A recent report in the Wall Street Journal hints at the possibilities that rare Pink Floyd concert recordings might be on the horizon.

The recordings are part of an archive of more than 5,000 live audio and video tapes made between 1966 and 1999, and only recently discovered when Bill Sagan spent over $5 million to buy up the Bill Graham Presents collection, which was lying unwanted and uncatalogued in a warehouse. Some of the collection was even damaged by a fire.

Bill Graham

Bill Graham was born Wolfgang Grajonza in Berlin, 1931, before moving to the US and eventually making his name as one of the most well-known rock promoters.

The recordings were made at rock concerts that the late Mr. Graham ran or promoted. The performances, many of which are professionally recorded and extremely high quality, were done so legally - as a bulging filing cabinet attests.

Graham's company made the recordings partly for posterity's sake, and for the patrons of the restaurant next door.

Graham owned the restaurant, and didn't want to lose customers when an artist started their set. So, he installed CCTV and piped the performances through to the diners. Many were also captured on videotape at the same time.

Sagan is now working on the early stages of complex negotiations with artists, their representatives and record labels over the rights to sell the recordings on discs and as downloads.

In the meantime, Sagan plans to begin "streaming" some of these recordings as audio feeds on his company's Web site, which involves little more than paying royalties to organizations that represent songwriters.

We'll keep a close eye on this and let you know if and when any of Pink Floyd's performances get a release.