History
Electric and Musical Industries Ltd was formed in March 1931 by the merger of theElectronics research and development
Television
In 1934, an EMI research team led by SirBlumlein and radar
EMI engineer Alan Blumlein received a patent for the invention ofPhotomultipliers
The company was also for many years an internationally respected manufacturer ofComputers and CT scanner
The EMI Electronic Business Machine, aEmihus
Emihus Electronics, based inMusic
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 theAftermath 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 Baak Doi label headquartered in Shanghai,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. At the same time, the Rolling Stones signed a one-album deal with Interscope Records/Citigroup ownership
In February 2010, EMI Group reported pre-tax losses of £1.75 billion for the year ended March 2009, including Revaluation of fixed assets, 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 toOperations
Entertainment and Leisure
In 1964 EMI acquired Blackpool Tower from the Bickerstaffe family. In 1967, they also took over the Winter Gardens, Blackpool, Winter Gardens complex in Blackpool. In 1967, EMI acquired the Grade Organisation, the UK's largest showbusiness talent agency, for £7.5 million. This also included the recently acquired Shipman and King chain of 32 cinemas in the Home Counties.Film, Theatre and Television
EMI Films was created in 1969 following the acquisition of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC). At the time ABPC owned 270 ABC Cinemas; a half share in the ITV (TV channel), ITV contractor Thames Television; Elstree Studios (Shenley Road), Elstree Studios at Shenley Road, and had recently bought Anglo-Amalgamated, a film studio. Bernard Delfont of the Grade Organisation became chairman and Chief Executive. In 1970, Delfont sold his own Bernard Delfont Organisation to EMI and the agencies were divested. He later became Chief Executive of EMI in 1979. Their flagship cinema was the ABC1 Shaftesbury Avenue, ABC 1 and 2 Shaftesbury Avenue which was built at the old Saville Theatre in London. In 1974, the Film & Theatre Corporation was split into EMI Cinemas and EMI Leisure Enterprises. On formation, EMI Cinemas ran 272 cinemas in the UK, including those of ABC. Following EMI's merger withEMI Leisure
EMI Leisure Enterprises was formed in April 1974 and controlled Blackpool Tower; EMI's 16 squash clubs and five bowling alleys; discotheques; 23 licensed premises and other amusement interests. It began developing new leisure businesses, including Brighton Marina and golf activities with the opening of Aldenham Golf Club.EMI Annual Report 1974Hotels and restaurants
In 1972 EMI Hotels won a bidding war against Ralston Purina to buy the Golden Egg group from the Kaye brothers for £14 million, which included a stake in Angus Steakhouse restaurants and the Selfridge Hotel, which opened in July 1973. In June 1977, EMI acquired the Tower Hotel, London. At the end of 1978 they owned 4 other hotels, Royal Horseguards Hotel; Royal Angus; Royal Trafalgar; and Royal Westminster. As well as Angus Steakhouse their restaurants also included Wimpy (restaurant), Wimpy Bars, Picnic Basket and Tennessee Pancake Houses. Following the merger with Thorn, seven hotels and 12 Angus Steakhouse restaurants were sold in July 1980 for £23 million to Scottish & Newcastle, Scottish & Newcastle Breweries.EMI Music
Labels under the EMI banner
Past and present EMI musicians
EMI Music Publishing
As well as the well-known record label the group also owned EMI Music Publishing, which was the largest Music publisher (popular music), music publisher in the world. EMI Music Publishing has won the ''Music Week'' Award for Publisher of the Year every year for over 10 years; in 2009, for the first time in history the award was shared jointly with Universal Music Publishing Group, Universal Music Publishing. As is often the case in the music industry, the publishing arm and record label are very separate businesses. EMI administered the publishing rights of over 1.3 million songs, headlined by Queen (band), Queen, Carole King, The Police, the Motown catalog, Kanye West, Alicia Keys, Drake (musician), Drake, Sia, Pink (singer), P!nk, Pharrell Williams, and Calvin Harris. EMI also owns the recorded catalogue of Philles Records, with distribution handled by Sony's Legacy Recordings. EMI's music publishing operations were sold to a consortium led byCriticism
CD price fixing
Between 1995 and 2000 music companies were found to have used illegal marketing agreements such as resale price maintenance, minimum advertised pricing to artificially inflate prices of compact discs in order to end price wars by discounters such as Best Buy and Target Corporation, Target in the early 1990s. A settlement in 2002 included the music publishers and distributors; Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music, Warner Music Group, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI and Universal Music Group, Universal Music. In restitution for price fixing they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups but admitted no wrongdoing. It is estimated customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album. On Internet Freedom Day in January 2013, EMI evoked controversy after the removal of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech from Vimeo due to a copyright violation.See also
* Pathé Records (Hong Kong), Baak Doi * EMI Archive Trust * EMI Christian Music Group (EMI CMG) * EMI Films * EMI Songbook Series * EMI Televisa Music/Capitol Latin * Jim Fifield * HMV Group, The HMV Group ** Waterstones, Waterstone's * List of EMI artists * List of EMI labels * List of record labelsReferences
Further reading
* ''International Directory of Company Histories'', St. James Press. * Joshua R. WuellerExternal links
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