Pink Floyd Victorious

[GhostShip]

In recent dispute over album tracks slicing (which floyd are against) on itunes and some dubious accounting practices used by the media mafia to rip off artists lets hear what techdirt had to say about the matter and another recent story regarding radio play "royalties" that US radio stations alone are not paying.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100310/1352318509.shtml

This story is as old as the recording industry itself. The labels have always worked hard to avoid actually paying bands anything.
But what made it worth mentioning is that the lawsuit has come out at just about the same time that the record labels are now hilariously trying to claim that radio stations are "pigs" who refuse to pay musicians. In one of the more juvenile pranks out there, a lobbying group supported by the labels is going around with a giant inflatable pig, mocking radio stations for "refusing to pay musicians for their work ."

You would think that the record labels would be smart enough to avoid making an argument that could so easily be turned against them. How about before you go blame the radio stations for not paying the labels to promote your acts, you start out by paying money to some of your top selling acts who claim they've never seen a dime in royalties.

You have to hand it to the recording industry labels they are so glutted on the artists royalties that paying the artist anything is often seen as beneath them, just throwing them a few crumbs now and then is no longer something they can get away with and I expect many other groups will wake up and sue with a positive benefit for fellow artists who simply started out wanting to share their fun and talent and got sidetracked by the bean counters who monopolise recorded music.

[GhostShip]

Lets see what the BBC are saying...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8561963.stm

Pink Floyd tracks may be removed from digital music services like iTunes after a High Court ruling.

Their latest record deal, signed with EMI before legal downloads came along, said individual songs must not be sold without the band's permission.
They argued that the same rule should apply to digital sales as well as CDs.
EMI disagreed but a judge has sided with Pink Floyd. The ruling is part of a long-running battle between the two sides over £10m in unpaid royalties.

EMI said it had not yet been ordered to stop selling single Pink Floyd tracks. That may come at a later stage in the case, however.
In court, Chancellor Sir Andrew Morritt said the contract contained a clause to "preserve the artistic integrity of the albums".
He said the contract meant EMI were "not entitled to exploit recording by online distribution or by any other means other than the original album, without the consent of Pink Floyd".

Mr Jenner, now emeritus president of the International Music Managers' Forum, predicted that the ruling would be significant.
"I think it will give the artists some ammunition to get the record companies to be a bit fairer with the royalty treatment they give artists for digital work."

Its good to hear the artist has some rights left, with many modern contracts the artist is stripped of many rights and left for a "once creative husk" with the promise of royalties that seem never to actually amount to much ...unless your on the label side of the fence.