EMI

EMI Group Limited (originally Electric and Musical Industries), also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, was a British multinational music recording and publishing company, and electronics device and systems manufacturing company, headquartered in London, England.

At the time of its break-up in 2012 it was the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the big four record companies (now the big three). Its record labels included EMI Records, Parlophone, Virgin Records, and Capitol Records. EMI Group also had a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing—also based in London with offices globally.

The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but faced financial troubles and $4 billion in debt, leading to its acquisition by Citigroup in February 2011. Citigroup's ownership was temporary, as it announced in November 2011 that it would sell its music arm to Vivendi's Universal Music Group for $1.9 billion, and EMI's publishing business to a Sony/ATV consortium for around $2.2 billion. Other members of the Sony consortium include the Estate of Michael Jackson, Blackstone, and Abu Dhabi–owned investment fund Mubadala.

EMI Classics

EMI Classics was a record label founded by EMI in 1990 in order to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogs for internationally distributed classical music releases. Following the European Commission's approval of the takeover of EMI Group by Universal Music in September 2012, EMI Classics was listed for divestment. The label was sold to Warner Music Group, which absorbed EMI Classics into Warner Classics in 2013.

Classical recordings were formerly simultaneously released under combinations of Angel, Seraphim, Odeon, Columbia, His Master's Voice, and other labels, in part because competitors own these names in various countries. These were moved under the EMI Classics umbrella to avoid the trademark problems. Prior to this, compact discs distributed globally bore the Angel Records recording angel logo that EMI owned globally. Releases created for distribution in specific countries continued to be distributed under the historical names, with the exception of Columbia, since EMI had sold the Columbia name to Sony Music Entertainment. The red logo harkens back to the Red Seal releases, introduced by EMI predecessor the Gramophone Company in 1902: HMV classical releases were issued with red labels.

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group (WMG), also known as Warner Music, is an American major global record company headquartered in New York City. The largest American-owned music conglomerate worldwide, it is one of the 'big three' recording companies (the third largest in the global music industry). The company operates some of the largest and most successful recording labels in the world, including its flagship labels Warner Bros. Records, Parlophone Records and Atlantic Records. WMG also owns Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's largest music-publishing companies.

Formerly owned by Time Warner, the company was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange until May 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries, which was completed in July 2011. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs in excess of 3,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world.

History

1950s and 1960s

WMG's roots date back to the founding of Warner Bros. Records in 1958 as a division of Warner Bros. Pictures. The film company had no record label division at the time and one of its contracted actors, Tab Hunter, scored a hit song for Dot Records, which was a division of rival Paramount Pictures. In order to prevent any repetition of its actors recording for rival companies, and to also capitalize on the music business, Warner Bros. Records was created. In 1963, Warner purchased Reprise Records, which had been founded by Frank Sinatra three years earlier so that he could have more creative control over his recordings. With the Reprise acquisition, Warner gained the services of Mo Ostin, who would be mainly responsible for the success of Warner/Reprise.

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy (ファイナルファンタジー, Fainaru Fantajī) is a science fiction and fantasy media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games (RPGs). The eponymous first game in the series, published in 1987, was conceived by Sakaguchi as his last-ditch effort in the game industry; the title was a success and spawned sequels. The video game series has since branched into other genres such as tactical role-playing, action role-playing, massively multiplayer online role-playing, racing, third-person shooter, fighting, rhythm and anime.

Although most Final Fantasy installments are stand-alone stories with different settings and main characters, they feature identical elements that define the franchise. Recurring elements include plot themes, character names, and game mechanics. Plots center on a group of heroes battling a great evil while exploring the characters' internal struggles and relationships. Character names are frequently derived from the history, languages, pop culture, and mythologies of cultures worldwide.

Group

Group may refer to:

Groups of people

In science and technology

In mathematics

In chemistry

In computing and the internet

Other uses in science and technology

Other uses