B2B Publishing. Business Visionaries. Hot Property. Times Events. Times Store. Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options Share Close extra sharing options.
More From the Los Angeles Times. The journey to this point has been a rocky one that saw EMI cut its staff, previously occupying three huge offices across London, so they could squeeze into one building as the company's global significance waned.
For better or for worse, Terra Firma was there for the long haul and wanted to revive EMI as a company and as a brand — with no less an ambition than to reinvent it as the first truly 21st-century music company. Citigroup just wanted shot of it to the quickest and highest bidder, with no real care for the legacy EMI — with one of the truly great music catalogues in the world — represents.
This all marks the sad, almost apologetic, demise of a standalone EMI — a very British music company that took on the world and, for a time at least from the 60s to the 90s, was winning.
The traditional music business has had a difficult time post-Napster in , unable to move quickly enough and adapt to a new rhythm punched out by the internet and digital technologies. Universal bulked up notably by swallowing indie giant Sanctuary , Sony and BMG merged in and Warner Music most aggressively pursued the contentious "degree" route where all acts now signed must give over a share of their non-recorded income.
The recorded side was the real concern, having only broken a few acts globally this millennium notably Coldplay and Katy Perry. Even the brightest stars of its catalogue business were jumping ship the Stones, McCartney and Queen have all - presciently - defected to Universal in recent years and even David Bowie was rumoured to be shopping around for a new home.
It was with some chutzpah that Guy Hands , on buying EMI, described it as the "worst company in the worst performing industry" — but he said he was going to save it, mostly from itself. A schizophrenia at the executive level meant management from non-music companies such as Reckitt Benckiser, Google, Northern Foods — never mind former BBC DG John Birt was constantly changing, and new ideas were tested and then quickly scrapped; all the while, no one was quite sure where the company was trying to get to or how it was going to get there and so EMI's woes grew.
EMI Records is one of the most culturally significant labels in popular music. With an illustrious history and a diverse and ground-breaking roster of acts, the label has been at the forefront of every seminal musical movement. Motown Records UK has a clear vision. To operate within the same spirit space as the incredible legacy label from Detroit.
0コメント