EMI’s terrible week just got a bit more terrible
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EMI has lost the court case in which Pink Floyd argued that the label was not allowed to sell the band’s albums ‘unbundled’ on digital music stores – the latest blow in what’s turning into a nightmare week for the label.
High Court Chancellor Sir Andrew Morritt agreed with Pink Floyd that a clause in their contract with EMI expressly prohibited the label from selling their albums in “any configuration other than the original configuration” – as their lawyers put it – which includes allowing people to buy individual tracks on iTunes and other stores.
The contract was signed in 1999, and EMI had argued that the clause only covered physical recordings. Now the label is faced with the prospect of removing the band’s back catalogue from digital stores, or at least negotiating new deals for the albums to be sold unbundled.
(They’re still available a la carte on iTunes for fans who want to get in quick).
What’s less clear is whether Pink Floyd also prevailed in another aspect of the case – their challenge of the royalties they’re due from online sales of their back catalogue. The arguments and judgement of this part of the case were held in private at EMI’s request.
The ruling follows yesterday’s news that EMI Music CEO Elio Leoni-Sceti is leaving the company on 31 March, to be replaced by former ITV boss Charles Allen, who’ll take the role of executive chairman. “EMI is a wonderful business with a great team and new creative and operational momentum,” said Leoni-Sceti. “My job here is now done and it is time for me to move on.” Clearly a man with an immaculate sense of timing.
The Pink Floyd decision may not directly affect that momentum – the band won because of that explicit clause forbidding the sale of their albums in new configurations. But elsewhere, there remain questions about EMI’s relations with artists.
OK Go is the latest band to leave the label, having recently clashed with EMI over its no-embeds policy on their YouTube videos. The band plans to re-release its latest album Of The Color of Blue Sky on its own label, having reportedly only sold 20,000 copies since EMI released it in January.
Tags: EMI, pink floyd
March 11th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
[...] 1 votes vote EMI’s terrible week just got a bit more terrible EMI has lost the court case in which Pink Floyd argued that the label was not allowed to sell [...]