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Pink Floyd Sells Recorded Music Assets to Sony. Could Publishing Be Up for Grabs Next?

Pink Floyd's recorded music assets sold for $400M. Is publishing next? Billboard estimates how much the band's publishing catalog could go for.

As sources said at the time, the assets were shopped to all the big players — the other majors, BMG, Concord, Primary Wave and other private equity-backed music buyers — but Sony always had the inside hand on the deal given that it serves as the group’s distributor. In July, Apollo Global Management announced that it was the lead in pulling together $700 million in commitments to provide a “capital solution” to Sony Music Group. But if any opportunities arise for film, TV or a theatrical production — and there likely will be considering that since 1991 the band’s fanbase has consumed nearly 51 million album consumption units in the U.S. alone — Sony would need, as its executives well know, licenses from the Pink Floyd publishers and/or administrators, which in the U.S., according to SongView and depending on the song, consist of TRO Essex Music Group, BMG and Concord.

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