Photo: Erinc Salor

Pink Floyd has another victory copyright victory – in a recent court decision, a judge ruled in their favour that their artistic vision should be preserved by disallowing downloads of their single songs. Music label EMI lost the battle over the rights to digitally distribute singles from Pink Floyd albums using sites like iTunes. The court case involved both royalty issues and an issue of artistic integrity, but was resolved in the band’s favour on both counts.

Damages

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

EMI has now been ordered to pay damages to Pink Floyd which, when calculated according to rates of inflation over the years since the Pink Floyd albums being distributed were released, add up to a considerable sum. Pink Floyd was originally signed to the EMI label in 1967, and only the Beatles’ back catalogue is more valuable than theirs. While that amount hasn’t been calculated yet, EMI will have to pay the band’s legal fees in the meantime.

Digital downloads

What complicates the issue of how much EMI owes to Pink Floyd is the fact that the band’s contract was signed before the advent of music downloads and the use of mp3 technology. The 1999 contract between EMI and Pink Floyd didn’t foresee this development in the music world, and as a result the label argued that this contract covered only physical – not digital – music products. It’s clear that the band and courts alike beg to differ.

Singles

Photo: alterna2.com / Flickr

Pink Floyd’s main problem with the distribution of their single songs is that the Pink Floyd albums were specifically created to work as a whole, with many of their songs blending into one another. Much of the value of the music is lost when the songs are separated, the band argued. The band and fans alike can now rest assured that the music of Pink Floyd will be preserved to be played in just the way it was intended.