Rock band Pink Floyd launched a High Court action against EMI today in a dispute over the calculation of online royalty payments and marketing of their music.

The band, whose 'Dark Side Of The Moon' is one of the best-selling albums in music history, is seeking a ruling on two key issues.

Robert Howe QC, appearing for the group, said they wanted to “know where they stand as a matter of contract”.

The case concerns how online royalties are to be calculated.

Mr Howe said it also concerned EMI’s “entitlement to sell individual tracks, or indeed any tracks, otherwise than in the original configuration of the Pink Floyd albums”.

He argued that a contractual clause “expressly prohibited” what was referred to as “unbundling” – the selling of tracks, either physically or online, “other than in their original configuration”.

Mr Howe said EMI was arguing that the prohibition “applies only to the physical product and doesn’t apply online”.

But that “makes no commercial sense” and was contradicted by the conditions used in the agreement with EMI, argued Mr Howe.

Pink Floyd signed with EMI in 1967 and became one of its most lucrative signings, their back catalogue being outsold only by that of The Beatles.