Pink Floyd has reportedly agreed to sell the rights to their extensive music catalog, as well as their name and likeness as a band, to Sony Music for $400 million this week.
The Grammy-winning psychedelic group has sold more than 250 million records worldwide and four of their albums (The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall and Atom Heart Mother) managed to top the US Billboard 200 chart.
However, Sony Music – which made similar deals with Queen, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen – does not retain the copyright to the songwriting, but does retain the rights to merchandise and film/TV spin-offs. Financial times reported Tuesday.
This, two years after a dispute over the tax structure between surviving Pink Floyd members – as well as founding bassist Roger Waters’ controversial comments against Israel and Ukraine – derailed a planned $500 million sale to bidders including Hipgnosis, Warner Music and BMG.
For example, the outspoken 81-year-old said of Israel’s treatment of Palestine “the parallels with what happened in Germany in the 1930s are so crushingly clear” and suggested that the October 7 Hamas attack may have been a “false flag operation.” ‘
Pink Floyd reportedly agreed to sell the rights to their extensive music catalog, as well as their name and likeness as a band, to Sony Music for $400 million this week (pictured in 2005)
The Grammy-winning psychedelic group has sold more than 250 million records worldwide and four of their albums (The Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, The Wall and Atom Heart Mother) have managed to top the US Billboard 200 chart to stand (pictured in 1971). )
In January BMG officially broke up with Roger claiming Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine was “unprovoked” when he spoke to the United Nations Security Council last year.
Waters said it too Rolling stone in 2022 that the United States is “the most evil.” [country in the world] of all by a factor of at least ten times’ and that Jewish people in the US/UK are responsible for Israel ‘because they pay for everything’.
Aside from Roger, the complicated deal involved guitarist-keyboardist David Gilmour, founding drummer Nick Mason, and the estates of late founding keyboardist Richard Wright and late founding frontman Roger ‘Syd’ Barrett.
Last month, Gilmour confirmed to the WashingtonPost that the sale was in the works.
“The reason I want to do this is that I don’t want to burden my children with that entire inheritance,” lamented the 78-year-old father of eight.
“And I’m also fed up with the burden of taking care of that damn legacy of the last almost forty years, with the s*** and the arguments that come with it. And I just want to be rid of it.”
When asked if he was concerned about future AI or hologram versions of Pink Floyd, David scoffed, “No. I will be dead. Who cares what anyone does?’
Gilmour will bring his 21-day Luck and Strange Tour to Italy’s Circo Massimo in Rome next Wednesday and Thursday.
Pink Floyd released their 50th anniversary box set of The Dark Side of the Moon last year, and they still regularly rack up 18.3 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
The British rock band – who last reunited for Live 8 London in 2005 – was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and released their 15th (and final) studio album The Endless River in 2014.
However, Sony Music – which made similar deals with Queen, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen – will not retain the songwriting copyrights, but will retain the rights to merchandise and film/TV spin-offs, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
This, two years after a dispute over the tax structure between surviving Pink Floyd members – as well as founding bassist Roger Waters’ (M, photo in 2023) controversial comments against Israel and Ukraine – derailed a planned $500 million sale to bidders like Hipgnosis, Warner Music and BMG
For example, the outspoken 81-year-old said of Israel’s treatment of Palestine “the parallels with what happened in Germany in the 1930s are so crushingly clear” and suggested that the October 7 Hamas attack may have been a “false flag operation.”
Roger also told Rolling Stone in 2022 that the United States is “the most evil.” [country in the world] of all by a factor of at least ten times’ and that Jewish people in the US/UK are responsible for Israel ‘because they pay for everything’ (Jewish demonstrators pictured in 2023)
In addition to Waters (R, pictured in 1968), the complicated deal also involved guitarist-keyboardist David Gilmour (2-L), founding drummer Nick Mason (L) and the estate of late founder Richard Wright (2-R). and late founder Roger “Syd” Barrett
Last month, Gilmour (pictured last Friday) confirmed to the Washington Post that the sale was in the works
The 78-year-old father of eight complained: ‘The reason I want to do this is because I don’t want to burden my children with that entire inheritance. And I’m also fed up with the burdens of taking care of that damn legacy of the past almost 40 years, with the s*** and arguments attached to it. And I just want to be freed from it’ (photo September 11)
When asked if he was concerned about future AI or hologram versions of Pink Floyd, David scoffed, “No. I will be dead. Who cares what anyone does?’