It’s “A Great Day For Freedom”—at least for the members of Pink Floyd. As BBC News reports, the band has emerged victorious in a legal battle with record label EMI, accompanied by a ruling that could soon lead to the band’s entire discography getting pulled from iTunes.
Pink Floyd’s original contract with EMI—inked before the rise of iTunes and Amazon and their ilk as modern purveyors of digital music—included a clause that Chancellor Sir Andrew Morritt says requires that EMI “preserve the artistic integrity of the albums.” The court’s interpretation was thus that EMI may not distribute Floyd tunes “by any other means other than the original album, without the consent of Pink Floyd.” That means no more integrity-busting individual tracks.
One wonders whether Steve Jobs will cry out “Don’t Leave Me Now!” My guess? No. “Is There Anybody Out There” who thinks Pink Floyd couldn’t be convinced to let EMI continue to sell individual tracks, in exchange for some extra “Money,” as All Things Digital suggests?
Let’s be clear, though. The court’s ruling, which also requires that EMI pay the band $60,000 for the contract violation, could certainly mean that Floyd’s tunes won’t “Stay” available in iTunes much longer. Of course, “If” the band decides to “Stop” the madness, and finds some way to keep its digital tracks available, such an announcement may well herald “The Happiest Days of Our Lives.”