Yeah this seems fishy but it's something they might do. Kinda tide the fans over until their next release that may be in the distant future
Linkin Park are notorious for "filler" albums...so I wouldn't be surprised. I would really rather they didn't though.
My only comment is if they do release a Greatest Hits this early in their career, they damn well better follow the trend of other bands and tack a couple unreleased songs on there just to make it worth buying. And when I say unreleased, I don't mean No Roads Left and QWERTY.
I believe i saw on itunes a while back some kindof "itunes made" hits of Linkin Park... but nonetheless i agree we need a damn link to confirm your statement is correct...
I think if LP are releasing a greatest hits then it might mean they are trying to cut free from Warner. If you think about it, over the years the guys have become more and more restricted about what they can say and what they can release and it seems to me that they're getting fed up of having little control over their own band. I don't think for one minute they wanted to put live tracks on LPU 7. They've always had a strong connection with their fans and they know that fans want unreleased material. They probably would have gotten some b-sides on there too if it wasn't for Warner (that's my theory anyway). I think their contract specifies that LP must have 10 releases before they can break off or renew so they're trying to reach that as soon as possible. They're probably going to release a DVD this year at some point so if there is a greatest hits album as well then that would take the releases count under Warner up to eight by my counting: -Hybrid Theory -Reanimation -Meteora -Minutes To Midnight -Frat Party At The Pancake Festival -Breaking The Habit DVD I could of course could be way off though. Either way if LP are releasing a greatest hits album then B-sides that no LP fan has heard before or new material altogether would be awesome. Otherwise there really is no point on releasing a greatest hits album this early in their careers. EDIT: As Will pointed out, I forgot Collision Course and Live In Texas so if LP do 2 more releases they should be free I think.
Collision Course was released through Warner Bros. too. Same with Live in Texas. So they're getting up there.
yeah, I could have sworn that the new contract was they got like $5 mil to stay with Warner for like 2 more albums past their original 10 contract? I may have all my information crossed, but it sounds right
No, they settled everything and got a $10 mil. advance to record Minutes to Midnight as their compensation for being treated badly. I'm almost certain their contract was never extended any number of albums.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1519374/20051228/linkin_park.jhtml According to this, their new deal included a $15 million dollar advance on Minutes To Midnight as well as their royalty rate being raised an additional 20%. The terms also state that, yes, LP does indeed owe Warner an extra album over their original deal.
20% royalty increase? That's HUGE. Guess that shows what kind of negotiating clout the band has with Warner since they've accounted for a huge chunk of their sales over the past 7+ years.
This is the way I see it. They had a 10 release deal and it was recently negotiated to 11 releases in exchange for 15 million dollars. Also take in mind that the release has to sell gold to count I think so that breaking the habit dvd didn't count, it's like this... -HYBRID THEORY -FRAT PARTY AT THE PANCAKE FESTIVAL -REANIMATION -METEORA -LIVE IN TEXAS -COLLISION COURSE -MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT So they still owe Warner 4 more releases is the way I see it and I don't know how they could pull off 4 more fillers to each sell gold without making another proper album. It even specifically said in that article that Warner can opt for up to 5 more releases, but then Minutes to Midnight came out, so thats 4 now... There will be at least one more proper album on Warner, a greatest hits and maybe a b-sides album meshed in there somewhere. I heard a rumor that they are releasing a world tour dvd this year, but that could be BS. But seriously, a Greatest Hits album from Linkin Park? They haven't even been around for 10 years (only 7) and they only have 3 proper records, that truly would be sad to put that out at this early in their career.
Actually they've been around for 12 years. They were found in 1996 (but for 3 years they had Wakefield and not Chester as vocalist I believe). It wasn't until Hybrid Theory came out in 2000 (4 years prior to their foundation) that they became mainstream. But it does seem to make sense that the band is trying to break away from Warner Bros. It just feels that way. But then I can't find anything great coming out from a Greatest Hit album when they only released 3 albums. Course they could add in Reanimation and Collision Course into the count, but meh. Maybe the band can finally make a Reanimation v2.0 or something that we were all wondering when it'll ever come. After all the band needs to show their hip hop side a little more.