Jared Leto has shared new details about his multi-million dollar debt at the height of his fame with his band 30 Seconds To Mars and how they were sued for $30 million.
The 52-year-old musician revealed he was nearly bankrupt after his rock band released their hit second album due to a debt to his record company.
Speaking on the Kyle and Jackie O show to promote the band’s upcoming Australian tour, Jared told how selling millions of albums worldwide didn’t result in a huge cash influx, but instead left him “penniless”.
After selling three million copies of A Beautiful Lie in 2005, Jared and his brother Shannon found themselves more than $2.7 million in debt to their record label EMI and were later sued for another $30 million due to an alleged breach of contract.
“We sold millions of copies and then we found out that not only were we not going to get paid a cent, but we were millions of dollars in debt,” he detailed on Wednesday’s show.
‘We argued. We were sued for $30 million for breach of contract and then we made a movie about it.
‘Anyway, we went through that crazy part of our lives and it’s nice to be on the other side.’
Radio host Kyle Sandilands quizzed Jared on the realities of making money in the music business, and the Hollywood star admitted it wasn’t always easy.
Jared Leto has shared new details about his multi-million dollar debt at the height of his fame with his band 30 Seconds To Mars and how they were sued for $30 million.
“No, money is made while touring and it’s pretty difficult these days because of inflation,” Jared explained.
However, he insisted he was not focused on revenue, adding: “I would do it for free. It’s a beautiful thing to be out there.”
Jared previously detailed his band 30 Seconds To Mars’ legal battles with their label EMI in his 2012 documentary Artifact.
The award-winning show followed the band’s difficult journey after they were sued for failing to deliver the third album of their five-album contract.
“This was a very real demand. It wasn’t just a headline,” Jared said. he told Rolling Stone at the time The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival.
‘We had a very real possibility of owing a corporation $30 million, of having our music and our album tied up in court and never seeing the light of day and our careers and our dreams shattered.
“Just because you’re signed to a record company doesn’t mean you can be treated unfairly,” he warned other artists.
The 52-year-old musician revealed he was nearly bankrupt after his rock band released their hit second album due to debt to his record company.
“If you ask any lawyer, any manager, any artist who’s been in the business for a decade or more, the general consensus would be the same: It’s a culture where you sign a really unfair, one-sided record deal and then, if you’re successful, you file a lawsuit or start renegotiating.”
30 Seconds to Mars eventually settled the lawsuit and signed a new deal with EMI’s Virgin Records.
“I can’t go into the details of the deal, but it’s not about making a lot of money. That’s already happened in recorded music,” Jared told the Los Angeles Times at the time.
Decades after his financial troubles, Jared revealed that he still flies economy class on airplanes, despite being a Hollywood actor with a net worth of $90 million.
He revealed that he often notices fans trying to secretly film him as he keeps a low profile on his travels while giving an insight into the reality of his worldwide fame.
He said of fans filming him: “Oh yeah, it’s like you’re looking down the barrel of a gun. You can see it in your peripheral vision. Sometimes people take a picture of me in a restaurant and forget they have the flash on.”
Kyle, who charters private jets for $100,000 a pop, was stunned by the admission as he said, “Surely you don’t fly economy class.”
Jared’s comments come just weeks before he heads to Australia to kick off 30 Seconds to Mars’ Australian tour with his brother and bandmate Shannon.
“I mean, you have to get to the show somehow,” Jared replied. “To be honest, it wasn’t that bad. You have to get to where you need to go.”
Jared’s comments come just weeks before he heads to Australia to kick off 30 Seconds to Mars’ Australian tour with his brother and bandmate Shannon.
The Kings and Queens singer will kick off her highly anticipated Seasons world tour in Melbourne on September 12.
They will then play at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena for the first time in a decade on Saturday 14 September, before finishing the action in Brisbane on 17 September.