Pink Floyd Sold Music Rights for $400 Million
The Financial Times has reported that the legendary British band Pink Floyd has sold its recorded music rights and other material to Sony Music for around $400 million. The subject of the deal is the so-called back catalogue, relating to the band's music, visual materials, etc., but it does not include the rights to the lyrics which are held by the individual songwriters.
This trend has been on the rise recently, which is understandable given the oversaturation of the market and, last but not least, the ubiquitous digitalisation and the resulting financial leakage in the form of illegal downloading of audio and video. This type of deal means that artists and bands give up a share of the revenue generated by Spotify, by using their music in films, commercials or various cover versions, etc., in exchange for money paid upfront.
Pink Floyd's deal with Sony Music, one of the biggest in recent years, appears to have finally been concluded despite decades of disputes between band members, notably principal songwriters Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Also involved in the deal are drummer Nick Mason and the estates of keyboardist Richard Wright (28/07/1943 – 15/09/2008) and founding singer-songwriter Roger "Syd" Barrett (06/01/1946 – 07/07/2006).
Musically, the most active member of Pink Floyd is guitarist David Gilmour who recently released his fifth solo album, Luck and Strange, with a track of the same name (see the last video attached), using keyboard tracks recorded in 2007 by Richard Wright. Most of the lyrics were written by Gilmour's wife, the novelist Polly Samson, who said she was concerned with mortality and ageing. Their children contributed additional vocals, lyrics and instruments.
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