EMI negotiating a merger with Warner Music - again
Written by roxeteer on September 22, 2003 to Music Business.
LONDON - EMI Group Plc, the London-based head office of Roxette’s record company, has returned to the negotiating table with Time Warner. According to sources, EMI is refreshing the offer they made earlier this year to take control of Time Warner’s music branch. The rumor has it that EMI is offering Time Warner 1.5 billion Euros.
At the same time, Time Warner is in talks with German media giant Bertelsmann about joining forces in music business. The joint venture of Warner Music and Bertelsmann’s BMG would create the world’s second biggest music company.
Time Warner, Bertelsmann, Warner Music, BMG and EMI have all declined to comment.
Copy protected CDs illegal in France?
Written by Zanderico on September 13, 2003 to Music Business.
NANTERRE - 
Unfortunately not. EMI is not allowed to release defective CDs, a French court decided. But EMI wasn’t forbidden to release copy protected CDs per se.
Last week’s ruling is a victory for UFC. A French consumer rights organization, which has been protesting against copy protected CDs for years now, because copy protected discs won’t play in a lot of car stereos, computers and portable players.
Furthermore, UFC says the record companies only release copy protected discs in Europe, because in the US they’re afraid of getting sued. But now it seems they are no longer safe in Europe either.
The case was set up around a release of EMI France, the new CD of French singer Alain Souchon, according to press agency AFP. The judge ruled in favor of UFC. EMI is obligated to compensate the buyers of the CD. This means that EMI must refund customers who have bought CDs they can’t play, or provide them with a full-working copy.
On the other hand, a consumer who reported EMI Australia to the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) for the same thing, got turned down.
EMI boss defends music industry; Universal drops prices
Written by steven on September 4, 2003 to Music Business.
The Vice-Chairman of EMI, David Munns, has defended his company’s stance on record prices and the state of the music industry.
In his statement, Munns defends his prices by saying, “There’s a lot that goes into the retail price - VAT, retailer’s cut, distribution costs, advertising and other marketing costs, producers’ fees and studio time, not to mention the artists and songwriters who need to be paid.”
On the subject of the Internet and music piracy, he was equally frank. “Whatever any of us feel about the price of anything, that doesn’t justify stealing. Illegal file-sharing is theft under copyright law. Is it okay to shoplift if you disagree with the prices a shop charges? Would you steal a Mercedes and justify it by saying it was because you couldn’t afford one?”
In a related story, the day after a report suggested the compact disc is heading the way of the 8-track tape, the world’s largest music label conglomerate promised a steep cut in CD pricing.
Universal Music Group on Wednesday said it will cut its wholesale prices and reduce its suggested retail pricing for CDs to $13, from between $17 and $19. The company, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal, is home to a number of record labels, including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Interscope, Geffen, Island Def Jam, and Philips.
EMI UK drops prices of CD singles
Written by steven on August 8, 2003 to Music Business.
LONDON - Music giant EMI is to introduce a new system of prices for CD singles in an attempt to revive sales. Most singles will be available on two-track discs for £1.99 - but releases by the biggest names will be priced at £3.99. The changes come as the UK music industry tries to recover from a sales drop that has seen almost 40% fewer singles sold so far this year compared with the same period in 2002.
The company’s new policy will see £1.99 two-track CDs released from September, backed up by £2.99 versions with added extras, such as DVD tracks. The £3.99 releases will be reserved for a select few “blockbuster” artists.
EMI chairman Tony Wadsworth said: “There is confusion among consumers about pricing. They see singles at £1.99, £2.99 and £3.99 and don’t know why. The singles will remain at the same price for the duration of their release - rather than being discounted in the first week but reverting to a higher price.”
“Better albums need to be made”
Written by tevensso on July 30, 2003 to Music Business.
STOCKHOLM - Your album “Mazarin” has since it was released in June sold more than 170,000 copies and therefore has helped raising an otherwise lousy first six months for the record business. What does it take to get the record buyers to come back to the stores again?
“A combination of many things, but basically better albums need to be made,” Per Gessle says to di.se, “Illegal copying and downloading from the Net is of course a problem, but the record industry must blame itself as well. The record companies want fast money and put all their resources in releasing concept artists with only one good song while the rest of the album is just padding, instead of artists that need a few albums to get established.”
- DI.se (In Swedish)
Per “rages” against pirates
Written by tevensso on June 6, 2003 to Music Business.
STOCKHOLM - In today’s edition of Swedish tabloid Expressen Per says “It’s stealing. Of course the writers, producers and musicians should get paid. It’s not good when people feel it’s OK to download without paying. It’s not good when an entire generation takes it for granted that music is for free.”
As we speak seven of the songs, although snippets, are available on the usual downloading sites. “I’m definitely glad that the entire album isn’t out yet. I see that many people on [The] Daily Roxette site are looking for it, but no one has found it. At least to my knowledge,” Per says to Expressen.
- Expressen’s article (In Swedish)
EMI’s profits rise slightly, but sales fall
Written by steven on May 26, 2003 to Music Business.
LONDON - EMI has reported a slight rise in adjusted pre-tax profits to £177.3m ($290.2m), from £153.3m last year. However, in the same period total sales at the EMI group - whose artists include Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Coldplay , Radiohead and Roxette - fell a hefty 11% to £2.2bn.
EMI had taken drastic measures to cope with this downturn, previously cutting 1,900 jobs and dropping 400 acts from its roster last year.
EMI’s Chairman Eric Nicoli has cited music piracy as “the biggest single contributor to market decline.”
There has been persistent speculation about EMI’s future, and possible mergers with either Warner Music or Bertlesmann’s BMG. “We think we will make progress with or without participation in industry consolidation,” Nicoli said. “Beyond that I have no intention of fueling speculation.”
There was some glimmer of light from the US, where EMI made a profit after five years of losses.
EMI permits downloading and burning of 140,000 tracks
Written by Lars-Erik_Olson on April 24, 2003 to Music Business.
LONDON - 
EMI Recorded Music announced plans yesterday for the biggest European music download initiative by a record company in Europe to date. The company will make available for sale online over 140,000 tracks from over 3,000 EMI artists.
As well as upping the amount of tracks available, EMI’s new program gives consumers more flexibility over how and when they can access its music, enabling them to:
- Burn music onto CD-R
- Copy tracks to portable players
- Purchase singles online as soon as the songs are serviced to radio and in advance of their commercial release on CD
Already more than 20 music retail websites from six different European countries are gearing up to start selling EMI’s new downloads and will go live at varying times over the coming weeks.
Possible EMI merger heats up
Written by steven on January 22, 2003 to Music Business.
CANNES - At this year’s Midem music industry conference on the French Riviera, music executives have been actively speculating over a possible, future merger concerning Roxette’s record label EMI. Sources close to the world’s third largest record company have said that EMI has been in discussions with both BMG and Warner Music. So rife is the speculation of a possible merger that EMI’s shares have climbed a respectable 18 percent in the last two weeks.
Meanwhile, EMI has declined to comment on what they called “market rumors”.
BBC profiles Roxette’s record label
Written by steven on December 1, 2002 to Music Business.
LONDON - This week, the BBC profiled Roxette’s record label in a program entitled “EMI & Me”. The program, which is part of a six-part series, examines a series of British-born organizations and discusses how they have adapted their business practices in their respected tough economical markets, over their many years of operating.
Interestingly, the program attributes EMI’s (Electrical and Musical Industries) early financial success to the development of radar technology during the World Wars. It wasn’t until EMI secured the distribution rights of Elvis’s UK releases that their music empire started to really evolve.
Their greatest musical success has always been The Beatles. This four man band enabled EMI to not only sell a great many records, but it also allowed them to sell in many new territories for the first time, most noticeably America.
In the late 90’s, EMI had gained an unhealthy attraction to big name artists who commanded multimillion pound contracts. One such notable example is Mariah Carey, who signed with EMI for £36 million, only to be later released early from her contract due to poor record sales for a sizable £20 million.
Recently, EMI was in merger discussions with New York-based Time Warner. This was eventually called off because of regulatory concerns with the monopolies commission.
The program concluded that EMI has been forced to trim most of its fat by shedding 1,800 jobs worldwide. And consolidating its existing artists who include: Kylie Minogue, Iron Maiden, Radiohead, Tina Turner and Robbie Williams. Robbie recently renewed his contract with EMI for an alleged £80 million.
Editor’s note: Many fans have noted that “The Ballad Hits” album was released on the “Capitol Records” label. Roxette’s record company is still EMI and Capitol is one of the labels owned by the EMI corporation.
