Pink Floyd, EMI battle over royalties

Record company EMI has found itself the target of legal action from Pink Floyd in a dispute over royalty payments and technicalities of how music is sold to consumers in a digital form. Having being outsold only by the Beatles, Pink Floyd has been signed to EMI for 40 years now.

The artists are disputing how royalty payments and the marketing of their music are calculated in modern industry. It also objects to how EMI can "unbundle" their albums - or in other words sell any individual tracks from any Pink Floyd albums over the Internet without selling the full album.

Pink Floyd's lawyer, Robert Howe, told the High Court in London that EMI is violating a contractual clause that "expressly prohibits" unbundling of tracks for individual sale from Pink Floyd albums, which include The Wall and The Dark Side of the Moon.

EMI disputes that it is violating the clause, saying that it only applies to a "physical product" and does not apply for digital sales made on the Internet. Howe disagrees, saying that EMI's position makes no commercial sense, and is clearly contradicted by the conditions used in the agreement with EMI.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 10 Mar 2010 9:02

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12 comments

beanos66

record execs have always stolen from their artists but coz the amount they steal is in the billions they then use that money to pay for lawyers and politicians.

that's where Joel Tennenbaum went wrong, he should have "Stolen" more than $21 dollars worth of songs

will the execs at emi have to pay thousands of times their annual wages in fines? I think not

10.3.2010 11:00 #1

Mysttic

Record labels use the statement of pirates stealing from the artists as an excuse to hide the fact that it is the record labels themselves stealing. I cheer for Pink Floyd, they deserve their payments as well as any other artists getting ripped off by their labels. Let their be an international investigation on what fair use of artists tracks is, and what their payments should be and maybe just maybe the issue about piracy can take a side seat for a little bit.

10.3.2010 11:38 #2

scum101

I believe Pink Floyd have a clause in their contract which allows then right of veto for any album only track being included on any compilation.. unless the said track has been released as a single (or B side) in the country before.

As a group not known for pointless court cases (they have been very quiet considering the number of times their music has been stolen etc for commercial pirate products.. and seem to have been actively involved in the production and circulation of very high quality bootleg recordings from concerts) I don't think they would make a fuss unless they are pretty sure they are right... One thing I think we can all agree on is they have enough cash to give the cartel a run for their money.

*watches developments with interest*

10.3.2010 11:45 #3

VENOM79

i think this royalties thing is BS! once you made a song or movie and get paid for it THATS IT. you shouldent get paid till the day you die for it. labels ,execs or so called artist.i would give a set amount of time to get paid like 3-6 monthes not a LIFETIME . thats like me putting in a walk way at a mall and everytime a person walkes on it to get to the mall another royalty every time till i die, these methods and amount of payment for these guys is the exact reason why i only PIRATE

10.3.2010 16:36 #4

DVDdoug

Quote:the fact that it is the record labels themselves stealing. This is not about "stealing". Pink Floyd is getting paid.

It's simply a contract dispute. Pink Floyd doesn't want to sell singles. From the information in the article, Plink Floyd is probably going to win this one.

Quote:i think this royalties thing is BS! You are entitled to your opinion but you are not entitled to make-up your own copyright law. If you write a book, you can get royalites for your whole life if you people keep buying your books. In my opinion that's a good thing. If your dad writes a book and then gets killed the day after the book is published, you can collect the royalties.

Quote:thats like me putting in a walk way at a mall and everytime a person walkes on it to get to the mall another royalty every time till i die... Have you ever heard of a toll-road or a toll-bridge? That has no relation to copyright law.

10.3.2010 19:16 #5

llongtheD

Originally posted by VENOM79: i think this royalties thing is BS! once you made a song or movie and get paid for it THATS IT. you shouldent get paid till the day you die for it. labels ,execs or so called artist.i would give a set amount of time to get paid like 3-6 monthes not a LIFETIME . thats like me putting in a walk way at a mall and everytime a person walkes on it to get to the mall another royalty every time till i die, these methods and amount of payment for these guys is the exact reason why i only PIRATESo everytime there is a format change say from vinyl, to cassette, to CD for example, and people re-purchase the new format of the music they shouldn't get paid? Its their art, not the corporate sh#t bags. I think as long as their art sells, they should get a percentage. But I guess you'd rather see corporate America get it all.

10.3.2010 23:00 #6

VENOM79

no i dont want to see corporate america get anything really , i want the prices come down dramatically so every one can enjoy. or a least so a one hit wonder or an ok movie doesnt net a artist millions for one song or a 90 minute movie, i mean come on already for some its a days pay to take your family to the movies, if you ask most of the media pirates why they do it ? most will say its crap thats out, media should cost penneys not dollars, and the crying music industry and movie industry will still make money just not the exsessive amount those greedy f%$&s want.

11.3.2010 16:57 #7

bluedogs

You go get em Pink Floyd crew, im with you 100% on this.

Its about time these execs get slapped around for doing the wrong thing

11.3.2010 18:55 #8

kfir1

EMI is pirating money from the very people that is making money for them. GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!

11.3.2010 21:28 #9

scum101

They won.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8561963.stm

about time somebody gave the cartel a bloody nose.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
http://www.fsf.org/

12.3.2010 12:39 #10

Tarsellis

I wish there was a way that they could both lose.

13.3.2010 15:14 #11

marknc

I am a big fan of Pink Floyd have been for years. They are unique and should be respected as such. EMI will try and milk every penny from them, they have no respect or loyalty, their God is money. I hope they lose, and I hope they lose Pink Floyd also.

9.9.2010 13:16 #12

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