Pink Floyd has stopped EMI from selling individual songs on their on line store. Pink Floyd has always created concept albums that are meant to be listened to uninterrupted from start to finish. This is the band’s trade mark that that they are fighting for her folks. The super group had to wait for the result of a British court ruling this week that ruled in favour of the band ideals! Good for the band!
I can see that some fans might be only willing or able to pay for certain segments, which EMI considers individual songs, of the album. EMI is saying that is what the public wants and that is what they will get come hell or high water! This model of business would certainly bring in more revenues for EMI. And as we all now know, EMI is in big trouble, just look at some previous posts on this blog.
From a business perspective this is a sound platform to explore. As for the artistic integrity of the bands ideals … To add insult to injury for EMI, they also have to pay the band’s legal costs, estimated at £60,000. Even the Rolling Stones left these clowns in 2007 when the current owners, bought by Mr. Guy Hands of the British private equity firm, Terra Firma Capital Partners, in 2007. Losers!
Now rival Warner Music, led by Edgar Bronfman Jr.(Canadian boy), is said to be watching EMI’s problems with baited breath. Warner tried to buy EMI four years ago and may soon get a chance to buy it, as they say, for a song.
The British court ruling stopped EMI’s single song sales from Dark Side and other Pink Floyd albums, pointing to a contract forbidding the band’s albums from being sold in any other form without written consent. EMI had argued that the contract applied only to records, not downloads. The judge disagreed, saying the contracts protected “the artistic integrity of the albums.” Many of Pink Floyd’s albums are designed as continuous entities with songs flowing into one another.
So I hope that this will be a standard template for future artist’s contracts that they will sign with their record/distribution company. Imagine you being in a contract like this, with everything clearly stated in black and white and you give the company the benefit of the doubt but you still get screwed like this? I’d be be, how about you?
Keep on Jammin'(and read the fine print before you put your name to a document)