EMI-SEX PISTOLS
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- Duration: 3:10
- Published: 2009-04-25
- Uploaded: 2011-02-17
- Author: oldschoolrapbufank
| Coordinates | 52°5′46″N6°43′29″N |
|---|---|
| Company name | EMI Group Ltd. |
| Company logo | |
| Company type | Private |
| Foundation | 1931 |
| Location city | London |
| Location country | United Kingdom |
| Key people | Roger Faxon, Chief Executive, EMI Group |
| Industry | Music entertainment |
| Revenue | £1.072 billion ($1.65 billion)(2009) |
| Ebitda | £163 million (2009) (EMI Music) £135 million (2009) (EMI Music Publishing) |
| Num employees | 5,500 (January 2008) |
| Parent | Terra Firma Capital Partners |
| Homepage |
The Electric and Musical Industries Ltd was formed in March 1931 by the merger of the UK Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company, with its "His Master's Voice" record label, firms that have a history extending back to the origins of recorded sound. The new amalgamated company produced sound recordings as well as recording and playback equipment.
In 1958 the EMIDEC 1100, Britain's first transistorised computer, was developed at Hayes under the leadership of Godfrey Hounsfield. In the early 1970s, Hounsfield developed the first CAT scanner, a device which revolutionised medical imaging. In 1973 EMI was awarded a prestigious Queen's Award for Technological Innovation for what was then called the EMI scanner, and in 1979 Hounsfield won the Nobel Prize for his accomplishment. After brief, but brilliant, success in the medical imaging field, EMI's manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies, notably Thorn (see Thorn EMI). Subsequently development and manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies and work moved to other towns such as Crawley and Wells.
Emihus Electronics, based in Glenrothes, Scotland, was owned 51% by Hughes Aircraft, of California, U.S., and 49% by EMI. It manufactured integrated circuits and, for a short period in the mid-1970s, made hand-held calculators under the Gemini name.
In 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at Abbey Road, London. During the 1930s and 1940s, its roster of artists included Arturo Toscanini, Sir Edward Elgar, and Otto Klemperer, among many others. During this time EMI appointed its first A&R; managers. These included George Martin, who later brought the Beatles into the EMI fold.
When The Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company (including Columbia's subsidiary label Parlophone) in 1931, the new Anglo-American group was incorporated as Electric & Music Industries Ltd. At this point RCA had a majority shareholding in the new company, giving RCA chair David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board.
However, EMI was subsequently forced to sell Columbia USA due to anti-trust action taken by its American competitors. By this time the record industry had been hit hard by the Depression and in 1934 a much-diminished Columbia USA was purchased for just US$70,500 by ARC-BRC (American Record Corporation-Brunswick Record Company), which also acquired the OKeh label.
RCA sold its stake in EMI in 1935. RCA retained the Americas rights to the "Nipper" trademark (which was used by EMI's HMV label in other countries) because of its earlier takeover of the Victor label, which owned the US rights to the mark. In 1938 ARC-Brunswick was taken over by CBS, which then operated Columbia as its flagship label in the United States and Canada.
However EMI retained the rights to the Columbia name in most other territories including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, and it continued to operate the label until 1972, when it was retired and replaced by the EMI Records imprint. In 1990, following a series of major takeovers that saw CBS Records acquired by the Sony Corporation of Japan, EMI sold its remaining rights to the Columbia name to Sony and the label is now operated exclusively throughout the world by Sony Music Entertainment; except in Japan where the trade mark is owned by Columbia Music Entertainment,
EMI released its first LPs in 1952 and its first stereophonic recordings in 1955 (first on reel-to-reel tape and then LPs, beginning in 1958).
In 1957, to replace the loss of its long-established licensing arrangements with RCA Victor and Columbia Records (Columbia USA cut its ties with EMI in 1951), EMI entered the American market by acquiring 96% of the stock of Capitol Records. From 1960 to 1995 their headquarters, "EMI House," was at 20 Manchester Square. The stairwell is on the cover of the Beatles' Please Please Me album. An unused shot from the Please Please Me photo session was used for the cover of Beatles' double-album compilation 1962-1966 (aka "The Red Album"); a matching group photograph taken in 1969 by Angus McBean (originally intended for the Let It Be album) was used for the cover of the 1967-1970 double album (aka "The Blue Album").
Its classical artists were largely limited to the prestigious British orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra. During the LP era very few U.S. orchestras had EMI as their principal recording company; an exception was the Pittsburgh Symphony Band, particularly during the years of William Steinberg's leadership.
Under the management of Sir Joseph Lockwood from the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the company enjoyed huge success in the popular music field. The groups and solo artists signed to EMI and its subsidiary labels—including Parlophone, HMV, Columbia and Capitol Records -- made EMI the best-known and most successful recording company in the world at that time, with a roster that included scores of major pop/rock acts of the period including Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard, The Shadows, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Hollies, Cilla Black and Pink Floyd.
In 1967 EMI converted HMV to an exclusively classical music label, shifting HMV's pop music roster to Columbia. In 1969, EMI established a new subsidiary label, Harvest Records, which signed groups in the emerging progressive rock genre, including Pink Floyd, who had debuted on Columbia.
Electric & Musical Industries changed its name to EMI Ltd in 1971 and the subsidiary The Gramophone Company became EMI Records Ltd in 1973. In 1972, EMI replaced the Columbia label with EMI Records. In February 1979, EMI Ltd acquired United Artists Records and with it Liberty Records and Imperial Records.
In October 1979 THORN Electrical Industries merged with EMI Ltd to form Thorn-EMI.
In 1989 Thorn-EMI bought a 50% interest in Chrysalis Records, buying the outstanding 50% in 1991. In one of its highest-profile and most expensive acquisitions, Thorn-EMI bought Richard Branson's Virgin Records in 1992.
Since the 1930s, Shanghai's Baak Doi had been published under the EMI label. Since then, EMI had also been the dominant label in the cantopop market in Hong Kong until its decline in the mid 1980s, still the heyday of Cantopop. EMI divested totally from the c-pop market between the years 2004–2006. After that, all Hong Kong music artists previously associated with EMI have had their music published by Gold Label, a concern unaffiliated with EMI and with which EMI does not hold any interest.
On 21 November 2000, Streamwaves and EMI signed a deal licensing EMI's catalogue in a digital format for Streamwaves' online streaming music service. This was the first time EMI had licensed any of its catalogue to a streaming music website.
Pop star Robbie Williams signed a 6 album deal in 2002 paying him over £80 million ($157 million), which was not only the biggest recording contract in British music history, but the second biggest in music history.
On 15 December 2005, Apple Records, the record label representing the Beatles, launched a suit against EMI for non-payment of royalties. The suit alleged that EMI have withheld $50 million from the record label. An EMI spokesman noted that audits of record label accounts are not unusual, confirming at least two hundred such audits have been performed, but that they rarely result in legal action. A legal settlement was announced on 12 April 2007. Terms were undisclosed.
On 2 April 2007, EMI announced it would begin releasing its music in DRM-free formats. Initially they are rolling out in superior sounding high-bitrate AAC format via Apple's iTunes Store (under the iTunes Plus category). The tracks will cost $1.29/€1.29/£0.99. Legacy tracks with FairPlay DRM will still be available for $0.99/€0.99/£0.79 – albeit with lower quality sound and DRM restrictions still in place. Users will be able to ‘upgrade’ the EMI tracks that they have already bought for $0.30/€0.30/£0.20. Albums are available at the same price as their lower quality, DRM counterparts. Music videos from EMI will also be DRM-free. The higher-quality, DRM-free files became available worldwide on iTunes on 30 May 2007, and are expected to show up on other music download services soon. Since then Universal Music Group has also announced sales of DRM-free music (which they described as an experiment).
In May 2006, EMI attempted to buy Warner Music Group, which would have reduced the world's four largest record companies (Big Four) to three; however, the bid was rejected. Warner Music Group launched a Pac-Man defence, offering to buy EMI. EMI rejected the $4.6bn offer.
In 2008, EMI withdrew from the South-East Asian market. As a result, South-East Asian market is the only region where EMI is no longer in operation, although the record label continues to operate in Hong Kong and Indonesia (which is currently named Arka Music Indonesia). The Hong Kong branch of Gold Label, the Chinese and Taiwanese operation of EMI, was sold to Typhoon Group and reformed as Gold Typhoon. The Filipino branch of EMI changed its name to PolyEast Records, and is a joint venture between EMI itself and Pied Piper Records Corporation. EMI's physical audio and video products in South-East Asia has been distributed by Warner Music since December 2008, while in China and Taiwan, EMI's releases were distributed under Gold Typhoon, which was previously known as EMI Music China and EMI Music Taiwan, respectively.
In July 2009, there were reports that EMI would not sell CDs to independent album retailers in a bid to cut costs, but in fact only a handful of small physical retailers were affected.
In February 2010, EMI Group reported pre-tax losses of £1.75 bn for the year ended March 2009, including write-downs on the value of its music catalogue. KPMG issued a going concern warning on the holding company's accounts.
Category:British record labels Category:Media companies of the United Kingdom Category:Companies based in London Category:Companies established in 1931 Category:Record label distributors Category:Television pioneers Category:Electronics companies of the United Kingdom Category:Electronics industry in London Category:Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Category:IFPI members Category:Music publishing companies
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