Copyright, Roger Waters goes with Soundreef

How much is Pink Floyd's record catalogue worth? When its possible sale was discussed two years ago, the rumoured figure was $500 million, including master and copyright. And of course: not everyone has bestsellers like The Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall in their songbook. Then the sale fizzled out, due to militant stances on the war in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by Roger Waters, bassist and principal songwriter of the Cambridge band. But copyright management over the British artist's body of work 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 society in the Italian market.

Its management has signed a multi-year contract with the former start-up founded in 2012 by Davide D'Atri, effective 1 July 2024. Every time early tracks like Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, super-classics like Wish You Were Here or more recent works like Is This the Life We Really Want? are performed on stage, played on the radio or streamed, Lea, the non-profit Soundreef arm, will collect royalties on Waters' behalf. '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, goes through our metrics. We are happy to announce this result, which 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 American collecting society Sesac, in force since last January, has 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 counts 43 thousand songwriters, composers and publishers globally, 26 thousand of whom are Italian: from Gigi D'Alessio to Laura Pausini, from Pooh to Ultimo, via Sfera Ebbasta, J-AX, Guè and Rkomi. "We started out as a start-up with 85,000 euros of capital," says D'Atri, "we supported the battle for the liberalisation of copyright in our country, which effectively changed the market". Today Soundreef has a turnover of 20 million and employs 50 people on a permanent basis, plus 40 independent agents.

Still on the liberalisation front, the EU Court of Justice last March 'rejected' Italy's transposition of the Barnier Directive, stating that commercial companies, not just non-profit organisations, must also be able to operate freely as collecting societies. The Italian legislator had taken away Siae's exclusivity, but obliged private collecting companies, such as Soundreef, to identify non-profit companies, such as Lea, to act as a screen. "On this front," D'Atri continues, "we are waiting for the Italian legislator to implement the indications of European justice, bringing the liberalisation process to completion. In the knowledge', concludes the startupper, 'that liberalisation so far has increased copyright turnover, improved the market and given more power to artists'.