Pink Floyd sues EMI over online royalties

British rock band Pink Floyd has launched a lawsuit against its record company, EMI, claiming it has miscalculated royalty payments for online sales.

Pink Floyd's lawyer Robert Howe told London's High Court on Tuesday that the group wants a ruling on whether EMI can sell tracks "unbundled" from their original albums, Britain's Press Association has reported.

Howe argued that this was "expressly prohibited" under the group's contract. He noted that EMI is claiming the clause only applies to physical albums and not to online sales.

Tuesday's hearing is expected to turn into a lengthy legal battle over how music is sold in the digital era.

Pink Floyd signed with EMI more than 40 years ago in 1967, and it was one of the company's most lucrative signings. The group's album Dark Side of the Moon is one of the bestselling albums in music history, and its back catalogue has only been outsold by that of the Beatles.

The original Pink Floyd members reunited in 2005 for a short set at the Live 8 concert in London.

Keyboard player Richard Wright died of cancer in 2008 at age 65, and original member Syd Barrett died of pancreatic cancer in 2006.