Pink Floyd sell back catalogue for $400million

Pink Floyd have agreed to sell their back catalogue for $400million in a deal with Sony.

According to Music Business Worldwide, the legendary rock veterans’ deal with the music giant is set to include the band’s recording catalogue, neighbouring rights, and name and likeness rights. However, the band’s publishing rights were not included in the deal.

Pink Floyd’s recorded music royalties are currently managed by two companies: Pink Floyd (1987) Limited and Pink Floyd Music Limited. The main difference between the two companies is that the latter collects revenue for music recorded before Roger Waters’ departure in 1985, and the former collects revenues for music recorded after.

As reported by Music Business Worldwide, the two companies generated a combined revenue of $50million (£40.399million) during their fiscal year ended June 30 2023.

The news of Pink Floyd selling their back catalogue comes after Sony acquired Queen’s catalogue for £1 billion earlier this summer.

Previously speaking about the idea of selling the band’s back catalogue in an interview with Rolling Stone, the band’s former guitarist David Gilmour said that it would be a “dream”, but not because of the financial gain the sale would bring.

He said he’d be most tempted to sell to “be rid of the decision-making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going,” and added: “I am not interested in that from a financial standpoint. I’m only interested in it from getting out of the mud bath that it has been for quite a while.”

The “mud bath” he refers to is most likely referring to the tension between him and Waters which has run for a number of years now. While it has gone on for decades, it came to a head again recently when Gilmour attacked Waters with claims of anti-Semitism.

Gilmour recently hinted at his relationship with his former Pink Floyd bandmate, sharing: “One day there are things I will talk about.”

In his interview with Rolling Stone, the guitarist did hint that he may dive further into the rocky relationship with Waters sometime in the future saying: “One day there are things I will talk about, but this isn’t that day.”

In other news, Gilmour has been in recent headlines following the release of his new album ‘Luck and Strange’, which was issued on September 6. He performed his first live gig in four years at a pub open mic night and spoke out against the dynamic pricing practices that followed the release of Oasis concert tickets.

“I think Oasis should do exactly what they want to do,” he told ITV News. I’m not sure about this strange ticketing thing that’s going on. They should put a price on tickets and stick to it.” In the same interview, he said that a Pink Floyd reunion is unlikely because the band has only “three people left and we’re not talking”.

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