On Friday morning, MBW issued a breaking news alert: We’ve heard that Pink Floyd are in talks to sell their records to Sony Music for a total price believed to be around £400m.
a few hours later financial times Further corroborating the story, its own sources suggest the deal is worth $500 million.
The expected acquisition is believed to include the band’s catalog of recorded music, as well as neighboring rights and “name and likeness rights”.
But how did Sony (or any other potential buyer) achieve the reported half-billion-dollar price tag?
Of course, the best way to determine the value of Pink Floyd’s catalog of recorded music is to know how much money it has earned.
MBW uncovered annual accounts filed by two UK companies owned by Pink Floyd, which allowed us to do this.
First thing to know: Pink Floyd owns their own master tapes but works with record labels to license and/or distribute their music around the world.
Proceeds from sales/streaming of the band’s music flow to two UK companies after their record publisher/licensing partner takes their share: PINK FLOYD (1987) LIMITED. and PINK FLOYD MUSIC LIMITED.
The former appears to collect revenue from the catalog of music recorded by the band after Roger Waters left in 1985; the latter collects revenue from music recorded before Waters left.
The combined revenue generated by these two companies is £40.399 million For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. Dollar US$50.24 million.
According to the annual report filed in March Pink Floyd Music Ltd, The company’s annual revenue is £30.8 million ($38.3 million) For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.
This represents a Annual increase of 48% increase from £20.8 million The company reported for the 2022 financial year, according to financial reports filed with Companies House.
Pink Floyd Music Ltd. Considers all three surviving band members as directors, including Roger Waters, David Gilmour and Nick Mason.
According to the company’s annual report, “the company’s primary business is the sale of physical and digital products recorded music in relation to the masters it owns through its distributors and licensees”.
The company later added in its annual report that it “sells physical and digital recorded music through distributors and licensees, bears the costs associated with those sales (primarily distribution, manufacturing and copyright) and then pays to provide the service fees”. as certain third-party manufacturers”.
A family named PINK FLOYD (1987) LIMITED. It was also filed in March, also for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.
PINK FLOYD (1987) LIMITED. Calculate only david gilmore and Nick Mason As a director. As the name suggests, the company was founded in 1987 (two years after its founding) Roger Waters left the band).
According to the company’s annual report for the year ended June 30, 2023, its annual revenue was GPB £9.59 million, Convert to USD $11.9 million Calculated based on 2023 annual average exchange rate.
This represents a 14% annual increase reduce from GBP £11.15 million The company announced its fiscal 2022 report.
according to PINK FLOYD (1987) LIMITED. The company’s revenue-generating activities are also related to recorded music and merchandise, the annual report shows.
The company confirmed it “owns certain Pink Floyd master and exploit them through sales physical and digital recorded music and goods sold through its distributors and licensees”.
In 2022, when rumors first surfaced that Pink Floyd’s album was on sale, the band’s team was scouting the North £400 million MBW sources said the deal would include recorded music rights and “name and likeness” rights, but not music publishing rights.
According to our sources, this appears to still be the case.
At the time, there were reports that the catalog was attracting interest from potential buyers, e.g. Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group, BMG, Hipgnosis, Concord, primary waveand private equity groups black stone.
News of Sony being in talks to acquire Pink Floyd Records comes two months after Apollo Global Management confirmed it was a major investor in the company. US$700 million “Capital Solutions” Sony Music Group Aims to provide funding for investment in the music industry.
Apollo’s announcement came the same month, with MBW sources telling us, Apollo was a co-investor in Sony’s deal to acquire the records of another legendary rock band, Queenapproximately £1bn.
It is understood that Sony will purchase Queen’s global music publishing rights, their “name and likeness rights”, and rights to their recorded music, including their recording rights outside North America, and their master rights are owned by Disney Music Group.
(Sony already manages Queen’s publishing rights, and the band’s recorded music is currently distributed globally through Universal Music Group.)
Sony has partnered with external capital Previous Catalog Investments.
Sony’s Approximately US$550 million The 2021 acquisition of Bruce Springsteen’s catalog of published and recorded music (on the publishing side) is partially funded by Eldridge Industries.
All GBP/USD currency conversions in this analysis are based on the 2023 annual average exchange rates published by the IRS.global music business
