Pink Floyd delivered another early Christmas present to fans with the unceremonious release of 18 live albums from the Dark Side of the Moon era on streaming services. This move comes after the band silently put out a dozen live albums last year and is likely related to copyright protections.
The 18 live concerts, as well as a five-song Alternative Tracks 1972 collection, hear the psychedelic juggernaut perfecting what would eventually come out in March 1973 as Dark Side of the Moon and conquer the music world. The shows span from January 23rd through December 9th, 1972, including the band’s four-night stay at London’s famed Rainbow Theatre in February. The setlists remain fairly consistent and the audio can be a bit rough at times, but the concerts’ historic value is undeniable.
Like in 2021, the releases can be linked to the U.K.’s updated “Use It or Lose It” copyright law. The tactic was similarly employed by Bob Dylan back in 2013, with a representative for Sony telling Rolling Stone at the time, “The copyright law in Europe was recently extended from 50 to 70 years for everything recorded in 1963 and beyond. With everything before that, there’s a new ‘Use It or Lose It’ provision. It basically said, ‘If you haven’t used the recordings in the first 50 years, you aren’t going to get any more.’”
Of note, the 12 live albums released last year have been removed from streaming services, so listen to the new trove while they’re still available.
Related: New Documentary On Syd Barrett & Pink Floyd To Feature Both Roger Waters & David Gilmour
This news also comes as Pink Floyd is reportedly shopping around for a catalog deal that could fetch as much as $500 million. Unfortunately, recent reports indicate that bassist Roger Waters‘ recent controversial claims about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have sunk a potential sale (meanwhile, guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason released a song for Ukraine as Pink Floyd). A potential deal reported to Variety back in October would have included, among other things, the group’s back catalog of archival content and live shows. This recent live content dump marked Pink Floyd’s first significant vault release from its 1973–1980 commercial peak.
See below for a full list of Pink Floyd live albums recently added to streaming services.
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