After finishing the unpleasantness of the court battle with their record label EMI over royalty payments and then kissing and making up, it appears that both parties are now colluding to rake in a buck. They’re set to ransack the archives to re-release all 14 of the band’s studio albums, giving them all the bells and whistles treatment. From September, all the band’s studio efforts will be re-released under the banner “Why Pink Floyd…?” 1973’s 45 million+ selling Dark Side Of The Moon will see fans cough up for a six-disc “immersion” box set or a garden variety two-disc “experience” version, in a digital format and of course as a collectors’ vinyl LP.
1975 follow up Wish You Were Here will be offered on five discs, accompanied by live material from the band’s 1974 Wembley performances, including an epic 20-minute live version of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’. 1979’s conceptual double album The Wall, will come in a seven-disc set, with a demo version of ‘The Wall’, which has yet to be hear outside the studio. Naturally, a single album ‘Best Of’ collection will be available for those with not so deep pockets.
The releases are somewhat ironic, considering that Pink Floyd had previously taken its paymasters to court, arguing that the contracts they had signed with EMI did not take in to account the distribution of songs via the internet and argued that they band wanted their albums sold as a whole to maintain their ‘artistic vision’. Indeed, they had argued that they also wanted a new royalty rate for download which they argued cost the record company a lot less to distribute and sell.
Amusingly, the whole re-release of their new material will now include digital downloads of individual songs – no doubt having negotiated a vastly improved royalty rate for the band.
