Sources have stated in a Variety report that Sony Music is in “advanced” talks to acquire the band’s recorded music rights for a hefty price.
Variety claims that the deal has been complicated in recent years due to former bassist Roger Waters‘ political statements, most recently against Israel and Ukraine. In response, Gilmour had attacked Waters with claims of anti-Semitism.
Earlier this month, Gilmour spoke about selling the band’s catalogue in an interview with Rolling Stone. “To be rid of the decision making and the arguments that are involved with keeping it going is my dream,” he said, stating that it’s mainly to do with “getting out of the mud bath” – one that’s likely referring to Waters’ controversial and outspoken views.
In February, Gilmour’s wife Polly Samson shared a tweet in which she accused Waters of being “anti-Semitic to [his] rotten core”, as well as “a Putin apologist and a lying, thieving, hypocritical, tax-avoiding, lip-synching, misogynistic, sick-with-envy, megalomaniac”.
Gilmour then re-shared Samson’s tweet, adding that “every word [is] demonstrably true”.
Waters himself issued a statement in response, which saw him describe Samson’s comments as “incendiary and wildly inaccurate” and continued that he “refutes [them] entirely”. He added that he was “taking advice as to his position” regarding the claims.
Pink Floyd, 1971. CREDIT: Koh Hasebe/Shinko Music/Getty Images
Samson’s comments came after Waters took part in an interview with German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, and shared his views on Israel and the Russian-Ukraine war.
Per a translated version of the interview on Waters’ site, the musician was at one point asked if he still believed – as he had said in the past – that the state of Israel was comparable to Nazi Germany. “Yes, of course,” he replied. “The Israelis are committing genocide. Just like Great Britain did during our colonial period.”
Elsewhere in the Rolling Stone interview, Gilmour said that he finds it “boring” talking about his disagreements with Waters. “As I said before, he left our pop group when I was in my 30s, and I’m a pretty old chap now, and the relevance of it is not there. I don’t really know his work since. So I don’t have anything to say on the topic.”
Gilmour has been in recent headlines following the release of new album ‘Luck and Strange’, which was issued on September 6. He performed his first live gig in four years at a pub open mic night, and spoke out against the dynamic pricing practices that followed the release of Oasis concert tickets.
“I think Oasis should do exactly what they want to do,” he told ITV News. I’m not sure about this strange ticketing thing that’s going on. They should put a price on tickets and stick to it.” In the same interview, he said that a Pink Floyd reunion is unlikely because the band has only “three people left and we’re not talking”.
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