordered the multi-million-dollar claims for damages and broad injunctive relief to proceed to trial.

The complaint, upheld by Judge Robert Patterson on Friday, June 30th, alleges that the music concert promotion business is controlled and dominated by a select group of powerful companies that exclude African-American promoters - on the basis of their race and for anti-competitive purposes - from promoting all concerts of white artists, and most concerts of black artists.

The plaintiffs' lead counsel, Martin R. Gold and Christine Lepera, of the New York law firm RubinBaum LLP, expressed satisfaction with what they described as "a fair and just decision." "Any concerted efforts by individuals and companies to exclude persons from business opportunities on the basis of their race is contrary to the basic principles of this nation," said Gold. "We expect that this case will end the all-white concert promotion fraternity by which black concert promoters are systematically excluded from the promotion of concerts - especially those given by white performers."

Leonard Rowe, the owner of Atlanta-based plaintiff, Rowe Entertainment, Inc., praised the Court for "not letting the defendants off the hook. Black promoters have been trying to get a fair shake in the pop promotion business for as long as I've been in it - over twenty years - but have been kept down by discrimination and greed. It's time these practices were stopped."

"An historic victory for an oppressed group, " added Lepera. "The decision was issued on the eve of Independence Day when the nation celebrates the Declaration of Independence and its basic concept that all persons are entitled to enjoy equal opportunity."

The plaintiffs in the case are Rowe Entertainment, Inc., Leonard Rowe, Bab Productions, Inc., Bernard Bailey, Sun Song Productions, Inc., Jesse Boseman, Summitt Management Corporation, Fred Jones, Jr., Lee King Productions, Inc., and Lee King.

The defendants are booking agents: The William Morris Agency, Inc., Creative Artists Agency, LLC., Agency For The Performing Arts Inc., Monterey Peninsula Artists, QBQ Entertainment, Howard Rose Agency Ltd., Renaissance Entertainment Inc., and Variety Artists International, Inc.; and promoters: Beaver Productions Inc., Belkin Productions, Inc., Bill Graham Enterprises, Inc., The Cellar Door Companies, Inc., Cellar Door Concerts Of Carolinas Inc., Cellar Door Concerts Of Florida Inc., Cellar Door Productions Of Michigan Inc., Cellar Door North Central, Inc., Cellar Door Productions Inc., Cellar Door Productions Of D.C., Inc., Cellar Door (Southern) Corporation, Cellar Door Entertainment, Inc., Concert/Southern Promotions Inc., Contemporary Productions Inc., Delsener/Slater Enterprises, Ltd., DiCesare-Engler, Inc., Don Law Company, Inc., Electric Factory Concerts, Inc., Evening Star Productions, Inc., Fantasma Productions Of Florida, Inc., Jam Productions Ltd., Magicworks Concerts, Inc., Pace Concerts,Inc., SFX Entertainment Inc., Sunshine Promotions Inc., and WJS III, Inc.