First published June 16, 2021.
In June 2021 Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd, said he had turned down "a huge, huge amount of money" from Facebook to use "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" in a promotional film for Instagram. He announced it on stage at an event supporting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, read part of the request aloud, and then rejected it with a burst of profanity aimed at Mark Zuckerberg. Facebook later confirmed there had been early talks but said they never went beyond a concept stage.
Here is what was said, what is known about the offer, and why a song from 1979 still carries so much weight.
Where and when Waters made the claim
Waters spoke at a panel in support of Assange, who was then held in a London prison while the United States sought his extradition over the publication of classified documents. Video of his remarks, published by the Mexican newspaper La Jornada around 10 June 2021, spread quickly once music sites picked it up.
Waters said the request had arrived by internet that very morning, and that it came with an enormous sum attached. He read out a passage in which the company praised the song's lasting relevance, calling its core sentiment still necessary today. His reply, in his words, was an unprintable refusal.
All of the details about the size of the offer and who signed the letter come from Waters himself. The amount was never disclosed, and no copy of the letter has been published.
Why he said no
Waters gave two reasons. The first was power. He described the request as part of "an insidious movement" by the company to take over everything, and said a bigger Facebook and Instagram would be better able to censor people and keep stories such as Assange's away from the public.
The second was personal. Waters referred to Zuckerberg's student days, when he built a site that asked users to compare the looks of fellow Harvard students, and asked how someone who started that way had come to hold so much power. He capped it with an insult, calling Zuckerberg "one of the most powerful idiots in the world."
That is Waters's opinion, delivered with his usual bluntness. It is not a finding about Zuckerberg, and it is worth separating the colourful language from the underlying argument, which is about the power of large platforms and the use of art to sell them.
What Facebook said
Facebook, which owns Instagram (the parent company renamed itself Meta in October 2021), did not deny the approach. A company representative told reporters that it had asked whether Waters wanted to work on the song, that the discussions had only reached an initial concept phase and that they had mostly happened between Instagram's marketing agency and Waters's representatives. The company added that it fully respected any artist's decision about whether to work with it.
In other words, both sides agree there was interest in the song. Where they differ is in tone: Waters presented it as a personal approach from Zuckerberg with a large cheque, while Facebook described an early, agency-level conversation.
Why this song is such a loaded choice
"Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" appeared on Pink Floyd's album The Wall, released on 30 November 1979. Waters wrote it as a protest against harsh, abusive schooling, the kind of teaching that turns children into one more brick in the wall. Released as a single, it was the UK Christmas number one of 1979 and also topped the US Billboard Hot 100.
The song quickly became a protest anthem far beyond the band's intentions. In 1980 South Africa's apartheid government banned the single and the album after students boycotting segregated schools adopted it. That history is part of why an advert built on its famous chorus feels pointed: a song about refusing conformity, used to sell one of the world's biggest social networks.
Facebook's own pitch, by Waters's account, leaned on exactly that timelessness. For Waters, the same timelessness was the reason not to sell it.
Can one band member say no?
Readers often ask how Waters could refuse on behalf of a band. Licensing a recording for an advert usually involves two sets of rights: the song itself (the composition, controlled by its writers and publishers) and the specific recording (usually controlled by the record label and the band). Because Waters wrote "Another Brick in the Wall," he has a strong say over how the composition is used, and he said as much on stage. The exact terms of Pink Floyd's agreements are private, so it is not public whether other rights holders were asked separately.
Artists refusing advertisers is not new. Many musicians decline brand deals because they do not want a song tied to a product or a company whose values they dislike. What made this case stand out was the size of the company, the size of the reported offer and the very public way Waters turned it down.
Waters, controversy and context
Waters has a long record of outspoken political statements, from criticism of US politicians to campaigning on Israel and Palestine, and some of his later comments have been sharply criticised. Fans and critics tend to read his Facebook refusal through that lens. Whatever one thinks of his wider views, this episode is a clear example of an artist putting control of his work ahead of a payday, and of a tech giant discovering that not every classic is for sale.
Sources: Insider, June 2021; Digital Music News, 15 June 2021 (citing La Jornada video); Loudwire, 14 June 2021; Wikipedia: Another Brick in the Wall.
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