Pink Floyd and EMI chums again

Pink Floyd has signed a five-year deal with the record label EMI, bringing to an end almost two years of legal wrangling over online distribution.

Pink Floyd scored a notable court victory over EMI.
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Pink Floyd has signed a five-year deal with the record label EMI, ending almost two years of legal dispute. The band, whose back catalogue includes the world's third best-selling album, Dark Side of the Moon, won a British High Court battle with the label last month over online sales.

The row centred on £10 million (Dh57.4m) in unpaid royalties, with the band saying EMI's move to "unbundle" album tracks for downloads breached the integrity of the music.

EMI argued the word "record" in the contract applied to "the physical thing" and not online distribution.

The band maintained the tracks constituted a whole "seamless" album, and should not be available for individual online sale.

The judge sided with Pink Floyd, and EMI's appeal was dismissed.

The band first signed with EMI in the late 1960s, in what became one of the longest relationships in the industry. The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Queen and Radiohead have all left the label since its takeover by the private equity firm, Terra Firma, in 2007.

Pink Floyd's drummer, Nick Mason, complained last October that "the gang known as 'business affairs' have taken over" at EMI, adding: "I look back with considerable fondness to the days when it was the entrepreneurs and individuals who actually ran these companies and created something that was about the music."

EMI said: "All legal disputes between the band and the company have been settled as a result of this new deal."

Pink Floyd has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide.