I see on my side table a beautiful solid silver plate with a Moon on it, inscribed "To Jonathan - happy birthday - from your many friends at EMI Records - 6th December 1994".

From Garrards, the Queen's jewelers.

17 years later; company broken up and sold to naff French conglomerate.

RIP the Great British music industry.

Music companies are nothing but great rip offs,serve them right!

I don't agree; music companies discovered, nurtured and promoted the best music talent and our British labels ruled the world in the last century. Because of terrific companies like Decca and EMI British music dominated radio and TV and made billions for the country. They added hugely to human happiness. Now - without them - the entire music world is dying. No filters, too much specialisation, lazy music makers, bad radio and TV - all because the companies fell apart. Bad management and wrong decisions killed the companies but, at their best, they were superb.

it is a dinosaur model destined to die. keeping 94% ofth income from artists and keeping them permanantly in debt did not help, short term protectionism , the inverse pyramid of over priced execs (Dan Keelings Aston Martin for example)failure to address down-loading, you-tube, file sharing, bootlegging, the mud at wall attitude to A&R , treating the buying public like sheep, over-pricing (the £4.99 single anyone?), selling the family silver,paying too much for the family silver( Zomba options?) the 360 model (i.e we want a share of your tickets)failing to keep control of spending( fruit and flowers, motorbikes for every effing letter), over=priced videos, bidding wars for sub-standard dross (£900 k for Cajun Dance party), all have acheived the exact opposite of the idea in hand, i.e turning what was the third biggest export in the UK into a cottage industry in 20 years.

Well Done lads, well done

All valid points de-caf - but none condemn the original intent, success and concept of "labels".

De-Caf you got it spot on the problem is JK you were part of that establishment and did very well from the old model.Label's were always a pretty incredible con particularly to artist.Artist to this day still never see a royalty check and as for executive renumeration it reeks of nepotism and jobs for the boys.EMI was run into the ground before Guy Hands team love it or loath it turned it around but I have never seen the industry criticise the executives who were at the helm.The endless stories of exec's booking studio time for phantom artist and splitting the cash with studio's etc were rife,EMI had a central london apartment for entertaining etc etc.Nope EMI perhaps because of Karma had it coming, as for Universal's acquisition they can wheel out all the paid for quotes they want it's going to be sliced and diced.

Universal has serious issue's with Polydor associated labels, Mercury although turning is turning slowly they actually need an influx of AnR .As for the states Lucian needed to pull this off as Doug is on his case the deal's with Dr Luke,L.A Reid,Big Machine,Cash Money the rumoured defection of Jimmy Iovine in March will hit Lucian hard, with Katy Perry,Rihanna and Mariah all rumoured to be heading to the new Sony he had to do something big and 1.2 Billion is a good price for the Beatle's.In the two years it will take Barry Wiess to get the Hit's flowing Lucian needed something big.

The only real winner in all of this is probably Marty Bandier who is having his cake and eating it back at the helm of EMI using SonyATV as his administrator with no one to tell him what he can and can't do means the cash he lost with Madhoff will be back in a safe place soon.Marty is the Doug of publishing and fairplay to him but all these moves mean writer's and artists will continue to moan about not getting a good service as they currently do about both companies.The question with Marty helming EMI is who helms Sony ATV let's have a guess mmm no-one as once passed the regulators they will merge the two with the Jacko estate making a killing on the deal............

It used to be a beautiful Business and still is for a few

There is a huge difference between "the original intent, success and concept of `labelsī" and the big companies which dominated the music marketed since the late 50s.

If EMI and Decca were so good at "discovering nurturing and promoting the best music talent", why was there a chance for men like Richard Branson, Chris Wright & Terry Ellis, Jonathan King, Jake Rivera & Dave Robinson etc. etc. to start new labels in the 70s?

Eat's, Shoot's and Leave's?!

I think the decline of big labels started in the 70s - one of the reasons why I started UK Records (and tried to assist Sir Edward at Decca).

It then went through a golden age; faltered as Videos made Audio second in the quality control line; allowed worse and worse executives to take over; began falling into the hands of conglomerates and the death blow... JK being removed as Guardian of Musical Morality in 2000.

Sad? You are joking? I am rejoicing. Long may it continue.
The UK major label record industry as the rest of the UK media is racist (how many black execs rise to the top), sexist, ruthless and greedy.
They have amassed untold wealth whilst paying scant regard to those who got them there (the artists).
Even you JK who has a rather overblown view of yourself (tongue in cheek I am sure though) are buying into this dinosaur.
You are an independent music man. You should be aiding and heralding the rise of new indie labels who really nurture and develop talent,
without having to kowtow to the establishment. No doubt you did very well with your label but ever since iTunes was supposed to save
the world, things have become a lot worse for indie labels. The future is in artists hands and they are starting from ground zero.

In fact you have a lot more in common with the so called new model than you realise. But even you are not helping others become more
independent. Where is your story on UK Records? Where is your book on starting a label like you did? I am not losing sleep over EMI.
Let's hope they all go under. Vive la independence!

At the end of the day, who cares whether the 'industry' doesn't make any money? People won't ever stop making music; recording it at home or on a friend's 16 track system; listening to it for free on Youtube etc. etc. It's been a commercial trough ever since some Frenchman came up with the concept of performing rights back in 1847, whilst sipping a glass of wine in some smokey Parisian cafe. This idea obviously led eventually to the formation of PRS/MCPS in the UK, who for some reason favour music publishing companies as members over individuals (see their membership criteria). Sadly, this keeps the majority of artists locked into publishing contracts which force them to hand over on average, half of their PRS income to the publishers.

In an ideal world every songwriter and composer should be able to register with them and receive 100% of their share of the mechanical and performing rights royalties, don't you agree?