Early in its life, the Gramophone Company established its subsidiary operations and branch offices in a number of many other countries inside and outside of the
British Commonwealth, including
Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as in
Canada,
Russia,
India,
China,
Japan,
Australia and
New Zealand. Gramophone's (later EMI's) Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries dominated the popular music industries in those countries across the
Asia-Pacific region from the 1920s until the 1960s, when other locally owned labels (such as
Festival Records) began to challenge the near monopoly of EMI. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around the world are held in EMI's temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, some of which have been released on CD since 2008 by
Honest Jon's Records. In 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at
London's
Abbey Road. 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 & Musical Industries Limited. At this point, the
Radio Corporation of America had a majority shareholding in the new company due to RCA purchasing the
Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929. Victor owned 50% of the British affiliated Gramophone Company, giving RCA chairman
David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board. EMI subsequently sold to Columbia USA due to anti-trust action taken by its American competitors. RCA sold its stake in EMI in 1935, but due to its 1929 takeover of Victor, RCA retained the
North and South American rights to the "
His Master's Voice" trademark. In 1938, ARC-Brunswick was taken over by
CBS, which then sold the American Brunswick label to American
Decca Records, which along with its other properties,
Vocalion Records and Aeolian Vocalion Records, used it as a subsidiary budget label afterward. CBS then operated Columbia as its flagship label in both the United States and Canada. EMI retained the rights to the Columbia name in most other territories including the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It continued to operate the label with moderate success until 1973, when it was retired and replaced by the
EMI Records imprint, making records with the Columbia Records label manufactured outside North America between 1972 and 1992 rare. In 1990, following a series of major takeovers that saw CBS Records acquired by the
Sony 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; the exception being 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 for
Capitol Records USA. From 1960 to 1995, its "EMI House" corporate headquarters was located at 20
Manchester Square London, England, the stairwell from which was featured on the cover of the Beatles'
Please Please Me album. In addition, an unused shot from the
Please Please Me photo session, featuring the boys in short hair and clean cut attire, was used for the cover of the Beatles' first double-disc greatest-hits compilation entitled
1962–1966 (also known as "The Red Album"). In 1969,
Angus McBean took a matching group photograph featuring the boys in long hair and beards to contrast with the earlier clean cut image to show that the boys could have appeal across a wide range of audiences. This photo was originally intended for the
Get Back album which later was entitled
Let It Be. The photo was used instead for the cover of the Beatles' second greatest-hits double-disc compilation entitled
1967–1970 (also known as "The Blue Album"). (The two compilations were released in 1973.) EMI's classical artists of the period were largely limited to the prestigious British and European orchestras, such as the
Philharmonia Orchestra and
London Symphony Orchestra as well as the
Choir of King's College, Cambridge. During the era of the long-playing record (LP), very few American and Canadian orchestras had their principal recording contracts with EMI, one notable exception being that of the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, especially during the tenure of
William Steinberg. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the company enjoyed huge success in the
popular music field under the management of
Sir Joseph Lockwood. The strong combination of EMI and its subsidiary labels (including
Parlophone,
His Master's Voice, Columbia and
Capitol Records) along with a roster of stellar groups such as
the Hollies,
the Shadows,
the Beach Boys and
the Beatles along with hit solo performers such as
Frank Sinatra,
Cliff Richard, and
Nat 'King' Cole, made EMI the best-known and most successful recording company in the world at that time. In 1967, while shifting its focus on pop and rock music roster to Columbia and Parlophone, EMI converted HMV solely to a
classical music label exclusively. For the emerging
progressive rock genre including
Pink Floyd, who had debuted on Columbia, EMI established a new subsidiary label,
Harvest Records, two years later. 's
Greatest Hits In 1971, Electric & Musical Industries changed its name to EMI Ltd. and on 1 January 1973 EMI phased out most of its heritage labels and replacing them with the EMI imprint. On 1 July 1973 the Gramophone Company subsidiary (The Gramophone Co. Ltd.) was renamed EMI Records Ltd as well, and in 1978, EMI launched
EMI America Records as its second label in the United States after Capitol. In July of the same year, EMI Ltd. reorganized its record division, unifying and restructuring its worldwide music operations under the newly formed division, EMI Music. Initially, EMI Music consisted of two operational arms: "EMI Music Europe and International," headquartered in London and headed by EMI Records Ltd., which covered all interests outside of North America; and "EMI Music Worldwide," based in Hollywood and headed by its principal U.S. subsidiary, Capitol Industries-EMI Inc. (later Capitol-EMI Music, Inc.), which covered the music group's interests in North America. In February 1979, EMI Ltd acquired
United Artists Records and with it its subsidiary labels
Liberty Records and
Imperial Records. Eight months later,
Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI Ltd. to form
Thorn EMI. Sometime in the late 1980s, EMI America merged with sister label
Manhattan Records, founded in 1984, becoming EMI Manhattan and eventually EMI USA when Capitol absorbed it in 1989. Also in 1989, Thorn EMI bought a 50% interest in
Chrysalis Records, completing the buyout two years later. Six months after completing the buyout of Chrysalis, Thorn EMI bought
Virgin Records from
Richard Branson in one of its highest-profile and most expensive acquisitions in record music history. In 1992, Thorn EMI entered the Christian music market by acquiring
Sparrow Records.
Aftermath of demerger from Thorn Due to the increasing divergence of business models, Thorn EMI shareholders voted in favour of demerger proposals on 16 August 1996. The resulting media company was now known as EMI Group PLC. In 1997, EMI Records USA was folded into both Virgin and Capitol. Since the 1930s, the
Pathé Records label headquartered in
Shanghai, China had been published under the EMI banner and since then, EMI had also been the dominant label in the
cantopop market throughout
Greater China until the genre's decline in the mid-1980s. Between the years 2004–2006, EMI then completely and totally divested itself from the
c-pop market, and after that, all Hong Kong music artists previously associated with EMI had their music published by
Gold Label, a concern unaffiliated with EMI and with which EMI did not yet hold any interest. On 21 November 2000,
Streamwaves and EMI signed a deal licensing EMI's catalogue in a digital format for their 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 six-album deal in 2002 paying him over £80 million ($157 million), which was not only the biggest recording contract in British music history at the time, but also the second biggest in music history behind that of Michael Jackson.
Apple Records, the record label representing
The Beatles, launched a suit against EMI for non-payment of royalties on 15 December 2005. The suit alleged that EMI had withheld $50 million from the record label; however, an EMI spokesman noted that audits of record label accounts are not that unusual, confirming at least two hundred such audits performed on the label, but that these audits rarely result in legal action. A legal settlement was announced on 12 April 2007 and terms were undisclosed. On 2 April 2007, EMI announced it would be releasing its music in
DRM-free formats. These were to be issued in
AAC format, which gave higher quality for the same
bitrate compared with the ubiquitous MP3 format. The music would be distributed via Apple's
iTunes Store (under the iTunes Plus category). Tracks were to cost $1.29/€1.29/£0.99. Legacy tracks with
FairPlay DRM would still be available for $0.99/€0.99/£0.79 – albeit with lower quality sound and DRM restrictions still in place. Users would be able to 'upgrade' the EMI tracks that they had already bought for $0.30/€0.30/£0.20. Albums were also to be available at the same price as their lower quality, DRM counterparts and music videos from EMI would also be DRM-free. The higher-quality, DRM-free files became available worldwide on iTunes on 30 May 2007, and were expected to appear on other music download services soon thereafter. Following this decision,
Universal Music Group also announced sales of DRM-free music (which was 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 defense, offering to buy EMI. EMI rejected the $4.6 billion offer.
Terra Firma takeover After a decline in the British market share from 16% to 9%, and the announcement that it had sustained a loss of £260 million in 2006/2007, in August 2007 EMI was acquired by
Terra Firma Capital Partners for £4.2 billion. Following the transition, several artists including
Radiohead left EMI, while other artists such as
Paul McCartney had left ahead of the takeover. and then in July 2008 signed a new long-term deal with
Universal Music Group. The Terra Firma takeover was also reported to have been the catalyst behind a
lawsuit filed by
Pink Floyd over unpaid royalties. In January 2011 Pink Floyd signed a new global agreement with EMI. Around the same time,
Guy Hands, CEO of Terra Firma Capital Partners, came to EMI with restructuring plans to cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs The suit was later settled following a defence based on a contract case involving actress
Olivia de Havilland decades before.
Jared Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the
De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with
Warner Bros." The Chinese and Taiwanese operation of EMI as well as the Hong Kong branch of Gold Label, was sold to Typhoon Group and reformed as
Gold Typhoon. The Philippine branch of EMI changed its name to
PolyEast Records, and was a joint venture between EMI itself and Pied Piper Records Corporation. The physical audio and video products of the label have been distributed in South-East Asia by
Warner Music Group since December 2008, while new EMI releases in China and Taiwan, were distributed under Gold Typhoon which was previously known as EMI Music China and EMI Music Taiwan, respectively. Meanwhile, the Korean branch of EMI (known as EMI Korea Limited) had its physical releases distributed by Warner Music Korea.
EMI Music Japan, the Japanese EMI branch, remains unchanged from the reflection of
Toshiba's divestiture to the business by EMI buying the whole branch way back July 2007, making it a full subsidiary. 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.
Citigroup ownership In February 2010, EMI Group reported pre-tax losses of £1.75 billion for the year ended March 2009, including
write-downs on the value of its music catalogue. In addition,
KPMG issued a
going concern warning on the holding company's accounts regarding an ability to remain solvent. Citigroup (which held $4 billion in debt) took 100% ownership of EMI Group from
Terra Firma Capital Partners on 1 February 2011, writing off £2.2 billion of debt and reducing EMI's debt load by 65%. The group was put up for sale and final bids were due by 5 October 2011.
Sony/Universal/Warner sale On 12 November 2011, it was announced that EMI would sell its recorded music operations to
Universal Music Group (UMG) for £1.2 billion ($1.9 billion) and its music publishing operations to
Sony/ATV Music Publishing-for $2.2 billion. Among the other companies that had competed for the recorded music business was
Warner Music Group which was reported to have made a $2 billion bid. However,
IMPALA has said that it would fight the merger. In March 2012, the European Union opened an investigation into Universal's purchase of EMI's recorded music division and had asked rivals and consumer groups whether the deal will result in higher prices and shut out competitors. On 21 September 2012, the sale of EMI to UMG was approved in both Europe and the United States by the
European Commission and the
Federal Trade Commission respectively. The European Commission approved the deal, however, under the condition that the merged company divest itself of one third of its total operations to other companies with a proven track record in the music industry. To comply with this condition, UMG divested
V2 Records,
Parlophone Records,
Sanctuary Records,
Chrysalis Records,
Mute Records,
EMI Classics,
Virgin Classics, the 2CD Originals Series and EMI's
regional labels in most of Europe. These labels were operated separately under the name "Parlophone Label Group", pending their sale. Universal would, however, retain its ownership of the Beatles' library (moved to the newly formed
Calderstone Productions) and
Robbie Williams' Chrysalis recordings (moved to the
Island Records label). Universal Music Group completed its acquisition of EMI on 28 September 2012, followed by worldwide compliance and complete rebranding by 1 April 2013. In compliance with the conditions of the European Commission, on 22 December, Universal Music Group sold the Mute catalogue, previously property of EMI, to German-based music rights company
BMG. On 8 February 2013,
Warner Music Group signed an agreement to acquire
Parlophone,
Chrysalis Records,
EMI Classics,
Virgin Classics, the 2CD Originals Series and some of EMI's
regional labels across Europe for US$765 million (£487 million). Regulatory approval was received on 15 May. Universal retained EMI's former European labels in Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, and Finland. Universal Music has continued to operate EMI entities it retained using the EMI name and formed
Virgin EMI Records as a UMG label unit in the UK. The former EMI Records Ltd. was renamed Parlophone Records Ltd. in 2013, when
Warner Music Group acquired Parlophone Music Group which has the rights to the old EMI Records catalogue. The Australian and New Zealand EMI Columbia catalogues, including recordings by
John Farnham, who went by Johnny during his time with the label, were ceded to
Universal Music Australia's imprint
EMI Recorded Music and
Universal Music New Zealand respectively. Warner Music incorporated EMI Classics and Virgin Classics into its
Warner Classics unit with the EMI Classics artist roster and catalogue absorbed into the Warner Classics label and the Virgin Classics artist roster and catalogue absorbed into the revived
Erato Records label. On 14 November 2013, EMI's Middle Eastern branch was folded into Universal Music, causing the distribution of
Warner Music Group's releases in that region to be moved to Universal Music. On 30 June 2014, Universal Music Group re-established EMI's Taiwanese division, with
A-Mei,
Rainie Yang and
Show Lo signing first to the label. In May 2016, an independent company,
Blue Raincoat Music, bought most of Chrysalis's British catalogue from Warner Music, making Chrysalis an independent label again. However, the remainder of Chrysalis's British catalogue, namely other past artists
Spandau Ballet,
Jethro Tull, the
Ramones and
The Proclaimers, stayed with Parlophone in the UK and (excluding Ramones)
Rhino Entertainment in the United States. The Ramones American back catalogue remained with Island's sister label
Geffen Records, the successor of
MCA Records, which previously distributed the band's releases on
Radioactive Records, and is licensed to
Universal Music Enterprises. Additionally, the majority of Chrysalis's American catalogue also remained with
Capitol Music Group, parent of Island's and Geffen's sister label Capitol Records, and is currently distributed by that label.
Debbie Harry's only Chrysalis album with an American release,
KooKoo, was later divested by Capitol. The European Chrysalis catalogue, including Harry's four albums, plus the rights to ten artists not originally signed to the label are owned and distributed by Blue Raincoat. The number of initial non-Chrysalis artists was later increased to 11 after adding former EMI artists
Naked Eyes.
Belinda Carlisle's only Chrysalis album,
A Woman & a Man, had its distribution and rights outside the US reverted to CMG's Virgin Records, Carlisle's former label which was the second in her career. Also in May 2016, the history of the record label was examined in the hour-long BBC documentary
EMI: The Inside Story. On 16 June 2020, Universal rebranded Virgin EMI as EMI Records, reopening the iconic label, and named Rebecca Allen, former president of Decca Records, as the new EMI's president. UMG has continued to operate Virgin as an imprint of EMI. ==Operations==