Pink Floyd is cashing in. The British rock group agreed to sell rights to its recorded music and name and likeness to Sony Music for $400 million, The Financial Times first reported. Sources later confirmed the sale to Variety.
According to the latter outlet, the deal resulted from years of disagreements between songwriters David Gilmour and Roger Waters. Drummer Nick Mason, as well as the estates of keyboardist Richard Wright and singer-songwriter Roger “Syd” Barrett, also had to OK the sale.
As for what Sony will get for its $400 million, the outlet reported that the deal includes recorded-music rights but not songwriting, which is still held by the individual writers. Name-and-likeness rights—which includes merchandise and theatrical rights—and their album artwork are also included in the sale, Variety reported.
The outlet additionally reported that “there seems little question” that Waters’ controversial comments in support of Russia and against Israel “devalued” Pink Floyd’s catalog, which had a rumored asking price of $500 million. Waters’ statements are also said to have stymied a near-closed deal for the catalog back in 2022.
In an interview with Rolling Stone last month, Gilmour explained why he was eager to sell his life’s work.
“To be rid of the decision-making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going is my dream,” he said. “I’m not interested in that from a financial standpoint. I’m only interested in… getting out of the mud bath that it has been quite a while.”
Regarding his infighting with Waters, Gilmour told the outlet, “It’s boring. It’s over. As I said before, he left our pop group when I was in my 30s and I’m a pretty old chap now… It seems so totally irrelevant to me now.… People talk about ‘the battle,’ but to me, it’s a one way thing that’s been going on since he left, with different levels of intensity.”
The men formed Pink Floyd in the 1960s. Throughout its tenure, the band, who has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, sold more than 250 million albums, most notably The Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, and Wish You Were Here.
The music catalog sales market has seen significant growth in recent years, partly thanks to the growth of music streaming, with high-profile deals for both newer and old acts. Bruce Springsteen sold his music catalog to Sony for an estimated $550 million in 2021, for instance, while Katy Perry and Justin Bieber sold theirs for $225 million and about $200 million, respectively, in 2023.
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