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Pink Floyd win court ruling to stop unbundled downloads
Rock band Pink Floyd have won a High Court battle against their record labelEMI in a ruling that will prevent the online sale of the band's individual tracks. The band's lawyer, Robert Howe, argued that his clients were well known for their "seamless" albums and said the 'unbundling' of songs would relinquish the band's artistic control. Judge Andrew Morritt ruled that a clause in the band's contract with EMI protected "the artistic integrity of the albums".
EMI's lawyers were claiming the 11-year-old contract between the label and the band applied only to physical albums and not web sales. Morritt ruled that EMI is "not entitled to exploit recordings by online distribution or by any other means other than the complete original album". The ruling was made during a long-running dispute over GBP10m (USD15m) in unpaid royalties. EMI will have to pay the band's legal costs and Morritt will decide later how much EMI owes in damages. Morritt also ruled on the amount of royalties owed to the band. The latter ruling was made in private because EMI successfully argued the issue of royalties was protected by commercial confidentiality.
