EMI to Combine Two Labels

0

Ailing music giant EMI will merge two of the music industry’s best-known labels, Capitol Records and Virgin Records America, in a sweeping reorganization prompted by the company’s financial troubles, the Los Angeles Times reports.


EMI on Thursday unveiled the new Capitol Music Group, retaining the name of its iconic label whose roster once included the Beatles and Frank Sinatra. Capitol President Andy Slater was forced out, six months into a five-year contract extension.


The news caused considerable concern at the landmark Capitol Records tower in Hollywood, where employees have feared for some time that EMI operations in America will move east to New York.


That could free the 13-story building, which resembles a stack of records, to be converted for residential space or other use. Slater, who took the reins of Capitol in 2001, had advocated keeping the tower and its storied studios in the record-making business. The building and adjacent properties were sold last year for $50 million to New York-based developer Argent Ventures and leased back to Capitol.


Read the full L.A. Times story

.(registration required)

No posts to display