EMI

The EMI Group is a British music company comprising the major record company EMI Music which operates several labels, based in Kensington in London, England, United Kingdom, and EMI Music Publishing, based in New York. EMI Music is one of the "big four" record companies, making it among the largest in the world.

EMI has been owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners since August 2007. Terra Firma bought EMI for £3.2 billion after a dramatic decline in sales, and announcement that EMI had made financial loss of £260 million in 2006/2007. At the same time, EMI's British market share dropped from 16% to 9%. Following the transition, several important artists walked out of EMI, including Radiohead and Sir Paul McCartney. The Rolling Stones have signed a one-album deal outside of their contract with EMI which expires in February 2008.

Guy Hands, the new owner of EMI, came with restructuring plans to cut 1500–2000 jobs to reduce costs by £200 million a year. In January 2008, EMI's UK chief executive Tony Wadsworth left the company after 25 years. The cuts take effect over the year 2008, and would affect up to a third of EMI's 5500 staff.

Past and present EMI musicians

EMI has signed many popular artists from multiple genres, including:

* The Beatles
* Kraftwerk
* Pink Floyd
* Radiohead
* Legião Urbana
* Queen
* Iron Maiden
* Sex Pistols
* Blur
* Spice Girls
* Duran Duran
* Maria Callas
* Diana Ross
* Saxon
* Marillion
* Tina Turner
* Kate Bush
* Frank Sinatra
* Coldplay
* Gorillaz
* Roxette
* Selena
* Garth Brooks
* Lene Marlin
* Kisschasy
* 30 Seconds to Mars
* Lily Allen
* Yellowcard
* The Red Hot Chili Peppers
* Catedra

Trivia

* The Sex Pistols were briefly signed to the label from October 8, 1976 to January 27, 1977 in a relationship that was fraught with controversy, and that had lasting repercussions for the history of the music industry. In a gesture of retaliation, the Sex Pistols added to their first album (released on Virgin Records), Never Mind the Bollocks, a song entitled "E.M.I.", insulting the company. Virgin was acquired by EMI in 1992, so ironically the company now profits from sales of that album and song.

* In 2001, pop diva Mariah Carey was signed to Virgin in a much hyped, multi-album deal reportedly worth a record-breaking $80-$100 million. After her first album in the deal, Glitter, performed poorly, she was reportedly paid $28 million to leave the label. Along with the estimated $20 million advance she received, this is the highest amount a record label has ever paid an artist for a single album.

* Pop star Robbie Williams signed a 6 album deal paying him over £80 million ($157 million), which was not only the biggest recording contract in British music history, but the second biggest in music history.

* One of the Dance Dance Revolution female characters and dancers, EMI, is named after the record label company as well. Additionally, a selection of songs on the said game was licensed from Toshiba-EMI, a company which resulted from the joint-venture of EMI and Toshiba in Japan. Indeed, Konami regularly licenses music from Toshiba-EMI for their Bemani series of games.

* Richard Branson owned a minority stake in EMI; he announced that he would buy more shares in EMI if they merged with Warner Music Group.

* A reference is made in the song "Randy Scouse Git" by The Monkees, in which The Beatles are referred to as "the four kings of EMI." (Credit: Wikipedia).

Website

EMI Group

Profiles

Virgin Records