British High Court stops EMI from Unbundling Pink Floyd albums online
As reported earlier today by Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, fans of Pink Floyd will be unable to buy their songs individually on websites like iTunes after lawyers for the rock band won a British High Court ruling against EMI.
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Band members took the record label to court on Tuesday arguing it had broken a 1999 contract which expressly “ prohibits the sale of albums in any configuration other than the original configuration". Robert Howe, QC, for Pink Floyd, had said this applied to all recordings including those distributed online. He said the band had wanted to maintain artistic control over their "seamless" albums, in all formats.
Elizabeth Jones, QC, for EMI, had argued the ban was limited to physical records.
Earlier today Sir Andrew, Chancellor of the High Court, agreed with Mr Howe, and granted Pink Floyd the declaration they sought preventing EMI from allowing the band's albums – including Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall – from being chopped up for sale as individual track downloads, a process known as 'unbundling'. The Pink Floyd case is thought to be the first time a band has succeeded in obtaining a court ruling preventing a label from selling its albums as individual online tracks. Sir Andrew said the purpose of the clause was to "preserve the artistic integrity of the albums".
This decision causes problems for record companies because iTunes, the biggest online music retailer, prefers artists to allow their albums to be sold as individual tracks.
