Sorry Sony — Just Moments After a $400 Million Catalog Deal, Pink Floyd Says Zero Chance of a Reunion Tour
Photo Credit: Pink Floyd in 1971 / Capitol Records
Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour shoots down any possibility of a reunion tour following Sony Music’s $400 million purchase of the band’s catalog: “Nothing would make me share a stage with [Roger Waters].”
After plunking down a cool $400 million-plus for the recorded music catalog of Pink Floyd, Sony Music undoubtedly had designs to maximize the returns on one of the most expensive music IP acquisitions in history. A global reunion tour won’t be one of those options.
Heading into the deal, Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour had been very clear in his stance that he will never perform with his former bandmate Roger Waters again. He’s stated as much in the past, but in a new interview with The Guardian, Gilmour doubled down, declaring he would “absolutely not” perform with Waters ever again.
DMN has long speculated that politics was preventing the Pink Floyd catalog from fetching a barn-burning valuation. Roger Waters presented the biggest concern, though it now appears that political infighting — i.e., the band members hating each other — represents another challenge.
“I tend to steer clear of people who actively support genocidal and autocratic dictators like [Russian president] Putin and [Venezuelan president] Maduro,” said Gilmour, citing Waters’ previous controversial remarks about Ukraine, Israel, and the United States. “Nothing would make me share a stage with someone who thinks such treatment of women and the LGBT community is okay.”
“On the other hand,” he added, “I’d love to be back on stage with [late Pink Floyd keyboardist] Rick Wright, who was one of the gentlest and most musically gifted people I’ve ever known.”
Roger Waters has compared Israel to Nazi Germany and called Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “not unprovoked,” among his many other controversial comments. Gilmour’s wife, writer Polly Samson, has criticized Waters on social media, calling him “anti-Semitic to [his] rotten core.” Gilmour agreed with his wife, adding, “Every word is demonstrably true.”
Waters has refuted their remarks, calling them “incendiary and wildly inaccurate.” But Germany-based music publisher BMG also parted ways with Waters over his political remarks. Waters was due to release a newly recorded version of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon last year — but that deal got the axe when Thomas Coesfeld became CEO of BMG last year. Waters eventually released the album through the UK-based imprint, Cooking Vinyl.
Sony Music recently bought the rights to the band’s recorded music as well as their name and likeness in the aforementioned $400 million deal. The deal was continually delayed in no small part due to Waters’ comments and stances.
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