Pink Floyd sells its music rights to Sony for $400 million
The group was on the verge of a deal in 2022, but the bitter infighting among the band members complicated the deal.
Pink Floyd, the revolutionary English band that popularised progressive and psychedelic rock, has officially sold their name-and-likeness and recorded music rights for over $400 million. The band sold their music rights to the music label to Sony Music, writes ‘Variety’.
One of the biggest deals in recent memory, it appears to have come to an end after decades of constant discord and squabbles between the band’s primary songwriters, Roger Waters and David Gilmour; drummer Nick Mason is also involved, as are the estates of keyboardist Richard Wright and founding singer-songwriter Roger “Syd” Barrett.
According to the reports, the agreement includes name-and-likeness rights, which cover rights to merchandising, theatrical productions, and other such uses, as well as recorded-music rights—but not songwriting, which is owned by the individual songwriters. While Pink Floyd was famously unknown as individuals, most, if not all, of the classic artwork on their albums, which was mostly designed by the British business Hipgnosis, is included.
Pink Floyd’s recorded music catalogue, which includes hits like “Dark Side of the Moon,” “The Wall,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Animals,” “Meddle,” “Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” “More,” and more, is among the most valuable in contemporary music from a business standpoint.
Pink Floyd: Sony’s Acquisitions
With support from financial groups like Eldridge Industries, Sony has spent over a billion dollars purchasing catalogues from Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Queen for their non-North American rights in the last few years. The company has never made a public statement regarding the transactions.
The group was on the verge of a deal in 2022, but the bitter infighting among the band members—mainly over main songwriter Roger Waters’ controversial political statements against Israel and Ukraine and in favour of Russia—had complicated the deal tremendously and turned off many potential suitors. The catalogue had been up for grabs for several years, with a reported asking price of $500 million.
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