Giant Records was launched in 1990 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. Records and record executive Irving Azoff . Currently, this name is used as a Swedish label owned by Warner Music Sweden , a Swedish branch of Warner Music Group .
117-789: In 1990, Giant became a subsidiary label for Warner Music Group . Its first release, in early 1991 , was the Gulf War all-star tribute song " Voices That Care ," assembled by producer David Foster . That spring, "Hold You Tight" by Tara Kemp was released and went on to become a Top 5 single. In the months that followed, Giant Records released the soundtrack album for the film New Jack City , selling 16 million copies worldwide. The label signed such acts as MC Hammer , Jade , Lord Finesse , and teen pop star Jeremy Jordan . Giant also signed established acts such as Steely Dan , Warren Zevon , Oingo Boingo , Chicago , Deep Purple , Morbid Angel , Brian Wilson , and Kenny Rogers . The label also operated
234-724: A Sony/ATV consortium for around $ 2.2 billion. Other members of the Sony consortium include the estate of Michael Jackson , the Blackstone Group , and the Abu Dhabi –owned Mubadala Development Company . EMI's locations in the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada were all disassembled to repay debt, but the primary head office located outside those countries is still functional. EMI Music Publishing
351-527: A country music division in Nashville; the first act signed was Dennis Robbins . In 1992, Irving Azoff expanded the Giant brand into film production. Giant Pictures only produced one film, The Inkwell , in 1994, before shutting down a year later. In 1993, Giant became dissatisfied with Warner Music Group's practice of international affairs, so it made a deal with BMG to distribute its recordings outside
468-522: A Warner subsidiary, albums by Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles alone had earned more than the entire value of the Asylum sale. Geffen's discomfort was compounded by the fact that, within six months of the sale, the value of his volatile Warner shares had plummeted from $ 4.5 million to just $ 800,000. He appealed to Steve Ross to intervene, and as part of a make-good deal, Ross agreed to pay him the difference in
585-416: A campaign to destabilize Warner Music in an effort to seize control of the company". As Morris's strongest ally, Danny Goldberg was also under threat; he was initially told that he could stay on as President of WBR as long as he refrained from office politics and concentrate on the day-to-day management of the label, but he resigned as President of Warner Bros. Records soon after to pursue "other interests", and
702-454: A deal licensing EMI's catalogue in a digital format for their online streaming music service. This was the first time EMI had licensed any of its catalogue to a streaming music website. Pop star Robbie Williams signed a six-album deal in 2002 paying him over £80 million ($ 157 million), which was not only the biggest recording contract in British music history at the time, but also
819-551: A different candidate in mind and Levin also reduced Morgado's power to oversee Warner's mail-order record club division and its international operations. Morris then brought in Sylvia Rhone and Seymour Stein to stabilize Elektra, settled the Metallica lawsuit and persuaded Levin to purchase an additional 25% of Interscope, although this initiative proved short-lived. The power struggle between Morgado and Morris reached
936-538: A dramatic climax in May 1995 when Morgado was asked to resign by Gerald Levin, following a welter of complaints from executives at the three major Warner Music labels, who said that Morgado was undermining Morris's authority and damaging Warner's reputation among performers. Morgado was immediately replaced by HBO chairman Michael J. Fuchs , but the corporate upheavals did not end there; in late June 1995 Fuchs abruptly dismissed Doug Morris, saying that Morris had been "leading
1053-565: A further 40% of the company from its partner Siemens , and bought the remaining shares in 1987. The same year, PolyGram divested its film and publishing operations, closed PolyGram Pictures and sold Chappell Music to Warner for US$ 275 million. In 1976, Warner gained a brief early lead in digital media when it purchased the Atari computer company. WCI also blazed the trail in visual music with MTV , which it created and co-owned in partnership with American Express as Warner-Amex (which also ran
1170-569: A handful of writers/performers to pen a No. 1 hit for themselves and a No. 1 for another artist. New signings in the late 1970s placed WEA in a strong position for the 1980s. A deal with Seymour Stein 's Sire Records label (which Warner Bros. Records later took over) brought in several major punk rock and new wave acts including the Pretenders , the Ramones and Talking Heads and, most importantly, rising star Madonna ; Elektra signed
1287-717: 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 / Universal Music Group outside its contract with EMI, which expired in February 2008, and then in July 2008 signed
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#17327804111201404-444: A major coup by signing a distribution agreement with Island Records , which only covered the United States and select other countries. For the next 14 years (initially with Warner Bros. until 1982, then with Atlantic afterward), WEA would distribute such artists as Bob Marley , U2 , Robert Palmer , Anthrax , and Tom Waits . This relationship ended when Island was sold to PolyGram in 1989. A name-only unit appearing exclusively in
1521-539: A major shareholder—found out about the contract issue he and Ertegun began pressuring Eliot Hyman to get Smith and Ostin under contract, ostensibly because they were worried that the two executives might move to rival labels—and in fact Ostin had received overtures from both MGM Records and ABC Records . In 1969, the wisdom of Hyman's investments was proved when Kinney National Company purchased Warner Bros.-Seven Arts for $ 400 million, more than eight times what Hyman had paid for Warner/Reprise and Atlantic combined. From
1638-500: A move that reportedly infuriated Iovine. By late 1994, Morris was gaining the upper hand over his rival and media reports claimed that Morris had moved to settle with Metallica, offering a deal that was reportedly even more generous than the one they had worked out with Krasnow. Morgado now faced a showdown with Morris, who felt he was not being allowed to run WMG as he saw fit. In October 1994, Morris and 11 other Warner executives "staged an unprecedented insurrection that nearly paralyzed
1755-485: A new four-year distribution deal with a rival local label, Festival Records (owned by Rupert Murdoch 's News Limited ). Mike Maitland complained bitterly to Kinney executive Ted Ashley , but to no avail – by this time Ertegun was poised to make his move against Maitland. As he had with Hyman, Ertegun urged Steve Ross to extend Mo Ostin and Joe Smith's contracts, a recommendation Ross was happy to accept. Ostin however had received overtures from other companies (including
1872-442: A new long-term deal with Universal Music Group . The Terra Firma takeover was also reported to have been the catalyst behind a lawsuit filed by Pink Floyd over unpaid royalties. In January 2011 Pink Floyd signed a new global agreement with EMI. Around the same time, Guy Hands , CEO of Terra Firma Capital Partners, came to EMI with restructuring plans to cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs and to reduce costs by £200 million
1989-444: A public company. With a multibillion-dollar annual turnover, WMG employs more than 4,500 people and has operations in more than 50 countries throughout the world. The company owns and operates some of the largest and most successful labels in the world, including Elektra Records , Reprise Records , Warner Records , Parlophone Records (previously owned by EMI ), and Atlantic Records . WMG also owns Warner Chappell Music , one of
2106-477: A punitive harassment meant to scare other musicians. The band's troubles with the label resonate through their third studio album This Is War (2009) and were the subject of the 2012 documentary Artifact . In 2008, EMI withdrew from the South-East Asian market entirely, forcing its large roster of acts to search out contracts with other unaffiliated labels. As a result, the South-East Asian market
2223-445: A rich back catalogue of folk music as well as the renowned Nonesuch catalogue of classical and world music. Elektra founder Jac Holzman ran the label under Warners for two years, but by that time, he was by his own admission "burnt out" after twenty years in the business. Kinney president Steve Ross subsequently appointed Holzman as part of a seven-person " brain trust " tasked with investigating opportunities presented by new technologies,
2340-646: A role Holzman was eager to accept. The same year, the group established its first overseas offices in Canada and Australia. By that time the "Seven Arts" moniker was dropped from the Warner Bros. name. Warner Bros. also founded the Casablanca Records subsidiary, headed by Neil Bogart ; but several years later Casablanca became independent from Warner Bros. With the Elektra acquisition, the next step
2457-537: A year. As a result, the UK chief executive Tony Wadsworth left EMI after 25 years in January 2008. The cuts were planned to take effect over the year 2008, and would affect up to a third of EMI's 5,500 staff. Thirty Seconds to Mars tried to exit their contract with EMI following the layoff of its staff and due to unpaid royalties, prompting the label to file a lawsuit for $ 30 million citing breach of contract. The suit
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#17327804111202574-534: Is now operated exclusively throughout the world by Sony Music Entertainment; except in Japan where the trade mark is owned by Columbia Music Entertainment . EMI released its first LPs in 1952 and its first stereophonic recordings in 1955 (first on reel-to-reel tape and then LPs, beginning in 1958). In 1957, to replace the loss of its long-established licensing arrangements with RCA Victor and Columbia Records (Columbia USA cut its ties with EMI in 1951), EMI entered
2691-1109: Is now owned by Sony Music Publishing , the music publishing division of Sony Music which bought another 70% stake in EMI Music Publishing. Electric and Musical Industries Ltd was formed in March 1931 by the merger of the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramophone Company , with its " His Master's Voice " record label, firms that have a history extending back to the origins of recorded sound . The new vertically integrated company produced sound recordings as well as recording and playback equipment. The company's gramophone manufacturing led to 40 years of success with larger-scale electronics and electrical engineering . In October 1979, EMI merged with Thorn Electrical Industries to create Thorn EMI . On 16 August 1996, Thorn EMI shareholders voted in favour of demerging Thorn from EMI again:
2808-561: Is one of the " big three " recording companies and the third-largest in the global music industry, after Universal Music Group (UMG) and Sony Music Entertainment (SME). Formerly part of Time Warner (later known as WarnerMedia , now Warner Bros. Discovery ), WMG was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange from 2005 until 2011, when it announced its privatization and sale to Access Industries . It later had its second IPO on Nasdaq in 2020, once again becoming
2925-644: The Body Count master tapes to him. Also in 1992, the Rhino Records label signed a distribution agreement with Atlantic Records and Time Warner Entertainment bought a 50% stake in the Rhino Records label. The distribution agreement allowed Rhino to begin reissuing recordings from Atlantic's back catalogue. In 1994, Canadian beverage giant Seagram bought a 14.5% stake in Time Warner, and
3042-549: The BBC 's second television transmitter at Sutton Coldfield. It also manufactured broadcast television cameras for British television production companies as well as for the BBC. The commercial television ITV companies also used them alongside cameras made by Pye and Marconi . Their best-remembered piece of broadcast television equipment was the EMI 2001 colour television camera, which became
3159-551: The Choir of King's College, Cambridge . During the era of the long-playing record (LP), very few American and Canadian orchestras had their principal recording contracts with EMI, one notable exception being that of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra , especially during the tenure of William Steinberg . From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, the company enjoyed huge success in the popular music field under
3276-805: The EMI Laboratories in Hayes, Hillingdon developed radar equipment (including the receiver section of the British Army's GL-II anti-aircraft fire-control radar), microwave devices such as the reflex klystron oscillator (having played a crucial role in the development of early production types following on from the British Admiralty Signal School's pioneering NR89, the so-called "Sutton tube"), electro-optic devices such as infra-red image converters, and eventually guided missiles employing analogue computers. The company
3393-630: The OKeh label. RCA sold its stake in EMI in 1935, but due to its 1929 takeover of Victor, RCA retained the North and South American rights to the " His Master's Voice " trademark. In other countries, the Nipper logo was used by the EMI subsidiary label HMV, even though the "His Master's Voice" slogan itself would be retained by RCA along with the logo. In 1938 ARC-Brunswick was taken over by CBS , which then sold
3510-571: The 1970s, the Kinney group built up a commanding position in the music industry. In 1970, Kinney bought Elektra Records and its sister label Nonesuch Records (founded by Jac Holzman in 1950) for $ 10 million, bringing in leading rock acts, including the Doors , Tim Buckley , and Love , and its historically significant folk archive, along with the successful budget Western classical-music label Nonesuch Records . The purchase of Elektra-Nonesuch brought
3627-547: The American Brunswick label to American Decca Records , which along with its other properties, Vocalion Records and Aeolian Vocalion Records, used it as a subsidiary budget label afterward. CBS then operated Columbia as its flagship label in both the United States and Canada. EMI retained the rights to the Columbia name in most other territories including the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It continued to operate
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3744-589: The American market by acquiring 96% of the stock for Capitol Records USA. From 1960 to 1995 their "EMI House" corporate headquarters was located at 20 Manchester Square London, England, the stairwell from which was featured on the cover of the Beatles' Please Please Me album. In addition, an unused shot from the Please Please Me photo session, featuring the boys in short hair and cleancut attire,
3861-667: The Beatles into the EMI fold. When the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company (including Columbia's subsidiary label Parlophone ) in 1931, the new Anglo-American group was incorporated as Electric & Musical Industries Limited. At this point, the Radio Corporation of America had a majority shareholding in the new company due to RCA purchasing the Victor Talking Machine Company in 1929. Victor owned 50% of
3978-516: The British affiliated Gramophone Company, giving RCA chairman David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board. However, EMI was subsequently forced to sell Columbia USA due to anti-trust action taken by its American competitors. By this time the record industry had been hit hard by the Depression and in 1934 a much-diminished Columbia USA was purchased for just US$ 70,500 by ARC-BRC ( American Record Corporation –Brunswick Record Company), which also acquired
4095-480: The Cars and Warner Bros. signed Prince , giving WEA several of the biggest-selling acts of the decade. WEA's labels also distributed a number of otherwise independent labels. For example, Warner Bros. distributed Straight Records , DiscReet Records , Bizarre Records , Bearsville Records , and Geffen Records (the latter was sold to MCA in 1990). Atlantic Records distributed Swan Song Records . In 1975, WEA scored
4212-601: The Christian music market by acquiring Sparrow Records . 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 Pathé Records label headquartered in Shanghai , China had been published under
4329-518: The EMI banner and since then, EMI had also been the dominant label in the cantopop market throughout Greater China until the genre's decline in the mid-1980s. Between the years 2004–2006, EMI then completely and totally divested itself from the c-pop market, and after that, all Hong Kong music artists previously associated with EMI had their music published by Gold Label , a concern unaffiliated with EMI and with which EMI did not yet hold any interest. On 21 November 2000, Streamwaves and EMI signed
4446-563: The EMI imprint. On 1 July 1973 the Gramophone Company subsidiary (The Gramophone Co. Ltd.) was renamed EMI Records Ltd as well, and in 1978, EMI launched EMI America Records as its second label in the United States after Capitol. EMI Music Worldwide was also formed in 1978 with Bhaskar Menon as chairman and CEO. In February 1979, EMI Ltd acquired United Artists Records and with it their subsidiary labels Liberty Records and Imperial Records . Eight months later, Thorn Electrical Industries merged with EMI Ltd. to form Thorn EMI . Sometime in
4563-504: The Geffen-Roberts management company to Roberts and Warner paid Geffen and Roberts 121,952 common shares worth $ 4,750,000 at the time of the sale, plus $ 400,000 in cash and a further $ 1.6 million in promissory notes convertible to common stock. Although it seemed a lucrative deal at the time, Geffen soon had reason to regret it. Uncharacteristically, he had greatly underestimated the value of his assets—within Asylum's first year as
4680-531: The German classical label Teldec and the British Magnet label. In 1989, it was announced that Warner Communications was to merge with Time Inc. to form Time Warner , a transaction that was completed in 1990. Following the merger, WEA continued acquiring independent labels, buying CGD Records (Italy) and MMG Records (Japan) in 1989. Through the 1990s, Time Warner was the largest media company in
4797-519: The Japanese EMI branch, remains unchanged from the reflection of Toshiba 's divestiture to the business by EMI buying the whole branch way back July 2007, making it a full subsidiary. In July 2009, there were reports that EMI would not sell CDs to independent album retailers in a bid to cut costs, but in fact only a handful of small physical retailers were affected. In February 2010, EMI Group reported pre-tax losses of £1.75 billion for
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4914-630: The Middle East and Africa as well as in Canada , Russia , India , China , Japan , Australia and New Zealand . Gramophone's (later EMI's) Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries dominated the popular music industries in those countries across the Asia-Pacific region from the 1920s until the 1960s, when other locally owned labels (such as Festival Records ) began to challenge the near monopoly of EMI. Over 150,000 78-rpm recordings from around
5031-654: The Time Warner merger—in 1990, WEA purchased French label Carrere Records , in 1992 it bought the leading French classical label Erato , and in 1993, it bought the Spanish DRO Records , Hungary's Magneoton label, the Swedish Telegram Records, Brazil's Continental Records and Finnish label Fazer Musiikki. WEA was renamed Warner Music in 1991. Atlantic launched two new subsidiary labels in the early 1990s: East West Records and Interscope Records . In 1995, East West absorbed Atco Records and
5148-838: The U.S. By the mid- to late 1990s, the company had replaced most of its staff and launched a subsidiary label called Revolution Records; Brian Wilson signed with the new label in 1997. The company later reverted to its original name and distributed Paladin Records, which included singer-songwriter Steve Forbert . In 2001, Warner Music Group ended its joint venture with Giant, which was absorbed into Warner Bros. Records. Since then, BMG no longer repressed and distributed any previous releases of Giant. Distribution of current reissues are done by Warner Music's reissue division, Rhino , in conjunction with Warner Records, and many reissues still include Giant logo on packaging. In February 2015, Warner Music Sweden announced that it would reactivate Giant's name;
5265-562: The UK's first commercially available all- transistor computer, was developed at EMI's Central Research Laboratories in Hayes under the leadership of Godfrey Hounsfield , an electrical engineer at EMI. In the early 1970s, with financial support by the UK Department of Health and Social Security as well as EMI research investment, Hounsfield developed the first CT scanner , a device which revolutionised medical imaging . In 1973 EMI
5382-532: The United Kingdom, although this was undertaken as a cooperative venture rather than a formally incorporated business partnership. The Billboard article that reported the new arrangement also noted that, despite their intense competition in the US market, CBS continued to press Warner-Reprise recordings in the US. However the new UK arrangement was a major blow to Warner's previous British manufacturer Pye Records , for whom Warner-Reprise had been their largest account. With
5499-485: The United States. Among the earliest American metal acts to be signed to WEA were Alice Cooper , Montrose , and Van Halen . Up to this point the Kinney-owned record companies had relied on licensing deals with overseas record labels to manufacture, distribute and promote its products in other countries; concurrent with the establishment of its new distribution arm, the company now began establishing subsidiaries in
5616-526: The Warner Group thanks to content assets like Seinfeld and the highly successful The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. By the early 1990s, senior Warner staff like Ostin and Waronker had remained in their positions for several decades—a highly unusual situation in the American music industry—but the death of Steve Ross destabilized the Time Warner hierarchy, and over the next few years the music group
5733-639: The Warner Music Group in the US, a decision that many saw as a deliberate move to hasten the departure of Ostin and Elektra head Robert Krasnow . Morgado's new structure was announced in August 1994 and Bob Krasnow resigned from Elektra the next day. Within days, after more than 30 years with the Warner music group and more than 20 years as president and chairman of Warner Bros. Records, Ostin announced he would not renew his current contract and would leave Warners when it expired on December 31, 1994. There
5850-548: The Warner group acquired another rich prize, David Geffen 's Asylum Records . The $ 7 million purchase brought in several acts that proved crucial to WEA's subsequent success, including Linda Ronstadt , the Eagles , Jackson Browne , Joni Mitchell , and later Warren Zevon . On the downside, however, it was rumored that Warner was soon concerned about its possible liability under the California State Labor Code because of Geffen's questionable status as both
5967-650: The Warner publishing division — now called Warner/Chappell Music – acquired CPP/Belwin, becoming the world's largest owner of song copyrights and the world's largest publisher of printed music. In 1996, Time Warner Entertainment made another dramatic expansion of its media holdings, taking over the Turner Broadcasting System , which by then included the Turner cable TV network, CNN and the screen production houses Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema , acquisitions that brought huge profits into
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#17327804111206084-560: The aforementioned offers from MGM and ABC) and when he met with Ertegun in January 1970 and was offered Maitland's job, he was unwilling to re-sign immediately. In response, Ertegun broadly hinted that Maitland's days were numbered and that he, Ertegun, was about to take over the recording division. Unlike the Warner/Reprise executives, Atlantic's execs the Ertegun brothers (Ahmet and Neshui) and Wexler owned stock in Kinney. Ostin
6201-476: The base of his family's funeral parlour business, Kinney president Steve Ross had rapidly built the Kinney company into a profitable conglomerate with interests that included comic publishing , the Ashley-Famous talent agency, parking lots and cleaning services. Following the takeover, Warners' music group briefly adopted the 'umbrella' name Kinney Music, because U.S. anti-trust laws at the time prevented
6318-548: The company became EMI Group plc, and the electronics and rentals divisions were divested as Thorn plc . The company broke up in 2012. In 1934, an EMI research team led by Sir Isaac Shoenberg developed the electronic Marconi-EMI system for television broadcasting, which quickly replaced Baird's electro-mechanical system following its introduction in 1936. After the Second World War , EMI resumed its involvement in making broadcasting equipment, notably providing
6435-615: The company fold, initially as a member of Buffalo Springfield . Young became one of Warner's longest-established artists, recording both as a solo artist and with groups under the Warner-owned Atlantic, Atco, and Reprise labels. Young also recorded five albums for Geffen Records during that label's period of Warner distribution. The Geffen catalogue, now owned by Universal Music Group , represents Young's only major recordings not under WMG ownership. Atlantic, its subsidiary Atco Records , and its affiliate Stax Records paved
6552-648: The company's cable television systems, including the interactive TV experiment QUBE , which MTV spun-off from). By 1984, however, Warner rapidly divested many of these recent acquisitions, including Atari, The Franklin Mint , Panavision , MTV Networks and a cosmetics business; this was due in large part to the 1983 video game crash , which Atari had played a central role in, and the resulting loss of profits and investor confidence (Warner-Amex's cable system expansion also contributed to Warner's financial downturn). WEA formed WEA Manufacturing in 1986. In 1988 WEA took over
6669-527: The copyright, WEA International Inc., was created in early 1982, to handle distribution of all Warner Bros., Elektra, and Atlantic (all these namings accounting for the initials in the title " WEA ") releases for international countries. A proposed 1983 international merger between PolyGram and WEA was forbidden by both the US Federal Trade Commission and West Germany 's cartel office, so PolyGram's half-owner Philips then purchased
6786-668: The exception of Parlophone, as it is now owned by Warner Music . EMI was listed on the London Stock Exchange , and was also once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index , but faced financial problems and US$ 4 billion in debt, leading to its acquisition by Citigroup in February 2011. Citigroup's ownership was temporary, as EMI announced in November 2011 that it would sell its music arm to Vivendi 's Universal Music Group for $ 1.9 billion and its publishing business to
6903-433: The existing departments at Warner/Reprise. In retrospect Ertegun clearly feared that Maitland would ultimately have more power than him, and so he moved rapidly to secure his own position and remove Maitland. Maitland had put off renegotiating the contracts of Joe Smith and Mo Ostin, the presidents of the Warner Bros. and Reprise labels, and this provided Ertegun with an effective means of undermining Maitland. When Wexler—now
7020-471: The expiration of the band's contract with British Decca (then separate from the American label) and the acrimonious end to their business relationship with their former manager Allen Klein . Under the terms of the deal, Atlantic subsidiary Atco would distribute the Stones' recordings in the US, with other territories mainly handled by Warner Bros. international divisions. One of Kinney's wisest investments
7137-564: The first single released under the new Giant Records banner was Simon Erics' "Waiting for the Sun." On June 9, 2022, Azoff relaunched a rebranded and independent version of the label with no connections to Warner called Giant Music . Warner Music Group Warner Music Group Corp. , commonly abbreviated as WMG , is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City . It
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#17327804111207254-401: The group scored a major international hit with the single "Rhiannon" and consolidated with the best selling albums Fleetwood Mac , Rumours and Tusk . Due to a financial scandal involving price fixing in its parking operations, Kinney National spun off its non-entertainment assets in 1972 (as National Kinney Corporation ) and changed its name to Warner Communications Inc. In 1972,
7371-505: The group's in-house distribution arm, initially called . By late 1972, US anti-trust laws had changed and the company was renamed Warner-Elektra-Atlantic , WEA for short, which was renamed Warner Music in 1991 (the word "group" was added after the formation of AOL Time Warner in 2001). WEA was an early champion of heavy metal rock music. Several such bands, including three major British pioneers Led Zeppelin , Black Sabbath , and Deep Purple , were all signed to WEA's labels, at least in
7488-649: The head of Warner's advertising/merchandising division in its early years, was appointed to head WEA's US domestic division, and Ahmet Ertegun's brother Nesuhi was appointed to oversee its international operations. Neshui Ertegun, originally a Turkish native like his brother, displayed a global perspective and independence from its U.S. counterpart by successfully promoting international acts in their target markets worldwide. Ertegun headed WEA International until his retirement in 1987. A de facto committee of three senior marketing executives—Dave Glew from Atlantic, Ed Rosenblatt from Warner Bros. and Mel Posner from Elektra—oversaw
7605-725: The iTunes Plus category). Tracks were to cost $ 1.29/€1.29/£0.99. Legacy tracks with FairPlay DRM would still be available for $ 0.99/€0.99/£0.79 – albeit with lower quality sound and DRM restrictions still in place. Users would be able to 'upgrade' the EMI tracks that they had already bought for $ 0.30/€0.30/£0.20. Albums were also to be available at the same price as their lower quality, DRM counterparts and music videos from EMI would also be DRM-free. The higher-quality, DRM-free files became available worldwide on iTunes on 30 May 2007, and were expected to appear on other music download services soon thereafter. Following this decision, Universal Music Group also announced sales of DRM-free music (which
7722-635: The idea of setting up a joint distribution network for Warner, Elektra, and Atlantic. An experimental branch was established in Southern California as a possible prototype for an expanded operation. It was soon apparent in 1969 that Atlantic/Atco president Ahmet Ertegun viewed Warner/Reprise president Mike Maitland as a rival. Maitland believed that, as vice-president in charge of the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts music division, he should have final say over all recording operations, and he further angered Ertegun by proposing that most of Atlantic's back-office functions (such as marketing and distribution) be combined with
7839-461: The integration of each label's marketing and distribution through the new division, but each label continued to operate totally independently in A&R matters and also applied their own expertise in marketing and advertising. On July 1, 1971, following the pattern set by similar joint ventures in Canada and Australia, the Warner labels entered into a partnership with the British arm of CBS Records to press and distribute Warner-Reprise product in
7956-453: The label for releasing the song, Warner executives received death threats, Time Warner stockholders threatened to pull out of the company and the New Zealand police commissioner unsuccessfully tried to have the record banned there. Although Ice-T later voluntarily reissued Body Count without "Cop Killer", the furor seriously rattled Warner Music and in January 1993 the label made an undisclosed deal releasing Ice-T from his contract and returning
8073-479: The label to seek outside distribution, and late in the year TW sold its stake in Death Row back to co-owners Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field and soon after it sold off its share in Interscope to MCA Music Entertainment . The upheaval at Warner was beneficial to its rivals, who picked up valuable executives who had left Warner. Goldberg moved over to Mercury Records ; Morris joined MCA Music Entertainment Group and led its reorganization into Universal Music Group , now
8190-404: The label with moderate success until 1973, when it was retired and replaced by the EMI Records imprint, making records with the Columbia Records label manufactured outside North America between 1972 and 1992 rare. In 1990, following a series of major takeovers that saw CBS Records acquired by the Sony Corporation of Japan, EMI sold its remaining rights to the Columbia name to Sony and the label
8307-402: The label, and the first release was " Undercover Angel ". The song, which he described as a "nocturnal novelette", was released in February 1977. Within a few months it had become No. 1 in the country, and has sold approximately two million copies. It was also a hit in Australia, reaching No. 9 on the Australian Singles Chart. "Undercover Angel" also landed O'Day in an exclusive club as one of only
8424-523: The label, but that these audits rarely result in legal action. A legal settlement was announced on 12 April 2007 and terms were undisclosed. On 2 April 2007, EMI announced it would be releasing its music in DRM -free formats. These were to be issued in AAC format, which gave higher quality for the same bitrate compared with the ubiquitous MP3 format. The music would be distributed via Apple's iTunes Store (under
8541-573: The late 1980s, EMI America merged with sister label Manhattan Records , founded in 1984, becoming EMI Manhattan and eventually EMI USA when Capitol absorbed it in 1989. Also in 1989, Thorn EMI bought a 50% interest in Chrysalis Records , completing the buyout two years later. Six months after completing the buyout of Chrysalis, Thorn EMI bought Virgin Records from Richard Branson in one of its highest-profile and most expensive acquisitions in record music history. In 1992, Thorn EMI entered
8658-431: The mainstay of much of the British television industry from the end of the 1960s until the early 1990s. Exports of this piece of equipment were low, however, and EMI left this area of product manufacture. EMI engineer Alan Blumlein received a patent for the invention of stereophonic sound in 1931. He was killed in 1942 whilst conducting flight trials on an experimental H2S radar set. During and after World War II ,
8775-601: The management of Sir Joseph Lockwood . The strong combination of EMI and its subsidiary labels (including Parlophone , HMV , Columbia and Capitol Records ) along with a roster of stellar groups such as the Hollies , the Shadows , the Beach Boys and the Beatles along with hit solo performers such as Frank Sinatra , Cliff Richard , and Nat 'King' Cole , made EMI the best-known and most successful recording company in
8892-464: The manager of most of the Asylum acts and the head of the record label to which they were signed. The sale included the Asylum Records label and its recordings, as well as Geffen's lucrative music publishing assets and the interests in the royalties of some of the artists managed by Geffen and partner Elliot Roberts . Geffen accepted a five-year contract with WCI and turned over his 75% share in
9009-494: The many artists whose careers he had helped to nurture. Lenny Waronker had agreed to take over as WBR chairman and CEO but in October 1994 he announced that he would not be taking up the position; he initially said that he would remain as President of WBR, but by this time there was already widespread speculation that he would leave, and he did so soon afterwards. The following year he re-joined Ostin and son Michael as joint head of
9126-512: The music business, Warner Bros. Records was created in 1958; its original office was located above the film studio's machine shop on 3701 Warner Boulevard in Burbank, California . In 1963, Warner purchased Reprise Records , which had been founded by Frank Sinatra three years earlier so that he could have more creative control over his recordings. With the Reprise acquisition, Warner gained
9243-644: The newly launched DreamWorks label. Beginning in August 1994, Morgado alienated Morris by his clumsy handling of Warner's relationship with Interscope Records , the successful label founded by Ted Field and Jimmy Iovine and part-owned by Warner. Morgado had resisted making a decision about increasing the Warner stake in Interscope, which encouraged other companies to make overtures to the label; in response, Morgado threatened to send cease-and-desist notices to executives at several record companies, demanding that they stop approaching Interscope with buyout offers,
9360-558: The offer of a job at the movie studio. One week later, Mo Ostin was named as the new President of Warner Bros. Records, with Joe Smith as his executive vice-president. Ertegun nominally remained the head of Atlantic, but since both Ostin and Smith owed their new positions to him, Ertegun was now the de facto head of the Warner music division. Ertegun was given the formal title of executive vice-president-Music Group. Maitland moved to MCA Records later that year and successfully consolidated MCA's labels, which he couldn't do at Warner. During
9477-399: The other major markets, beginning with the creation of Warner Bros. Records Australia in 1970, soon followed by branch offices in the UK, Europe and Japan. In July 1971, the new in-house distribution company was incorporated as Warner-Elektra-Atlantic Distributing Corp. (WEA) and branch offices were established in eight major US cities; Joel Friedman a one-time Billboard writer who had been
9594-461: The profits were divided between the retailers and the Atlantic employees involved), which had earlier caused 10 executives (including Maria) to lose their jobs amid the investigation. Lewinter subsequently sued Warner Music for wrongful termination. Despite early success with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg , and Morris's decision to increase Warner's stake to 50%, by the mid-1990s Interscope Records
9711-644: The sale led to Stax leaving Atlantic because Seven Arts Productions insisted on keeping the rights to Stax recordings. Atlantic moved decisively into rock and pop in the late 1960s and 1970s, signing major British and American acts including Led Zeppelin , Cream , Crosby Stills & Nash , Yes , Emerson, Lake & Palmer , Genesis , Average White Band , Dr. John , King Crimson , Bette Midler , Roxy Music , and Foreigner . An earlier attempt by Warner Bros. Records to create an in-house distribution arm in 1958 did not materialize. So in 1969, Elektra Records boss Jac Holzman approached Atlantic's Jerry Wexler with
9828-496: The scheduled addition of the UK rights to the Atlantic catalogue, which would revert to Kinney in early 1972, Billboard predicted that the Warner-CBS partnership would have a 25–30% share of the UK music market. In April 1971, thanks mainly to the influence of Ahmet Ertegun, the Kinney group announced a major coup with its acquisition of the worldwide rights to the Rolling Stones ' new label Rolling Stones Records , following
9945-437: The second biggest in music history behind that of Michael Jackson. Apple Records , the record label representing The Beatles , launched a suit against EMI for non-payment of royalties on 15 December 2005. The suit alleged that EMI had withheld $ 50 million from the record label; however, an EMI spokesman noted that audits of record label accounts are not that unusual, confirming at least two hundred such audits performed on
10062-411: The services of Mo Ostin , who was mainly responsible for the success of Warner/Reprise. After Warner Bros. was sold to Seven Arts Productions in 1967 (forming Warner Bros.-Seven Arts ), it purchased Atlantic Records , founded in 1947 and WMG's oldest label (until WMG completed its acquisition of Parlophone in 2013), as well as its subsidiary Atco Records . This acquisition brought Neil Young into
10179-400: The share value over five years. Acting on Jac Holzman's suggestion that Kinney should take Asylum from Atlantic and merge it with Elektra, Ross then appointed Geffen to run the new combined label. In 1977, Warner Bros. Music, led by president Ed Silvers, formed Pacific Records for their composers and distributed (appropriately) by Atlantic Records . Alan O'Day was the first artist signed to
10296-495: The song (which mentioned the Rodney King case) was issued just before the controversial acquittal of the police charged with King's beating, which sparked the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the confluence of events put the song under the national spotlight. Complaints escalated over the summer—conservative police associations called for a boycott of Time Warner products, politicians including President George H. W. Bush denounced
10413-682: The three labels from trading as one. Ross was primarily focused on rebuilding the company's ailing movie division and was happy to defer to the advice of the managers of the company's record labels, since he knew that they were generating most of the group's profits. Ertegun's campaign against Maitland began in earnest that summer. Atlantic had agreed to help Warner Bros. in its efforts to establish its labels overseas, beginning with its soon-to-be-established Warner Bros. subsidiary in Australia, but when Warner executive Phil Rose arrived in Australia, he discovered that just one week earlier Atlantic had signed
10530-605: The way for Warner's rise to industry prominence. The purchase brought in Atlantic's lucrative back catalogue, which included classic recordings by Ray Charles , the Drifters , the Coasters , and many more. In the mid-1960s, Atlantic/Stax released a string of landmark soul music recordings by artists including Booker T & the MGs , Sam & Dave , Wilson Pickett , Otis Redding , Ben E. King , and Aretha Franklin . Ultimately,
10647-664: The widely revered Ostin—Morgado was viewed as an outsider at Warner. Nevertheless, he gained favour with Ross and Levin and was promoted in 1985 to oversee the Warner international music division after helping the company slash costs in its computer game sector. Since his appointment as head of WBR, Ostin had always reported directly to Steve Ross and his successor Gerald Levin , but in late 1993, when Ostin's contract came up for renewal, Morgado asserted his authority, insisting that Ostin should now report directly to him. The tensions between them reached boiling point in July 1994 when Morgado appointed former Atlantic chief Doug Morris to head
10764-513: The world are held in EMI's temperature-controlled archive in Hayes, some of which have been released on CD since 2008 by Honest Jon's Records . In 1931, the year the company was formed, it opened the legendary recording studios at London 's Abbey Road . During the 1930s and 1940s, its roster of artists included Arturo Toscanini , Sir Edward Elgar , and Otto Klemperer , among many others. During this time EMI appointed its first A&R managers. These included George Martin , who later brought
10881-519: The world at that time. In 1967, while shifting their focus on pop and rock music roster to Columbia and Parlophone, EMI converted HMV solely to a classical music label exclusively. For the emerging progressive rock genre including Pink Floyd , who had debuted on Columbia, EMI established a new subsidiary label, Harvest Records , two years later. In 1971, Electric & Musical Industries changed its name to EMI Ltd. and on 1 January 1973 EMI phased out most of its heritage labels and replacing them with
10998-475: The world's largest music publishers. Since August 2, 2018, WMG has expanded its business to digital media operations through its acquisition of Uproxx . The film studio Warner Bros. had no record label division at the time one of its contracted actors, Tab Hunter , scored a No. 1 hit song in 1957 for Dot Records , a division of rival Paramount Pictures . In order to prevent any repetition of its actors recording for rival companies, and to also capitalize on
11115-618: The world's largest record company". This led to a climactic meeting between Morris and Gerald Levin in late October, at which Morris reportedly threatened to quit if he had to continue to report to Morgado. Morgado gave in to the demand that Morris be granted autonomy to run the North American operations and he was forced to upgrade Morris's position from chief operating officer to Chief Executive of Warner Music Group (US); Morris promptly named Danny Goldberg , former president of Atlantic Records, to run WBR in defiance of Morgado, who had
11232-462: The world's largest record company. In November 1995, Fuchs was himself sacked by Levin, leaving the company with a reported US$ 60 million " golden parachute ", and Time Warner co-chairmen Robert A. Daly and Terry Semel took over the running of the music division. EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries , also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI )
11349-416: The world, with assets in excess of US$ 20 billion and annual revenues in the billions of dollars; by 1991, Warner's music labels were generating sales valued at more than US$ 3 billion, with operating profits of $ 550 million, and by 1995, its music division dominated the US music industry with a 22% share of the domestic market. Acquisitions and corporate changes within the Warner group of labels continued after
11466-442: The year ended March 2009, including 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
11583-433: Was Fleetwood Mac . The band signed with Reprise in the early 1970s after relocating to the US, and the label supported the group through numerous lineup changes and several lean years during which the band's records sold relatively poorly, although they remained a popular concert attraction. Ironically, after the group's transfer to Warner Bros. in 1975 and the recruitment of new members Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks ,
11700-532: Was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its acquisition by Universal Music in 2012, it was the fourth largest business group and record label conglomerate in the music industry , and was one of the "Big Four" record companies (now the " Big Three "). Its labels included EMI Records , Parlophone , Virgin Records , and Capitol Records , which are now referenced under Universal Music due to their acquisition with
11817-688: Was a joint venture between EMI itself and Pied Piper Records Corporation. The physical audio and video products of the label have been distributed in South-East Asia by Warner Music Group since December 2008, while new EMI releases in China and Taiwan, were distributed under Gold Typhoon which was previously known as EMI Music China and EMI Music Taiwan, respectively. Meanwhile, the Korean branch of EMI (known as EMI Korea Limited) had its physical releases distributed by Warner Music Korea. EMI Music Japan ,
11934-545: Was also for many years an internationally respected manufacturer of photomultipliers . This part of the business was transferred to Thorn as part of Thorn-EMI, then later became the independent concern Electron Tubes Ltd. The EMI Electronic Business Machine, a valve and magnetic drum memory computer, was built in the 1950s to process the British Motor Corporation payroll. In 1958 the EMIDEC 1100 ,
12051-668: Was awarded a prestigious Queen's Award for Technological Innovation for what was then called the EMI scanner , and in 1979 Hounsfield won the Nobel Prize for his accomplishment. After brief, but brilliant, success in the medical imaging field, EMI's manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies, notably Thorn (see Thorn EMI ). Subsequently, development and manufacturing activities were sold off to other companies and work moved to other towns such as Crawley and Wells. Emihus Electronics, based in Glenrothes , Scotland,
12168-424: Was being seen as a liability for the Warner group. Time Warner's board and investors had already been bruised by the damaging 1992 " Cop Killer " controversy and now they were faced with renewed criticism about the gangsta rap genre, in which Interscope's associate imprint Death Row Records was a key label. In mid-1995, Time Warner refused to distribute the Interscope album Dogg Food by Tha Dogg Pound , forcing
12285-426: Was described as an experiment). In May 2006, EMI attempted to buy Warner Music Group , which would have reduced the world's four largest record companies ( Big Four ) to three; however, the bid was rejected. Warner Music Group launched a Pac-Man defense , offering to buy EMI. EMI rejected the $ 4.6 billion offer. After a decline in the British market share from 16% to 9%, and the announcement that it had sustained
12402-500: Was entitled Let It Be . The photo was used instead for the cover of the Beatles' second greatest-hits double-disc compilation entitled 1967–1970 (also known as "The Blue Album"). (The two compilations were released in 1973.) EMI's classical artists of the period were largely limited to the prestigious British and European orchestras, such as the Philharmonia Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra as well as
12519-448: Was eventually folded into Elektra Records. In 1996, after causing much controversy, Interscope was purchased by MCA Music Entertainment . During 1992, Warner Music faced one of the most serious public-relations crises in its history when a major controversy erupted over the provocative Warner Bros. recording " Cop Killer " from the self-titled album by Body Count , a heavy metal / rap fusion band led by Ice-T . Unfortunately for Warner,
12636-470: Was forming an in-house distribution arm for the co-owned labels. By this time, Warner-Reprise's frustrations with its current distributors had reached breaking point; Joe Smith (then executive vice-president of Warner Bros.) recalled that the Grateful Dead were becoming a major act but the distributor was constantly out of stock of their albums. These circumstances facilitated the full establishment of
12753-503: Was increasingly disrupted by internal power struggles, leading to a string of major executive upheavals in 1994–95, which The New York Times described as "a virtual civil war". The central conflict was between Mo Ostin and Warner Music Group chairman Robert Morgado, who had joined the Warner group in the late 1980s. Because of his political background (he had been the chief-of-staff to former New York governor Hugh L. Carey ) and his lack of music industry experience — especially compared to
12870-526: Was later settled following a defence based on a contract case involving actress Olivia de Havilland decades before. Jared Leto explained, "The California Appeals Court ruled that no service contract in California is valid after seven years, and it became known as the De Havilland Law after she used it to get out of her contract with Warner Bros. " Many industry watchers viewed the suit as
12987-438: Was more negative publicity the following month, when leading Elektra act Metallica launched a lawsuit against the label, seeking a release from their contract and ownership of their master tapes, and claiming that Morgado had refused to honor a deal they had worked out with Krasnow before he quit. Ostin's departure marked a seismic shift in the corporate culture at WBR and the news was greeted with dismay by industry insiders and
13104-553: Was owned 51% by Hughes Aircraft , of California, US, and 49% by EMI. It manufactured integrated circuits , electrolytic capacitors and, for a short period in the mid-1970s, hand-held calculators under the Gemini name. 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 the British Commonwealth , including Europe,
13221-426: Was put up for sale and final bids were due by 5 October 2011. On 12 November 2011, it was announced that EMI would sell its recorded music operations to Universal Music Group (UMG) for £1.2 billion ($ 1.9 billion) and its music publishing operations to Sony/ATV Music Publishing -for $ 2.2 billion. Among the other companies that had competed for the recorded music business was Warner Music Group which
13338-502: Was replaced by WBR vice-chairman Russ Thyret . That August saw yet another resignation, that of Mel Lewinter, then president and COO of Warner Music's domestic music operations; while Lewinter being an ally of Morris played a role in the former's ouster, speculation ran rampant about it also having to do with a internal investigation into improper sales practices (involving tens of thousands of CDs being stolen from Atlantic by sales manager Nick Maria, then being secretly resold to retailers;
13455-457: Was the only region in the world where EMI was not in operation, although the record label continued to operate in Hong Kong and Indonesia (which was named Arka Music Indonesia). The Chinese and Taiwanese operation of EMI as well as the Hong Kong branch of Gold Label, was sold to Typhoon Group and reformed as Gold Typhoon . The Philippine branch of EMI changed its name to PolyEast Records , and
13572-426: Was understandably concerned that, if he accepted the position, the Warner Bros. staff would feel that he had stabbed Maitland in the back, but his attorney convinced him that Maitland's departure was inevitable, regardless of whether or not he accepted the post (succinctly advising him, "Don't be a schmuck"). On Sunday January 25, Ted Ashley went to Maitland's house to tell him he had been dismissed, and Maitland declined
13689-483: Was used for the cover of the Beatles' first double-disc greatest-hits compilation entitled 1962–1966 (also known as "The Red Album"). In 1969, Angus McBean took a matching group photograph featuring the boys in long hair and beards to contrast with the earlier cleancut image to show that the boys could have appeal across a wide range of audiences. This photo was originally intended for the Get Back album which later
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