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How much is the Pink Floyd record catalog worth? When two years ago there was talk of its possible sale, the figure circulating was 500 million dollars, between masters and copyright. And of course: not everyone has bestsellers like The Dark Side of the Moon e The Wall. Then the sale fell through, thanks to the militant positions taken on the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Roger Waters, bassist and main composer of the Cambridge band. But the management of the copyright on the British artist’s corpus continues to produce news. And the latest of these concerns Italy: Roger Waters has in fact entrusted the collection of rights for our country to Soundreef, the main private collecting agency on the Italian market.
Its management has signed a multi-year contract with the former startup founded in 2012 by Davide D’Atri, starting from July 1, 2024. Every time we perform on stage, play on the radio or stream songs from the early days such as Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sunsuperclassics like Wish you were here or more recent works such as Is This the Life We Really Want? in short, it will be Lea, the non-profit emanation of Soundreef, to collect the royalties in the name and on behalf of Waters. «We worked hard on it for a long time», explains D’Atri, «through a process that, as always happens when we talk about big international names, involves reading our metrics. We are happy to announce this result that fills us with pride».
The historic leader of Pink Floyd is not the only big international name that Soundreef protects for Italy: the agreement with the American collecting society Sesac, in force since last January, has in fact brought 15 thousand affiliates to the company’s roster, including Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan, the soul of Nirvana Kurt Cobain, Axl Rose, Green Day, David Crosby and Ariana Grande. Overall, Soundreef has 43 thousand authors, composers and publishers globally, of which 26 thousand are Italian: from Gigi D’Alessio to Laura Pausini, from Pooh to Ultimo, passing through Sfera Ebbasta, J-AX, Guè and Rkomi. “We started as a startup with 85 thousand euros of capital”, says D’Atri, “we supported the battle for the liberalization of copyright in our country which has effectively changed the market”. Today Soundreef moves 20 million in turnover and employs 50 people on a permanent basis, in addition to 40 independent agents.
Still on the liberalization front, last March the EU Court of Justice “rejected” Italy’s implementation of the Barnier Directive, stating that commercial companies, not just non-profits, must be able to operate freely as collecting societies. The Italian legislator had removed the exclusivity from Siae, but forced private collecting societies, such as Soundreef, to identify non-profit companies, such as Lea, to act as a shield. “On this front,” continues D’Atri, “we are waiting for the Italian legislator to implement the indications of European justice, completing the liberalization process. In the knowledge,” concludes the startupper, “that liberalization has so far increased the turnover of copyright, improved the market and given more power to artists.”
