EMI Records Japan was a Japanese record label which operated as a sublabel of

Universal Music Japan , often referred to as just Universal Music Japan or UMJ, is a Japanese subsidiary of the Universal Music Group founded in 1990. It is the largest subsidiary for a foreign company in the country regarding music distribution. The company is resp ...

. Established in April 2013, it was the successor of its previous entity as a company,

EMI Music Japan , formerly , was one of Japan's leading music companies. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of British music company EMI Group Ltd. on June 30, 2007, after Toshiba sold off its previous 45% stake. Its CEO and president was Kazuhiko Koike. When ...

. The sublabel's headquarters was located at Universal Music Japan's main office at

Aoyama, Minato, Tokyo is one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Tokyo, located in the northwest portion of Minato Ward. The area is well known for its international fashion houses, cafes and restaurants. or "North Aoyama" refers to the area on the north side of Ao ...

. In February 2014, the sublabel had been divided into two separate sublabels,

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

, which contains the combined Nayutawave Records and more than half of the EMI Records Japan roster, and EMI R, which consists of the remaining EMI Records Japan artists. In July 2014, EMI R was renamed to

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

History

After the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

approved the acquisition of

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

by Universal Music Group on September 21, 2012, restructuring and rebranding of several EMI labels under Universal Music followed on September 28, 2012, as the merger was approved. On January 15, 2013, Universal Music Japan president Kazuhiko Koike took over as CEO of EMI Music Japan, effectively controlling both companies until its integration into Universal Music Japan as a sublabel on April 1, 2013, as EMI Records Japan. Koike, meanwhile, hadstated that the merger had a bad effect in terms of its international

repertoire A repertoire () is a list or set of dramas, operas, musical compositions or roles which a company or person is prepared to perform. Musicians often have a musical repertoire. The first known use of the word ''repertoire'' was in 1847. It is a l ...

and

employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

. Artists from the former company were able to continue releasing material under Universal Music but still maintaining the catalog code ''TOCT''. As of October 2013, the TOCT catalogue was no longer in use and was replaced by ''TYCT'' (for the original EMI Records artists) and ''UPCH'' (for Nayutawave Records artists absorbed by EMI). In February 2014, Universal Music Japan did a large-scale sub-label reorganization, with more than half of EMI Records Japan artists transferred to Nayutawave Records, renaming the latter as

. The remainder of the roster were moved to another sub-label, called ''EMI R''. By June 2014, the EMI artists that were transferred to Nayutawave to form the EMI Records unit began using the ''UPCH'' catalogue code. On April 14, 2014, Universal Music Japan announced that EMI R and sublabels Universal International and Delicious Deli Records will be having their joint partnership by forming ''Virgin Music'', with Universal International's EMI label distribution be merged later on. In July 2014, EMI R was once again renamed to

. Virgin Records was subsequently tied-up with another UMJ sublabel

Delicious Deli Records was a Japanese record label under Universal Music Japan. Founded by corporate executive and member of management committee and managing director of international, Kimitaka Kato, its headquarters are located in Akasaka, Tokyo, Japan. In Augus ...

to form an umbrella label named

Virgin Music Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldw ...

References

External links

* (EMI R) * (EMI Records) * {{DEFAULTSORT:EMI Music Japan

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Virgin Records Japanese record labels 2013 establishments in Japan Record labels established in 2013

EMI Records Japan EMI Records Japan was a Japanese record label which operated as a sublabel of Universal Music Japan. Established in April 2013, it was the successor of its previous entity as a company, EMI Music Japan. The sublabel's headquarters was located a ...

Labels distributed by Universal Music Group Record labels disestablished in 2014 Defunct record labels of Japan ja:EMIレコーズ・ジャパン