Pink Floyd Maintains Control Of Their Digital Catalog After Court Appeal
By Travis Woods
Whatever you think about Pink Floyd, you’ve got to give the classic prog-rock explorers credit for sticking to their guns, as far as artistic integrity goes—the surviving members of the band have emerged victorious in a High Court appeal case from EMI, in which the label wanted to be able to distribute the band’s songs on an individual basis, rather than the album-only basis that Floyd insists upon.
According to Spinner:
“Floyd’s surviving members took their label to court in a dispute over whether the troubled business could sell their back catalogue as separate tracks rather than complete albums.
“Lawyers for the group, famously wary of releasing singles, again argued that a 1999 contract that insisted on album-only sales also covered digital content. EMI’s appeal was dismissed on Tuesday, Dec. 14, Music Week reports. This is, though, only the latest stage in a dispute over an alleged £10m ($15.7m) unpaid royalties from sales between 2002 and 2007, something that could not come at a worse time for the beleaguered firm.”
This is just latest in a string of business disappoints for EMI, who lost the crown jewels of Radiohead and the Rolling Stones in 2007, and whose massive licensing deal early this year fell flat on its face. Cue the sad-bastard Charlie Brown Christmas song.
What do you think of Pink Floyd’s victory?
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 12:14PM
I am glad the artist won out here against the record label, and it’s nice to hear a successful band give more weight to how they want to been listened to as artists instead of generating a couple more sales through singles. But I am an album fan and a long time Pink Floyd and progressive music listener, so my opinion is skewed in this particular situation.
Saturday, December 18, 2010 7:36AM
Their albums are concept albums. The songs, and meanings behind the music could be taken out of context without hearing the whole album to be able to understand the meanings behind what is trying to be expressed. I think there are a some songs that could be released, but that leads to all or nothing. Then I pick nothing. Buy the album and enjoy it for years. Floyd fan for life.