Pink Floyd sold its recorded production to Sony but retains its copyright

British the members of the rock band Pink Floyd and their heirs have sold their recorded productions and the commercial rights to the names of the band and its members to the music giant Sony Music.

The price of the deal is said to be around 400 million dollars, or around 360 million euros. The copyrights of the songs, which remain with the authors of the songs, were left out of the deal.

The Financial Times newspaper reported on the possible sale of Pink Floyd’s catalog in mid-September, while the transaction was still in progress, and it news also this week about the completion of the transaction. He confirmed the FT’s information based on his own sources as well Variety news site.

Trade means that Sony Music gets control over Pink Floyd’s recordings and thus the income from record sales. It also gets the right to use the names of the band and its members.

This way, Sony is able to sell, for example, Pink Floyd accessories or make movies or TV shows related to the band. You could therefore think that Sony would make, for example, a Pink Floyd biopic telling the story of the Queen band, the highly popular Bohemian Rhapsodyn (2018) approach.

Instead, the copyright income from Pink Floyd’s songs continues to go to the songwriters and their successors. Of course, these may sell their publishing rights later as well. For example, the members of the band Fleetwood Mac are sold their own rights with different conditions for at least three different companies.

Pink Floydin guitarist songs David Gilmour said in August for Rolling Stone magazinethat his motivation for selling was not so much financial as personal: he felt that managing Pink Floyd’s rights was too cumbersome and time-consuming due to the disputes involved. Especially Gilmour and the band’s former bass player Roger Watersin things have been tense for a long time.