Given that the roots of EMI stretch right back to the very start of recorded sound and that the company invented stereo recording, it’s hardly surprising that EMI has stayed at the forefront of technological change in the industry. When digital music began to take off in the 1990s, EMI was well placed to capitalise on the trend.

EMI’s first websites went live in 1993 and 1994 and in 1998 EMI streamed the first complete album over the internet, Mezzanine by Massive Attack. The following year EMI was the first company to release a digital album download, David Bowie’s …Hours. EMI also launched the first internet video single, Lenny Kravitz’s Dig In, in 2001, and, in 2002 it was the first major music company to make new music available digitally to consumers at the same time as it is serviced to radio stations. In 2007 EMI became the first major music company to make its music available without digital rights management (DRM) software and at a much higher sound quality than before.

In May 2007, EMI and private equity firm Terra Firma announced details of a recommended offer for the shares of EMI. After receiving all the necessary acceptances and approvals, Terra Firma assumed control of the company in August 2007 and the following month EMI Group's shares were de-listed from the London Stock Exchange.

In addition to EMI’s strong presence in physical music outlets, today EMI’s music is available to purchase digitally through hundreds of retailers around the world and EMI has partnered with companies developing new ways of finding and enjoying music such as subscriptions, online jukeboxes, video jukeboxes, custom compilations, kiosks, digital car stereos, mobile phone ring tones, master ring tunes and other wireless products, and countless other new products and ideas. Overall EMI expects a quarter its revenue to come from digital sales by 2010. You can find information on our digital initiatives and activities here.

Other developments since 2000 for EMI include the acquisition of seminal independent label Mute, home to artists such as Moby, Depeche Mode, Goldfrapp and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds in 2002, and in 2006 EMI agreed to acquire the 45% stake in Japanese label Toshiba-EMI held by Toshiba Corporation, bringing its ownership of the company to 100%. Meanwhile to increase the flexibility of its cost structure, EMI has outsourced its CD manufacturing operations.

As always, EMI continues to be a thoroughly international business. The company’s management is multinational, overseeing a business that operates right around the world. In recent years, as well as releasing music from Anglo American artists such as Norah Jones, Coldplay, Joss Stone and Robbie Williams, EMI has issued top selling platinum albums by artists from all over the world, such as Utada Hikaru from Japan, Herbert Grönemeyer and Wir Sind Helden from Germany, Daft Punk, Air, Renaud, Raphael and Cali from France, Bebe from Spain, RBD and Thalia from Mexico, Marisa Monte from Brazil, Radja from Indonesia, Vasco Rossi and Tiziano Ferro from Italy, Jolin Tsai from Singapore and S.H.E. from China, to name but a few.

EMI Music Publishing’s roster includes the cream of globally successful songwriters including Usher, Jay-Z, Sting, Diddy, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Alan Jackson, Kanye West, Natasha Bedingfield, Gorillaz, Utada Hikaru and Scissor Sisters.

EMI is a company that is focused exclusively on music. Our world famous labels release some of the most popular and acclaimed music in the world and EMI’s catalogue is unmatched. Whatever the future of music and however people want to enjoy it, EMI and its artists will be there.

Last updated July 2008