A Brief History of EMI
1930-1949
Everything was on a steady upward curve for the Gramophone Company and Columbia until the 1930s when the Great Depression hit. Before the decade was out, sales of records had plummeted by over 80%. In response to this new business climate, in 1931 The Gramophone Company and The Columbia Graphophone Company agreed to a merger. The new company was called Electric and Musical Industries, or EMI as it became known.
Both The Gramophone Company and Columbia had their own research and development departments, and not long after the formation of EMI, Alan Blumlein, a remarkable EMI scientist who had joined the company from Columbia, developed the world's first system for recording and playing stereo sound, although given the depressed nature of the market, stereo recordings would not be widely commercially available for another 25 years. As well as stereo technology, under the genius of Blumlein the EMI labs also gave birth to electrical television (allowing the UK to be the first country in the world to launch a public television service) and radar, which would be of great benefit to the Allied effort during World War II.
After the end of the war, further technological developments were introduced into the industry. For the first time magnetic tape recorders became available for studios, allowing artists to perform several takes of any given song instead of having to make the recording all in one go as before. Tape also made live performances outside the studio much easier to record. EMI's research labs were very involved in the development of tape and the company started designing and selling its own models.
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. An LP could also hold 25 minutes of music on each side, much more than a 78. Both were instantly popular and dramatically expanded the market for music.