A Brief History of EMI
1980-1991
By the start of the 1980s, the record industry was suffering from a severe sales decline. Together with the end of the disco phenomenon, this left the field wide open for new genres to emerge.
One of the first heavy metal bands to make an impression on the charts was the EMI-signed London five-piece Iron Maiden. Over twenty years later, the band are still recording for EMI, still tour relentlessly, and are leading a new generation of rockers all over the world. Other genres of music emerging at this time were electronic and sample-based, such as house and techno and hip-hop. Arguably the most influential band for all these is Kraftwerk, who began experimenting with computers and electronic music in the 1970s. Other successful artists for EMI at the start of the 1980s included Kate Bush and Duran Duran.
The late 1980s and early 1990s were a period of huge change for EMI. Having released its first recordings on the new CD format in 1983, the silver shiny discs accounted for the majority of albums sold by EMI by the 1990s.
Around this time EMI also embarked on a series of business deals that would transform the company. In 1989 SBK Entertainment World, a music publishing company whose catalogue included Singin' In The Rain, Wizard of Oz and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, was acquired, making EMI Music Publishing the undisputed world leader. In the same year, EMI acquired a 50% stake in Chrysalis Records. Formed in 1969, Chrysalis Records was the company behind artists ranging from Jethro Tull to Blondie. Then in 1990 EMI Music Publishing was expanded again with the acquisition of the Filmtrax catalogue which further extended EMI's leadership in music publishing, and the following year EMI bought the remaining 50% of Chrysalis Records, taking full ownership of the label.