The deal comprises recorded music rights but not songwriting
Classic albums such as ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and ‘The Wall’ are included
Sony have spent over $1 billion on deals for Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Queen in recent years
Pink Floyd have put an end to years of infighting between band members by selling their music rights to Sony for $400m.
Surviving band members David Gilmour, Roger Waters and Nick Mason, along with the estates of deceased members Richard Wright and Syd Barrett, have spent years bitterly exchanging a war of words between themselves. A lot of tension stemmed from songwriter Waters’ political views in favour of Russia and their invasion of Ukraine, as well as some statements he made during an interview with Rolling Stone that many believed to be anti-semitic. It was this interview that is thought to have tanked a previous deal to sell the band’s music rights for $500m in 2022.
Two years later, however, and a deal appears to have been agreed with Sony, albeit for $100m less than the 2022 deal.
Sources have confirmed to Variety that the $400m covers recorded music rights but not songwriting, which is held by the individual writers. While representatives for both Sony and Pink Floyd didn’t comment on the situation, the Financial Times have confirmed to Variety that the deal has indeed been agreed.
As one of the most popular rock acts of all time, with countless stadium tours and some of the biggest selling albums in history to their name, Pink Floyd’s catalog has long been regarded as one of the most valuable in music. In concluding its purchase, Sony has secured classic albums such as ‘Dark Side of the Moon’, ‘The Wall’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Animals’ and ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’.
In recent years, Sony has spent over $1 billion on music catalogs, buying the rights to music by the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Queen (although only Queen’s non-American rights).
After the 2022 deal dissolved, Waters angrily denied he was anti-semitic, although he was labeled as such by bandmate David Gilmour’s wife, the novelist Polly Samson, on Twitter, when she tweeted, “You are anti-semitic to your rotten core. Also a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching,misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac.” Waters responded to the comments, calling them “incendiary and wildly inaccurate”.
Waters’ tour of Poland in 2022 was cancelled because of his comments about neighbouring Ukraine, in which he blamed both Ukraine and NATO for the war with Russia, writing an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, blaming “extreme nationalists” for having “set your country on the path to this disastrous war.” During his interview with Rolling Stone, Waters claimed that stories of war crimes being committed by Russia in Ukraine were “lies, lies, lies”.
An investigation into Waters by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) interviewed people who worked alongside him, with allegations being made of repeated derogatory references to Jews.
Emails from Waters were also published by the CAA where the Pink Floyd songwriter proposed that an inflatable pig floating above his concerts should be scrawled with an anti-semitic slogan. In the emails, which were sent in 2010, Waters also suggested “bombing” his audiences at concerts with confetti in the shape of swastikas, stars of David and dollar signs.
