Will Pink Floyd sell Sony catalog for half a billion dollars?

Of all the other multimillion-dollar catalog deals on the table, Pink Floyd’s name/likeness rights and recording rights have been the most controversial. The catalog has been in the works for several years, with an asking price reportedly at $500 million, and the group was close to sealing a deal in 2022, but bitter infighting among the band members — mostly over lead songwriter Roger Waters’ controversial political statements against Israel and Ukraine and in favor of Russia — has complicated the deal immensely and scared off many suitors.

However, reports and Diversity sources say Sony Music, which has spent more than $1 billion on the Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Queen catalogs outside North America over the past few years (with the backing of investment firms such as Eldridge Industries), is in “advanced” talks to acquire the rights to the group’s recorded music for between $400 million and $500 million.

Although the details of the agreement are not clear and representatives of the group and Sony have refused or not responded to it, DiversityWaters’ requests for comment – if the price is high, as the Financial Times says, it means Waters’ comments had little impact on the price; if it is low, as Music Business Worldwide says, it means he has discounted the catalog by as much as 20%.

Other potential buyers were reportedly disappointed with the catalog’s annual revenues.

Core band members Waters and David Gilmour (pictured above, right and left, respectively, in the early 1970s) have been at odds with each other for decades, publicly criticizing each other and, more recently, trying to find enough common ground to get a deal done.

Sony has never officially confirmed its catalog deals, although the ones listed above have been widely reported by informed sources or were later mentioned in earnings reports. However, if word of the deal closing does come out, the company would likely face a firestorm of criticism for paying such a large sum to Waters, who has vehemently denied being anti-Semitic but has been quite outspoken in his vehement criticism of the governments of Israel, Ukraine, and the United States, and his strong statements in support of Russia and Vladimir Putin.

Among other inflammatory remarks, Waters compared Israel to Nazi Germany and said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “was not unprovoked.” (Waters’ 2022 concerts in Poland have been canceled because of his comments about neighboring Ukraine.) “You’re an anti-Semite to the core,” Gilmour’s wife, a novelist, said. Polly Samson told Waters on Twitteramong other colorful comments; “Every word is demonstratively true,” Gilmour added. Waters dismissed their comments as “incendiary and completely inaccurate.”

The companies that were close to sealing a deal with the group in 2022 — said to be Hipgnosis, Warner Music, and BMG — have all since undergone management changes (and earlier this year, BMG dropped Waters from its roster as a solo artist). Waters’ comments were a major factor in the deal falling apart, though a number of other factors — including rising interest rates, tax concerns, and the falling value of the British pound — also played a role.

Sources reported Diversity Early last year, it was reported that the deal was “basically dead” because the surviving band members “just couldn’t see eye to eye,” although sources close to the band insist that’s not the case.

“You could say the deal is no longer ‘active,’” one source said. “But at the same time, it’s still on the table. It’s a strange situation!”

On a purely business level, Pink Floyd’s recorded music catalog, not to mention its merchandising rights, is one of the most valuable in modern music, with classic albums like “Dark Side of the Moon,” “The Wall,” “Wish You Were Here,” “Animals,” “Meddle,” “Piper at the Gates of Dawn,” “More” and more. And after selling the catalogs of Dylan, Springsteen (both for an estimated $600 million), Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, James Brown (all for low nine-figures) and many others, it’s one of the most lucrative and coveted known. (Pink Floyd’s songwriting business is not included in the potential deal.) The core members — Waters, Nick Mason, David Gilmour and the estate of the late keyboardist Rick Wright — are all in their early 80s or early 70s and are likely thinking about estate planning.

Mason stepped into the middle of the dispute, saying in 2018: “It’s really disappointing that these quite senior gentlemen are still at odds with each other.”