Us and Them: Pink Floyd Smacks Down EMI

Classic rockers win a legal victory against their label regarding the fate of digital downloads of their songs

Suggestion to the surviving members of Pink Floyd: have a cigar.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers smacked down their label in court today as a judge ruled that EMI cannot sell individual tracks from classic Floyd albums without the band's consent.

EMI had argued that its old contract with the band allowed the label to sell individual tracks from albums like Dark Side of the Moon, while bandmembers balked, saying their concept albums were created as singular works, not a bunch of singles.

EMI spinmeisters refused to see today's setback as, well, a setback. Instead, the label argued that there are more issues (like how the company and band will divvy up some $15 million in royalties from downloads of the band's music) that still need to play out.

"The litigation has been running for well over a year and most of its points have already been settled," EMI said in a statement. "This week's court hearing was around the interpretation of two contractual points, both linked to the digital sale of Pink Floyd's music. There are further arguments to be heard and the case will go on for some time."

EMI reiterated that it has not yet been ordered to halt digital sales at online outlets such as the iTunes store.

A lawyer for Pink Floyd hailed the ruling as a victory for "artistic control."

Pink Floyd sought the injunction barring individual song sales for Dark Side of the Moon, Wish You Were Here, Animals and The Wall to, in the words of its decade-old contract, "preserve the artistic integrity of [the group's] albums."

And the magistrate agreed. EMI, he said, is "not entitled to exploit recording by online distribution or by any other means other than the original album, without the consent of Pink Floyd."

Somebody cue "Money."