Madonna Loses Label

06/14/2004 8:20 PM, E! Online
Marcus Errico

She might still be a Material Girl, but Madonna 's no longer a Maverick.

Ending a nasty legal battle over the future of her Maverick Records, Madonna and Warner Bros. have reached a deal that ends her control of the label she cofounded 12 years ago.

Madonna and her partners, Guy Oseary and Ronnie Dashev, teamed up with Warners to form Maverick, essentially a vanity label for Madonna to play music mogul. Madonna, Oseary and Dashev controlled 60 percent, while Warners owned the remaining 40 percent.

Despite some huge early success with Alanis Morissette 's Jagged Little Pill and a roster that now includes Michelle Branch , Maverick has struggled of late.

With the partnership deal due to expire this year, Madonna and her two pals reportedly tried to sell their stake in Maverick to Warner Bros. for $60 million. But those talks fell apart, and, in March, Madonna & Co. filed a $200 million lawsuit accusing Warner Music and parent company Time Warner of breach of contract, gross mismanagement and creative accounting.

Warners, in turn, launched its own lawsuit against Madonna, Oseary and Dashev, claiming Maverick was a poorly run black hole sucking to the tune of $66 million in red ink since 1999. Warners said Madonna and her partners would have to cough up close to $100 million if they wanted sole control of Maverick.

Monday's deal scotches the dueling lawsuits. Terms of the payouts were not disclosed, but reports say that Warners bought out Madonna for less than the $20 million she initially sought.

Under the new deal, Madonna will have no say in Maverick, but she will keep recording for Warner Bros., her home base since 1984. Warners also bought out the shares controlled by Dashev, who was Maverick's chief operating officer. Oseary will keep his shares and stay aboard as the label's A&R chief.

"This new joint-venture agreement is clearly a win-win for both WMG and Maverick," Warner Music boss Lyor Cohen said in a statement.

In the same press release, Oseary thanked Madonna and Dashev and said he welcomed "the new independent spirit at Warner Music." (The label was acquired in November by an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr.)

There was no immediate comment from Madonna, who is in the midst of her re-Invention Tour in support of her underwhelming latest disc, American Life.

Even without Maverick to worry about, Madonna still has plenty of extracurricular activities to amuse her. Aside from the touring, recording and child-rearing, she is getting ready to publish her next two Kabbalah-flavored kiddie books, Yakov and the Seven Thieves, due out next week, and The Adventures of Abdi, slated for release Nov. 8.