NICKELBACK's Record Company Explains CHAD KROEGER Ban On SANTANA Single

NICKELBACK's record label, Roadrunner Records, has released a statement explaining why it wouldn't let Chad Kroeger appear on the new SANTANA single, even though he's on SANTANA's album. Kroeger wrote and sang on "Why Don't You & I" for SANTANA's "Shaman", which was issued through Arista Records. However, when the decision was made to release the song as a single, Roadrunner Records wouldn't give SANTANA permission. The song was subsequently recut for the single release with Alex Band from THE CALLING, who also appears in the accompanying video.

Santana told Launch that there are no hard feelings about the change: "Chad was not able to be released, given the green light from his company," he said. "He wanted to, and he fought for it — in fact, he's the one that fought to get Alex, because [Kroeger's] company was not cooperative to let him be [on] the single, like it is on the CD. But I'm still grateful, you know? I mean, I understand that everyone has restrictions."

In its statement, Roadrunner said, "The agreement between Arista and Roadrunner was for Chad Kroeger to perform on the SANTANA album 'Shaman'. There was no intention from the beginning for the song to be a single between the two labels, thus the resulting new vocal performance [by Band] which was arranged by Arista."

NICKELBACK are scheduled to release a new album in late September, and Roadrunner felt that having Kroeger appear on a high-profile single during the summer might compromise the excitement over new NICKELBACK music in the fall.