News

The BBC reports the English High Court has decided in favor of Pink Floyd in a dispute the band has been engaged in with its long-time record label EMI.

At issue is whether the label has the right to sell Floyd’s tracks individually online. The ruling could remove Floyd’s catalog from the iTunes Music Store and the like.

The band had maintained its contract prohibits EMI from selling its tracks piecemeal without band permission, and this contract, agreed upon before the advent of MP3, included online sales.

EMI disagreed, saying the word “record” in the contract meant a physical thing that didn’t apply to digital files sold online.

The court today sided with the band, which wasn’t present to hear the ruling, saying the contract guarantees to preserve the “artistic integrity” of the band’s albums, which prevented so-called “unbundled” sales of individual tracks without the Floyd’s say-so.

EMI has been ordered to pay $60,000, but, in a statement, said, “Today’s judgment does not require EMI to cease making Pink Floyd’s catalogue available as single track downloads, and EMI continues to sell Pink Floyd’s music digitally and in other formats.”

This latest court ruling is part of a much larger long-running dispute between the band and label over approximately $15 million in allegedly unpaid royalties.

News agency Reuters reports that Pink Floyd today took legal action against its long-time record label EMI. The point of contention is EMI’s online sales of individual Floyd tracks and royalty calculations of the same.

Floyd attorney Robert Howe told London’s High Court the band has contractual protection against EMI’s selling of its tracks piecemeal, a practice known as “unbundling.”

According to Howe, EMI believes that agreement is limited to “physical product and doesn’t apply online.”

Floyd’s back catalog is the second most popular in the world, next to The Beatles’.

As we reported previously, the March 21 episode of CBS-TV’s “Cold Case” will feature several songs by Pink Floyd.

Today, Capitol/EMI, the band’s label, released more details about the broadcast.

In the episode, titled “Flashover,” the missing Nick Vera (Jeremy Ratchford) is concerned team members realize he’s finally hit rock bottom and hopes a new twist to a 2006 arson case, which Vera was secretly obsessing about in recent weeks, might supply quick leads to his whereabouts.

Glenn Morshower (“24”) plays a fire marshal who partnered with Vera on the arson/homicide case in 2006, and Patrick Gallagher (“Glee”) portrays a bartender at a bar where Vera’s recently become a regular.

The episode was written by Greg Plageman, one of the series’ executive producers, and was directed by Jeannot Szwarc.

“Pink Floyd’s music is so sonically and texturally rich it demands your attention, and nothing about this episode is lean-back television,” said Plageman. “The Floyd tracks we chose seem to perfectly complement the slide of Detective Nick Vera into a personal abyss.

“We also love that one of their most famous album covers, ‘Wish You Were Here’ — of two men on fire shaking hands (Actually only one is on fire -fs) — was shot right here on the Warner Bros. Lot 35 years ago, right next to our actual ‘Cold Case’ soundstages.

“So, we thought that it would be great symmetry to play the title track over the final montage.”

Past music-themed episodes of “Cold Case” have featured the music of Ray Charles, John Lennon, Frank Sinatra, Nirvana, Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, Bruce Springsteen, Tim McGraw, U2, Bob Dylan, Santana, Bob Seger, The Doors and Pearl Jam.