Most people’s response to a letter from Mark Zuckerberg willing to offer them big money would be a definite yes. Roger Waters though was able to stand his ground and deny Zuckerberg the opportunity to use his music for Instagram ads.
At least that is what the former Pink Floyd member is claiming. Recently he shared a story about how he got a letter directly from Zuckerberg requesting to use the iconic “Another Brick in the Wall part 2”. Waters not only denied the request he took time to formally protest the way that Facebook and other social media outlets are taking over everything.
Last week at a pro-Julian Assange event which naturally is an event that people like Waters attend, the Pink Floyd member gave a quick press conference. In his appearance, he mentioned that a letter directly from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had arrived in the mail for him that morning.
Apparently, it was a request to use Pink Floyd music for Instagram ads. Waters took advantage of the opportunity not only to deny Zuckerberg’s request but also to totally cuss him out and criticize him.
After talking about the arrival of the letter with the request Waters gave a public answer to the Facebook CEO. Water said,
“The answer is, ‘F–k you. No f–in’ way.’” , he then went on to say, “I only mention that because this is an insidious movement of them to take over absolutely everything. I will not be a party to this bulls–t, Zuckerberg.”
It’s unclear whether or not Zuckerberg will try and sweeten his offer to use Pink Floyd’s music or he’ll just avoid more insults from Waters and use another band’s music.
For Waters selling out to Facebook was not an option. In his view, the company is actively looking to control different aspects of life. One of his biggest criticisms was the way Facebook censors content. On that topic he mentioned,
“[Why] make Facebook and Instagram more powerful than it already is … so that it can continue to censor all of us in this room and prevent this story about Julian Assange getting out into the general public so the general public can go, ‘What? No. No More.’”
Pink Floyd members have been in constant legal battles over the rights to the band’s songs for years. Essentially when Waters split from the band he got a couple of songs in the divorce settlement. One of the songs that Waters owns is “Brick in the wall”. That’s why he’s able to sing that song on his solo tours.
As things stand right now he doesn’t need to consult with his former band members about issues like this. If he would have taken the money the profit would have been solely his.
