Posted on 03/10/2010 1:41:48 PM PST by a fool in paradise
Pink Floyd are suing their record label EMI, claiming that it has no right to sell their songs except as part of full albums. According to a 1999 contract, tunes like Money and Another Brick in the Wall cannot be "unbundled" from the albums on which they appear; EMI alleges this does not apply to downloads.
"Pink Floyd [are] well-known for performing seamless pieces," said Robert Howe, the band's lawyer, at a High Court hearing yesterday. "Many of the songs blend into each other." To reflect this, Pink Floyd's renegotiated 1999 contract "expressly prohibits" EMI from selling songs out of context. And yet, Howe argues, EMI "[permit] individual tracks to be downloaded online and ... [therefore allow] albums not to be sold in their original configuration."
EMI's legal team dismissed this interpretation, saying the album stipulation applies only to physical releases like CDs and DVDs. "In 1999, when [the contract] was negotiated, iTunes didn't even exist," EMI lawyer Elizabeth Jones told BusinessWeek.
...Pink Floyd have been signed to EMI since 1967, issuing all of their albums through the label. It's been a lucrative career: The Dark Side of the Moon, released in 1973, is one of the all-time bestselling albums, and the group's back catalogue is second only to the Beatles in worldwide sales....
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
He’s very nice in person. I met him at the Porsche factory in Stuttgart.
Those who own publishing on the songs on radio do get paid (typically the songwriters unless they sold ownership).
Us vs Them
When records first came out over 100 years ago, money was in sheet music and you didn’t have to pay anyone to record that song.
Money! I’m alright jack keep your hand off of my stack!
Which one’s Pink?
Don’t you mean “Another Brickhead in The Wall”?
Massa?
That would seem to argue against EMI. All rights to the music belong to Pink Floyd except those they allow to the record company. No mention of digital downloads, then now digital downloads. The furthest stretch I could see is that a digital download is the same as buying an album, but that would mean the album has to be sold intact. Without seeing the exact wording of the contract, I have to go with Pink Floyd on this.
Roger Waters and integrity do not belong on the same page, let alone in the same paragraph.
You can admire their talent all you want, and “Dark Side of the Moon” was the first CD I ever bought, but these guys are hypocritical far left mouthpiece who have made fantastic livings embracing capitalism while espousing leftist government control over other people's lives.
This is a cheap attempt to retroactively pry more money out of the publishers and retailers.
I would be okay with a troop of lawyers sucking a huge fortune from both the Floyd and the Publisher, actually.
Cool! US copyright law says "phonograph" and such terms, not compact disc or song download. So according to their logic it's perfectly legal download as much music as you want without paying.
Ok... if the songs are bundled. Why is it that they never played them this way live ? With perhaps the exception of The Wall . Contracts or not. They best be taking the Download money and running with it.
Yeah. Lawyers are such liars. They will say anything to win a case.
Where’s Eugene with that axe? He better be careful!
Waters as the songwriter does get paid, but it's a royalty on aired music, which is not a sale. Anyway, royalties for radio can be paid by minute of airtime, not per song. Waters' contract with the publisher is per album, with the stipulation that no per song sale is allowed. Waters has no contract with stations regarding long his songs must be played. Royalties for internet radio and any other download is "per song". Waters wants all downloads and internet play to be per album, as per contract.
Dogs Pigs Sheep
...or , you could spell it with a d.
I did a bit better than you. My first CD was “Back in Black.” Loved Brian Johnson then, still love him now. Besides, he was blazing fast around the track on Top Gear a while ago.
“Waters’ contract with the publisher is per album, with the stipulation that no per song sale is allowed.”
So you are saying that he never saw a dime on the singles of Money, Wish You Were Here, Another Brick In The Wall, Not Now John, et al?
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