The Rise and Fall of EMI Records

Electric and Musical Industries Limied (EMI) first saw the light of day in the UK in 1931. In a visionary move for the gramophone age, it manufactured both hardware (recording and playback equipment) and software (the records and tapes its machines would play.) For over a half century EMI dominated both sectors, its music division eventually becoming one of the most successful in the world with a roster that at various times included The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Cliff Richard, Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, Queen, The Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, and Coldplay. Then, in the 1990s, things started to go wrong. This new book explores and investigates EMI's extraordinary decline from greatness over two decades of rejected takeovers, unsuccessful mergers, executive changes, profit warnings, artist and staff cuts, press criticism, and never-ending speculation.