EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

owned by

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. 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 successor to its Columbia and

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

record labels. The label was later launched worldwide. It has a branch in India called "EMI Records India", run by director Mohit Suri. In 2014,

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 ...

revived the label in Japan as the successor to

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 ...

. In June 2020, Universal revived the label as the successor to

Virgin EMI Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

, with

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 (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

now operating as an imprint of EMI Records.

History

An EMI Records Ltd. legal entity was created in 1956 as the record manufacturing and distribution arm of EMI in the UK. It oversaw EMI's various labels, including The Gramophone Co. Ltd.,

Columbia Graphophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest phonograph, gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Records, Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned ...

, and

Co. Ltd. The global success that EMI enjoyed in the 1960s exposed the fact that the company had the rights to only some of its trademarks in some parts of the world, most notably

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

and Columbia, with

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

and the American

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

owning the rights to these trademarks in North America. Complicating matters was Columbia's formation of its own operations in the UK by purchasing Oriole Records and changing its name to that of its then-parent company

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

(the legal trademark designation bearing the full name of the parent company, "Trade Mark of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc."), and as

CBS Records International CBS Records International was the international arm of the Columbia Records unit of Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc. (CBS) formed in 1961 and launched in 1962. Previously, Columbia Records had licensed other record companies to manufacture an ...

becoming highly successful, a serious rival to EMI, in the UK. In July 1965, the standalone EMI Record labels were extracted from E.M.I. Records Ltd. and folded into The Gramophone Company Ltd. On 1 July 1973, The Gramophone Co. Ltd. was renamed EMI Records Ltd. At the same time, E.M.I. Records Ltd. was wound down and its activities were absorbed into EMI Records Ltd. Earlier, on 1 January 1973, all of The Gramophone Company Ltd. pop labels (Columbia, Parlophone, Harvest, Sovereign and Regal) had been rebranded as EMI. EMI Records then signed new music artists that became worldwide successes: Kraftwerk,

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...

Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress. Easton came into the public eye in an episode of the first British musical reality television programme '' The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to ...

, and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

(though some of these acts were on different labels in the US, not EMI's

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

). In 1978, EMI launched

EMI America Records EMI America Records was started in 1978 by EMI as a second US label next to Capitol Records. It absorbed Liberty Records in 1984. In the late 1980s, EMI America was consolidated with Manhattan Records to form EMI Manhattan Records, which late ...

as its second label in the United States after Capitol, and in 1988, EMI America later merged with sister label

Manhattan Records Manhattan Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group and operates as a branch of Capitol Music Group. Company history Manhattan Records was formed in 1984 by Bruce Lundvall and was later renamed EMI Manhattan Records af ...

, founded in 1984, becoming EMI Manhattan Records and eventually EMI USA when Capitol absorbed it in 1989. In 1997, EMI Records' American division was folded into

and Capitol. In October 1979, EMI Ltd. merged with

Thorn Electrical Industries Thorn Electrical Industries Limited was a British electrical engineering company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, but merged with EMI Group to form Thorn EMI in 1979. It was de-merged in 1996 and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 ...

to become Thorn EMI, whose shareholders voted on 16 August 1996 in favour of demerging Thorn from EMI again. The recorded music division became EMI Group plc, and the electronics and rentals divisions were divested as Thorn plc. In 2010, EMI Records opened a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

division, EMI Records Nashville, which includes on its roster

Troy Olsen Troy Olsen (born July 12, 1973) is an American country music singer-songwriter signed to EMI Nashville, He co-wrote Blake Shelton's 2009 hit single "I'll Just Hold On" and Tim McGraw's "Ghost Town Train," a cut from the album '' Southern Voice ...

Alan Jackson Alan Eugene Jackson (born October 17, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for blending traditional honky-tonk and mainstream country pop sounds (for a style widely regarded as "neotraditional country"), as well as penning many o ...

Kelleigh Bannen Kelleigh Carlyle Bannen (born February 18, 1981) is an American country music singer and host of Apple Music's Beats 1 "Today's Country" radio show. She debuted in 2012 with the single "Sorry on the Rocks", which has charted on Hot Country Songs ...

, and

Eric Church Kenneth Eric Church (born May 3, 1977) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released nine studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's '' Sinners Like Me'', produced three singles on the ''Billboar ...

. EMI Records Nashville is a sister label to the

Capitol Nashville Capitol Records Nashville is a major United States-based record label located in Nashville, Tennessee operating as part of the Universal Music Group Nashville. From 1991 to 1995, Capitol Nashville was known as Liberty Records, before returning ...

unit of

. Australia's most prolific artist,

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars ...

, signed with the Columbia Graphophone Co. for

Regal Zonophone Records Regal Zonophone Records was a British record label formed in 1932, through a merger of the Regal and Zonophone labels. This followed the merger of those labels' respective parent companies – the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramopho ...

in 1946 and remained with EMI until his death in 2003, selling over 7 million records for the label in Australia by 2007.

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

retained use of the EMI branding after Universal Music Group's acquisition of EMI in September 2012, but it is otherwise unrelated to the old label which was defunct and renamed Parlophone Records in 2013 and is now part of

Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. ( d.b.a. Warner Music Group, commonly abbreviated as WMG) is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and t ...

. EMI Christian Music Group was renamed

Capitol Christian Music Group Capitol Christian Music Group (Capitol CMG) (formerly known as EMI Christian Music Group) is an American music group that, since 2013, is under the ownership of Universal Music Group. It is based in Brentwood, Tennessee. Capitol CMG is in the C ...

EMI Classics EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged in 1996, its recorded mus ...

was sold to Warner Music Group in February 2013. After EU regulatory approval, EMI Classics was absorbed into

Warner Classics Warner Classics is the classical music arm of Warner Music Group. The label began issuing new recordings under the Warner Classics banner in 1991. The company also includes the Erato Records, Teldec Records and NVC Arts labels. Based in France, ...

in July 2013. The reissues of pre-1997 releases from EMI America and EMI Records USA are handled by UMG's Capitol Music Group, Virgin Records' American distributor and a stand-alone British distributor. The distributors of the vast majority of EMI Records' UK catalogue are

Rhino Entertainment Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the catalog division for Warner Music Group. Its current CEO is Mark Pinkus. History Founded in 1978, Rhino was originall ...

in the US and WEA International for the world outside the US. In April 2013,

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 ...

became defunct following Universal's acquisition of EMI. The company's successor was

, a sublabel of

. In February 2014, Universal Japan did a label reorganization, with more than half of the former

artists being transferred to Nayutawave Records. Later that year, the two sublabels were combined and rebranded as EMI Records. Since 2018, Takeshi Okada has been the managing director of Universal Japan's EMI Records label. In 2020, the label launched an official YouTube channel, six years after the label was formed. On 16 June 2020, Universal rebranded Virgin EMI Records as EMI Records and named Rebecca Allen (former president of UMG's Decca label) as the label's president. In September 2020, Universal launched

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

UK, under EMI Records.

EMI United Kingdom

EMI United Kingdom is a brand of EMI Records that, despite the name, appeared worldwide between roughly 1993 and 1998, used mainly for artists such as

, Kraftwerk and

, as a sister imprint to

, EMI Premiere, hEMIsphere, Eminence, EMI Gold and the home video division

Picture Music International PMI (Picture Music International) was a division of EMI that specialised in music video releases for EMI artists. Releases included videos from the Beatles, Kate Bush, Cliff Richard, Pet Shop Boys, Queen, Pink Floyd and Duran Duran, as well as I ...

. During the 90s, it reissued albums that originally bore the

Harvest Records Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969. History Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...

, RAK Records,

Regal Zonophone Regal may refer to: Companies * Regal Beloit, usually referred to as Regal, an American manufacturer of electric motors * Regal Cinema (disambiguation), several cinemas of that name * Regal Cinemas, a major American theater chain * Regal Cinemas ...

HMV Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom. The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...

, Music for Pleasure and Starline labels. As of 2013, EMI UK's catalogue is owned by Warner Music Group after the acquisition of the Parlophone Label Group's assets. By contrast, UMG owns the catalogue of reissues from

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Ori ...

's albums between 1972 to 1975 on the band's vanity label

Purple Purple is any of a variety of colors with hue between red and blue. In the RGB color model used in computer and television screens, purples are produced by mixing red and blue light. In the RYB color model historically used by painters, ...

, in addition to their last albums for EMI in Europe, '' Abandon'' and ''

Bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

''.

References

External Links

* * * * {{Authority control British record labels 1972 establishments in the United Kingdom 2013 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 2020 establishments in the United Kingdom Record labels established in 1972 Record labels disestablished in 2013 Record labels established in 2020 2014 establishments in Japan Pop record labels Electronic dance music record labels Rock record labels EMI Jazz record labels Labels distributed by Universal Music Group Universal Music Group Universal Music Japan

History

EMI United Kingdom

See also

References

External Links