High Court victory gives Pink Floyd right to block EMI on singles sales | The Australian

via theaustralian.com.au

EMI has suffered strained relations with its artists since it was bought in 2007 by Terra Firma, the private equity group run by Guy Hands. Sir Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and Radiohead have all quit since the takeover.

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Pink Floyd have sold more than 200 million albums during their career and have been one of the company's most lucrative acts.

Sir Andrew Morritt, Chancellor of the United Kingdom’s High Court, accepted the group's arguments that EMI was bound by a contract stipulating that written consent was necessary for the sale of its material as anything other than complete albums.

The dispute centred on a line in the contract stating, "there are no rights to sell any or all of the records as single records, other than with (Pink Floyd's) permission".

EMI claimed that this applied only to physical copies of songs, but the band argued successfully that it also applied to songs sold online.

The judge said the purpose of a clause in the contract was to "preserve the artistic integrity of the albums".

However, Pink Floyd's music will continue to be sold as singles until other disputes between the band and EMI are resolved.

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