Pink Floyd reportedly set to make £400million from back catalogue sale

nme.com:

Pink Floyd are reportedly set to make £400million from the sale of their back catalogue.Back in May, it was revealed that the legendary rockers were in talks to sell their entire catalogue, with a potential price for the sale reaching the hundreds of millions.Now, as reported by The Times, the band are looking for a £400million sale for their whole back catalogue, with private equity group Blackstone battling with major labels Sony, Warner, BMG and more to seal the deal.The sale, which would include Pink Floyd’s songs and master recordings, comes after they reunited earlier this year for new song ‘Hey, Hey, Rise Up!’, the band’s first original material since 1994’s ‘Division Bell’ album.

The track was released to draw attention to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and to raise funds for those affected by the war, with all proceeds from the song donated to Ukrainian Humanitarian Relief.In a statement, David Gilmour – who has a Ukrainian family – explained that the band released the song to draw attention to the war and to raise money for humanitarian efforts.“We want to express our support for Ukraine and in that way, show that most of the world thinks that it is totally wrong for a superpower to invade the independent democratic country that Ukraine has become,” Gilmour said.The likes of Neil Diamond, Sting, Bob Dylan, ZZ Top, Tina Turner and Stevie Nicks have all sold their back catalogues recently.Many artists – including Neil Young, Blondie, Shakira and Fleetwood Mac‘s Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie – have all sold the rights to their catalogues via the Hipgnosis Song Fund.