1950
1951
- EMI released it s first 33 1/3 rpm vinyl LP in France. UK releases begin in 1952
1952
- EMI releases its first 45 rpm singles
- Maria Callas signs with EMI
- EMI and angel Records are launched as labels in the US
1955
- EMI acquires Capitol Records in Los Angeles, one of the largest record labels in the US whose roster includes Nat 'King' Cole, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Gene Vincent
1957
- EMI Records UK label established
- EMI opens company in Mexico
1958
- EMI releases the first stereo LP
- EMI signs Cliff Richard and releases his first single, 'Move It
1960
1961
- EMI establishes a joint venture record company with Toshiba in Japan
1962
- EMI signs The Beatles and releases their first single, Love Me Do - Capitol Records releases the first Beach Boys album, Surfin' Safari
1964
- Eight EMI artists hold the number one position in the British singles charts for a total of 41 weeks
1966
- EMI releases its first pre-recorded cassettes
- HMV begins to expand retail operations in London
1967
- EMI signs Pink Floyd
1969
- EMI buys Keith Prowse (KPM) Music Publishing and Central Songs
1970
1970
- HMV operates 15 retail outlets
1972
- EMI signs Queen
1973
- EMI purchases Affiliated Music Publishers and forms EMI Music Publishing
1976
- EMI Music Publishing acquires the Screen Gems and Colgems music publishing companies from Columbia Pictures Industries
1976
- HMV, with 35 shops in the UK, is one of the country's leading specialist music retailers
1979
- EMI purchases the Liberty/United Artists record company which includes the Blue Note label
1980
1983
- EMI releases its first records in the new compact disc format
1985
- Pet Shop Boys sign to Parlophone
1986
- EMI begins manufacturing CDs
- HMV Music Retailing becomes a separate division
- HMV begins international expansion
1989
- SBK Entertainment World, Inc. acquired
1990
1990
- EMI acquires Chrysalis Records
- EMI Music Publishing purchases the Filmtrax catalogue
- EMI enters the Taiwanese market
- HMV enters Australia, Japan, USA and Hong Kong
1992
- Acquisition of the Virgin Music Group, including record labels and publishing catalogues
- EMI acquires Sparrow Records, a leading Christian music company and forms EMI Christian Music Group
1994
- EMI gains controlling interest in Japanese joint venture Toshiba-EMI
- Intercord, a leading German independent record company, is acquired
- EMI invests in music video channels VIVA in Germany and Channel [V] in Asia
1995
- Dillons bookstores become part of HMV
- Virgin Records signs the Spice Girls
1996
- HMV celebrates 75th anniversary with over 300 outlets worldwide
- The EMI Group formed on the demerger of the Thorn businesses (19 August 1996)
- EMI acquires 50% of leading US independent Priority Records, acquiring the remaining 50% in 1998
1997
- EMI celebrates its first centenary in business. Present in over 80 countries worldwide
- EMI Music Publishing acquires a 50% stake in the Jobete music publishing catalogue of classic songs from the Motown era
- EMI Enters Lebanon, Turkey and Uruguay
1998
- EMI Group sells HMV and Dillons to HMV Media Group, who also acquire Waterstones to form one of the UK's pre-eminent retailing companies
- EMI enters Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru
1999
- EMI endorses Preview Systems as its preferred technology partner for secure electronic music delivery
- EMI Music Publishing acquires 40,000 active titles from the Windswept Pacific catalogue
- EMI acquires 51% of Hit & Run Music Publishing
- Utada Hikaru's First Love becomes the best selling album in Japanese history
2000
2000
- Garth Brooks' US album sales pass 100,000,000
2002
- HMV Group floats on the London Stock Exchange
- EMI wins Queen's Award for Enterprise for fourth time
- EMI acquires Mute
2003
- Norah Jones sweeps the Grammys with an unprecedented eight awards out of eight nominations including all major categories
EMI are one of the worlds biggest, if not the biggest record label known to man. The company is a multinational plc, which basically means that the company owns and controls other companies all over the world. EMI is the parent company, and the companies it controls are called subsidiary companies. The subsidiary companies that Emi owns are organisations like Virgin Records, and HMV. Multinational companies are usually set up to increase productivity and to cut costs, by helping them to do things like making raw materials cheaper, and easier to get hold of. Also by using countrys with poor economies to provide cheaper workforces, this factor of being based in poorer countries also help them to avoid high tax costs.
EMI also holds the status of being a PLC aswell as a multinational in the private sector. Because EMI is a PLC it means that the company has what is called ‘limited liability’. This means that if the company were to have a law suit put against them then the owners of the company “shareholders” are not liable to lose anything accept for there shares in the company. Unlike a company with unlimited liability, which the owners could stand to lose more than just their companies, they also stand to lose what they posses like their homes and cars etc. But other factors of being a PLC are that the company can easily find ways to raise capital for expansion, especially as large well known firms are low risk ventures for banks, and also shares are able to be sold openly on the stock markets around the world. Unlike private limited companies who can only sell a limited number of shares and cannot sell them openly on the markets. There are also disadvantages to being a PLC, for example all PLC’s need at least £50,000 to start up the status of a public limited company. Also every year an annual report and account must be published and a copy given to all shareholders, and also be made available for public viewing. An AGM must also be held every year so that the owners of Emi (the shareholder) can have a chance to try and influence the way in which the company works. But normally Also a high risk to the company is that shares sold on the stock market could be sold on to rival companies who would only need 50% + of the shares to take control. Another major process the company has to do is collect the right documentation and this has to be done even before the company can start trading. The business needs “a Memorandum of Association and Articles of Association to be sent to the company registrar” then the company registrar must issue a “Certificate of Incorporation” then the company issues a “prospectus” after this the company must issue its “shares” after which the registrar draws up a “Certificate of Trading” after this the company can begin trading openly. At the end of the financial year shareholders are paid a dividend of what the company has profited over the 12 months. Then the rest of the profit is put back into the business.
(E2)
Although Emi are one of the most flexible companies in the way they operate the still have constraints on them just like any other company would have but then again they also have their benefits.
The benefits that Emi hold just as any multinational Plc would are that the company has the advantage of limited liability which basically means if the company were to become bankrupt or if they were to be sued, only the company its self would stand to be lost. As the owners (shareholders) themselves would not stand to anything that they own except what they owned in shares in the company. Unlike companies who have unlimited liability, like sole traders for example who could stand to lose every thing that they owned if they got into trouble. Other advantages of being a Plc include the ability to raise capital, and this is for many reasons from the factor that banks find larger companies less of a high risk factor due to their high reputations unlike small businesses who are found to be a risk and do not generally have enough collateral to cover what they wish to borrow. Plc’s can also use their shareholders to raise capital and introduce new shares for existing shareholders to buy or they can put their shares up on the stock markets. Emi also has one other main advantage over many companies which include the factor it is a multinational. This means that the company has been organized to increase productivity and profitability, by carefully picking its locations from where its offices are positioned like New York, Paris, London, and Madrid. Where the artists that the company wants are most likely to be found, to which countries Emi can use for cheap resources and labour, even for cheaper taxation. Other factors that make Emi being a multinational more able to operate are the facts that they can dodge laws like environmental laws which do not apply in some countries, and also means that they can avoid tariffs when they are importing and exporting their merchandise.
But even though the company has these advantages that keep them at the top of their game they also face a few disadvantages which could easily lead to end of the company, by this I mean that even though the company can use the stockmarkets to their advantage they could also lead to what is know as a hostile takeover if a rival company were to gain over 50% of the companies shares. Another factor about selling you’re shares on the stockmarkets is that it is costly to have shares quoted on the stock exchange. This is because it would have the controlling vote in what the company does. Another disadvantage that Emi would have faced when starting out are the large costs and amounts of paper work needed to set up the Plc. Also the company needs to let the shareholders and public know how the company is progressing each year with a annual report, the only problem with this is that rivals can also gain access to this report, and would be able to target areas that the company is under performing in to try to remove trade from the company. Also the report takes along time to put together and calculate.
(E3)
EMI's mission is to become the world's leading Music Company. The company hopes that it will be able to exceed last years overall sales figures as one of its goals, but their are many other objectives for the up coming year.
One of Emi’s main objectives for the current year is to stop music piracy, and they have put alot of time and money into fighting it. Below is a brief idea of how they are going to tackle it.
Retail recorded music market
Commercial CD Piracy
Online digital piracy
Music consumption increasing.
Piracy.
Commercial physical piracy
organised crime
virtually identical to legitimate product
returning to high levels last seen in 1980s
file sharing and CD burning
perception that “not really” stealing
yet supports commercial enterprise
Anti-piracy strategy.
Commercial physical piracy
better laws
improved enforcement
copy control
tighter pre-release management
technical counter measures
consumer awareness
legal / regulatory initiatives
Philosophy of copy control.
Make it more difficult to rip and burn CDs
Make decision to rip and burn a conscious violation of copyright laws
Deploy copy control technologies that are consumer friendly
Pre-release management.
One leak can provide digital source for international piracy
Forensic watermarking
Process redesign at four different levels:
studio
initial advance copies
press and promotional copies
radio play
Technical counter-measures.
Experimenting with alternative approaches
Impact greatest before street date, but value in longer campaign
Expectation: 50+% of download attempts ineffective
Artist support in consumer education.
India.Arie
Mary J. Blige
Sarah Brightman
Steven Curtis Chapman
Sheryl Crow
The Dandy Warhols
Dirty Vegas
Eminem
Enrique Iglesias
Janet Jackson
Mick Jagger
Elton John
Lenny Kravitz
matchbox twenty
Kylie Minogue
Nelly
N*E*R*D
‘NSYNC
OK Go
Keith Richards
Rolling Stones
Diana Ross
Shaggy
Britney Spears
Sting
Thalia
Keith Urban
The Vines
Brian Wilson
Legal / regulatory progress.
Legislative / legal:
EU proposes harmonised sanctions against piracy
Italian government passes key anti-piracy law
Victory in first online piracy legal case in Japan
Preliminary ruling against Verizon
Enforcement:
Spanish police arrest 40 in one of largest ever anti-piracy operations
Major CD-piracy ring smashed in Manila
Stolen Beatles tapes recovered in joint UK / Dutch operation
Enabling legitimate services.
Understanding the consumer: preliminary results
EMI’s digital download strategy
Additional sources of revenue growth
Downloads by age group.
Behavioral drivers.
Age / demographics
Intensity of downloading behaviour
Physical music purchase behaviour
Music consumption patterns
Enabling legitimate services.
Understanding the consumer: preliminary results
EMI’s digital download strategy
Additional sources of revenue growth
EMI’ s strategy.
Make available 100% of our repertoire
Allow portability and burning
Make our music available through every legitimate retailer
Enable retailers to use own preferred business model
Ensure fair return for EMI and artists by setting wholesale price
Integrate digital distribution fully into EMI
Status.
US launched November 2002
European launch coming soon
Global roll out over the year
Growing digital download business.
Growth in legitimate services.
Enabling legitimate services.
Understanding the consumer: preliminary results
EMI’s digital download strategy
Additional sources of revenue growth
New revenue sources.
Internet physical sales
DVD music video
Internet radio
Ring tones, improving to ring tunes
Digital downloads
Further revenue sources identified.
DVD audio
Pre-loaded content
Additional wireless services
IVR dedications
SMS
multi-media message services
music clip art
corporate communication
placed base services
Other non-recording income
New business models.
Consumer subscription
“Traditional retail”
Advertising supported
Blended / hybrid
bundled
marketing supported
revenue share
combinations with retail
Summary.
Traditional retail market under pressure
Wide range of attractive alternative services
We need to bridge the gap:
making progress on piracy
understand consumer behaviour
aggressively moving forward to enable legitimate online models
pursuing other revenue streams
Challenges significant, but opportunity enormous
Along with the fight against piracy Emi are also hoping to expand their company by taking over many other firms in the near future to gain more of a hold on the music industry. They are also looking to boost sales figures where they have been lost in the last year, in countries like china.
When you compare Emi’s sales figures from the last two reports you start to get a picture of how the company is doing. From 31st March 2002 to 31st March 2003 global music sales had dropped 9%, Emi’s sales only declined by 8.4%. Emi also made a group operating profit of £254.0m up 33.1%. Currently Latin America and R.O.W. (Australia, New Zealand, etc) hold the lowest sales for Emi and this has been show over the last five years. during the last year Emi brought their overall sales figures up from (£205.5m) to £216.2m a rise of £421.7.
