30 Seconds to Mar’sCase Study

By E. Wright

Band’s Bio• 30 Seconds to Mars is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1998. Since

2007, the band has been composed of actor Jared Leto ,Shannon Leto and Tomo Miličević . Following the departure of Matt Wachter in 2007, Tim Kelleher became the bassist for the group, performing live only with both Jared and Miličević recording bass for studio recordings, while Braxton Olita was added to the touring line up in 2009. Previously, the group also featured guitarists Solon Bixler and Kevin Drake.

• To date, 30 Seconds to Mars have released three studio albums – 30 Seconds to Mars ; A Beautiful Lie & This Is War.

• 30 Seconds To Mars' music is difficult to categorise, being associated mostly with progressive rock/metal and post-grunge but also included electronic music, space rock, post-hardcore and synthrock into their music. They have been frequently compared to Pink Floyd[and Tool because of their use of philosophical and spiritual lyrics,concept albums and their use of experimental music.

30 Second’s to Mar (2002)30 Seconds to Mars is their debut studio album, released on August 21, 2002.

The album was produced by Bob Ezrin, Brian Virtue and 30 Seconds to Mars, and was recorded in Los Angeles during 2001 and early 2002. 30

Seconds to Mars is a concept album that focuses on human struggle and self-determination, with personal lyrics that sometimes use otherworldly elements and conceptual ideas to illustrate a truthful personal situation.

Upon its release in August 2002, 30 Seconds to Mars reached number 107 on the Billboard 200and number one on the Top Heat seekers. The album

received generally positive reviews.

To promote the album, 30 Seconds to Mars did several performances in North America. Their first televised appearance was on Last Call with Carson

Daly on November 18, which aired on November 27, 2002. The band also performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn, the first band's performance with Tomo Miličević.[On January

30, 2002, 30 Seconds to Mars began a promotional tour, performing in North America and in England for a concert at Barfly in London. Even

before the album was released, Puddle of Mudd invited 30 Seconds to Mars to open a six-week tour for them in the spring of 2002, even though they

were totally unknown and no one had yet heard their music on the radio.In July the band embarked on the Incubus North American tour, and a month

later 30 Seconds to Mars began the Club Tour. In October, the band embarked with I Mother Earth, Billy Talent and Pepper Sands on the MTV Campus Inviasion, playing ten dates in Canada. 30 Seconds to Mars was also scheduled to open the Adema Spring tour, but they have had to pull out. After three concerts to support Our Lady Peace, 30 Seconds to Mars

opened the Sevendust Animositytour.In 2003, the band went on tour with Chevelle, Trust Company, Pacifier, Fingertight, and played

thirteen Lollapalooza shows in 2004, 30 Seconds to Mars played three concerts. On February 21, the band played a concert at The Roxy in Los

Angeles, where they performed "Where the Streets Have No Name" with Mike Einziger. The band's performances received positive responses

from critics.

No. Title Length

1. "Capricorn (A Brand New Name)" 3:532. "Edge of the Earth" 4:373. "Fallen" 4:594. "Oblivion" 3:295. "Buddha for Mary" 5:456. "Echelon" 5:507. "Welcome to the Universe" 2:408. "The Mission" 4:059. "End of the Beginning" 4:40

10. "93 Million Miles" 5:2011. "Year Zero" (includes hidden track "The Struggle": Jared

Leto, Shannon Leto) 7:53

Debut Image• When the band began in 1998 their image and style was

slightly different from what is now in the present, 30 seconds to mar began with the grunge rocker image similar to Nirvana. With the tattered cloths and tough apperance.

A Beautiful Lie (2005)

A Beautiful Lie is the second album by American rock band 30 Seconds to Mars. It was released on August 30, 2005

through Virgin Records and was produced by Josh Abraham. The album produced four singles, "Attack," "The Kill," "From

Yesterday," and "A Beautiful Lie"; of which three of those four singles managed to chart within the top 30 on the U.S. Modern Rock chart, with "The Kill" and "From Yesterday"

entering the top three.A Beautiful Lie was recorded on four different continents in five

different countries over a three-year period to accommodate lead singer Jared Leto's acting career. The album's title track,

as well as three other songs, were composed in Cape Town, South Africa, where Leto was later met by his

bandmates to work on the tracks. It was during this time that Leto conceived the album's title. Prior to this, the album

was tentatively to be released under the title The Battle of One. It was leaked onto peer-to-peer file sharing networks

almost five months before its scheduled release; the version of the album that leaked was unmastered. Because of this, the band was forced to set back the album's release date.

No. Title Length

1. "Attack" 3:092. "A Beautiful Lie" 4:053. "The Kill" 3:514. "Was It a Dream?" 4:155. "The Fantasy" 4:296. "Savior" 3:117. "From Yesterday" 4:088. "The Story" 3:559. "R-Evolve" 3:59

10. "A Modern Myth" (Ends at 2:59, hidden track "Praying for a Riot" begins at 12:26)

14:10

Past Image• During the period of their second album 30 seconds to mars

changed their image from grunge to medium metal and emo style rock music, this includes their appearance as they start to wear a lot of black and eyeliner, and black nail polish.

This is War (2009)• This Is War is the third studio album by American rock band 30

Seconds to Mars, released through Virgin Records and EMI on December 8, 2009. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard200.

• 30 Seconds to Mars were sued for breach-of-contract by their record label, Virgin Records, in mid-2008. The label sought $30 million in damages, claiming that the band had failed to produce three of the five records they were obligated to deliver under their 1999 contract with the now-defunct Immortal Records. In 2004, Virgin took over the contract. Leto responded to some of the claims in the suit on the band's website and was coerced into dismissing rumors that the group had disbanded. He said the claims were "ridiculously overblown" and "totally unrealistic", before stating "under California law, where we live and signed our deal, one cannot be bound to a contract for more than seven years." 30 Seconds to Mars had been contracted for nine years, so the band decided to exercise their "legal right to terminate our old, out-of-date contract, which, according to the law is null and void."

• After nearly a year of the lawsuit battle, the band announced on April 29, 2009, that the case had been settled. The suit was resolved following a defence based on a contract case involving actress Olivia de Havilland decades before. Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with Warner Bros."30 Seconds to Mars then decided to re-sign with EMI (the parent label of Virgin). Leto said the band had "resolved our differences with EMI" and the decision had been made because of "the willingness and enthusiasm by EMI to address our major concerns and issues, (and) the opportunity to return to work with a team so committed and passionate about Thirty Seconds to Mars". He said it was "the most challenging business obstacle that we've ever gone through as a band."[

• Upon completion of the record, Leto spoke of the troubles the band faced whilst working on This Is War; "We spent two years of our lives working on that record, and it was us against the world... There were times that it was overwhelming. Everything that was going on was brutal... It was a case of survival, to tell the truth."

No. Title Length

1. "Escape" 2:242. "Night of the Hunter" 5:413. "Kings and Queens" 5:484. "This Is War" 5:275. "100 Suns" 1:586. "Hurricane" 6:127. "Closer to the Edge" 4:348. "Vox Populi" 5:439. "Search and Destroy" 5:39

10. "Alibi" 6:0011. "Stranger in a Strange Land" 6:5412. "L490" (Shannon Leto) 4:26

Present Image• During their present period the bands image has yet again changed,

they have now gone for an Alternative rock/ Punk style with both their image and style, they have also changed there line up as Tom Wachter left 30 seconds to mars half way through there second album and was replaced with Tomo Miličević in the present and Solon Bixler left in-between albums. Tom Wachter is now in another band Angles and Airwaves.