Emi Music history

In 1898 the company made its first recordings and opened branches in Germany, France, Italy, and central Europe.

1902 Company gains first major artist, Enrico Caruso.

Columbia too expanded rapidly oversees, doing business across Europe and in Egypt by 1903.

By 1906, less than 10 years after starting up, over 60 per cent of the company’s revenues came from outside the UK.

By 1912, factories were operating in eight countries, including England and Russia, and there were sales branches in 12 cities around the world.

The increasing popularity of recorded music was evidenced by the ownership of a gramophone by one-third of British households by 1913.

By 1914 The Gramophone Company was selling nearly four million records a year, but the outbreak of the First World War that year caused serious disruption to its Columbia’s business as their factories were largely turned over to the manufacture of munitions.

In 1926, The Gramophone Company released its first million seller: O For The Wings of a Dove from Mendelssohn’s Hear My Prayer, sung by 14-year-old Ernest Lough on the HMV label.

By 1930 the company's roster of artists included Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, German opera conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, English composer Sir Edward Elgar, and English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham.

1931 Gramophone Co. merges with Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries Ltd. (EMI).

Established in 1939, the Blue Note catalogue includes jazz greats such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk.

The first managers to spot and develop music talent in Britain were appointed in 1940.

Another key development came in 1948 when the first vinyl 33rpm LP was released in the US. Together with the new 45rpm singles, these formats were cheaper, lighter and more durable than the old 78rpm shellac records.

But probably the best decision in its history came in 1962 when it signed the Beatles and released their first single Love Me Do.

In 1966 the company released its first prerecorded cassettes.

Formed in 1969, Chrysalis Records was the company behind artists ranging from Jethro Tull to Blondie.

By 1970 there were 15 HMVs; six years later there were 35 and HMV had become one of the leading music retailers in the United Kingdom.

By 1977 serious problems with the medical electronics division caused management to be broken up into three divisions, each responsible for its own profitability.

In 1979, US record label Liberty/United Artists was acquired by EMI. The company included the storied Blue Note Records.

In 1990 alone, HMV outlets appeared for the first time in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, and the United States.

In October 1996 the debut album by the prefabricated Spice Girls posted huge sales; more than 17.5 million copies had been sold in the 12 months following its October 1996 release.

Martland, Peter, Since Records Began: EMI, the First 100 Years, Portland, Oreg.: Amadeus Press, 1997.

In early 1998 EMI's board, showing its loyalty to the chairman, rejected the plan to make Fifield CEO, and he soon left the company armed with a hefty severance package.

Utada Hikaru's First Love, released in 1999, became the best-selling album in Japanese history.

2000 European regulators block plan to create joint venture with Time Warner's Warner Music Group.

Glitter, the first Carey album released by Virgin under this deal, initially flopped commercially (at least in comparison to Carey's previous albums), selling little more than 500,000 copies in the first few months after its September 2001 release.

Restructuring charges and charges related to the Carey debacle contributed to a pretax loss of £152.8 million for the fiscal year ending in March 2002.

A merger was back on the agenda in late 2003, when the newly named Time Warner Inc. placed Warner Music Group on the block.