Parlophone

Parlophone Records Limited (also known as

Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–
Parlophone Records
British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl
Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the
label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone
Company Limited (the Parlophone Co. Ltd.), which
developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5
October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired
Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and Parent Carl Lindström
merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to
company Company (1896–
become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George
Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss 1926)
(who had set up the London branch of the company in 1923), Columbia
the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin Graphophone
produced and released a mix of recordings, including by Company (1926 –
comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam 31 March 1931)
Faith.
Electric and Musical
In 1962, Martin signed the Beatles, a beat group from Industries (EMI) (31
Liverpool who earlier that year had been rejected by Decca March 1931 –
Records. During the 1960s, when Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer, October 1979, 16
the Fourmost, and the Hollies also signed, Parlophone became August 1996 – 28
one of the world's most famous labels. For several years, September 2012)
Parlophone claimed the best-selling UK single, "She Loves
Thorn EMI (October
You", and the best-selling UK album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band, both by the Beatles. The label placed seven 1979 – 16 August
singles at number 1 during 1964, when it claimed top spot on 1996)
the UK Albums Chart for 40 weeks. Parlophone continued as a Universal Music
division of EMI until it was merged into the Gramophone Co. Group (UMG) (28
on 1 July 1965. On 1 July 1973, the Gramophone Co. was September 2012 – 7
renamed EMI Records Limited.
February 2013)
On 28 September 2012, regulators approved Universal Music Warner Music
Group's (UMG) planned acquisition of EMI on condition that Group (WMG) (7
its EMI Records group would be divested from the combined February 2013 –
group. EMI Records Ltd included Parlophone (except the present)
Beatles' catalogue) and other labels to be divested and were for
a short time operated in a single entity known as the Founded 1896 (as Parlophon
Parlophone Label Group (PLG), while UMG pended their sale. Parlograph
Warner Music Group (WMG) acquired Parlophone and [PLG] Company)
on 7 February 2013, making Parlophone their third flagship (subsidiary of the
Carl Lindström
Company until
1926)
Founder Carl Lindström
label alongside Warner and Atlantic. PLG was renamed Distributor(s) Self-distributed
Parlophone Records Limited in May 2013. Parlophone is the
(UK/Most of Europe)
oldest of WMG's "flagship" record labels.
Warner Records

History (United States)

Warner Music
Group
Early years (Outside the
UK/Europe and the
Parlophone was founded "Parlophon" by Carl Lindström
US)
Company in 1896.[1] The name Parlophon was used for
gramophones before the company began making records of Rhino Entertainment
their own. The label's ₤ trademark is a stylised blackletter L ( Company
) that stands for Lindström. (Its resemblance to the British (Reissues)
pound sign £ and the Italian lira sign ₤ is coincidental: both Genre Various
derive from the letter L used as an abbreviation for the Ancient
Roman unit of measurement libra.) On 8 August 1923, the Location United Kingdom
British branch of "Parlophone" (with the "e" added) was Official parlophonerecords
established, led by A&R manager Oscar Preuss.[1] In its early website .com (http://parloph
years, Parlophone established itself as a leading jazz label in onerecords.com)
Britain.[2]

EMI years and initial success

In 1927, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired a controlling interest in

the Carl Lindström Company, including Parlophone.[1] Parlophone became a
subsidiary of Electric & Musical Industries (EMI), after Columbia Graphophone
merged with the Gramophone Company in 1931.[3]

In 1950, Oscar Preuss hired producer George Martin as his assistant. When
Preuss retired in 1955, Martin succeeded him as Parlophone's manager.
Parlophone specialized in mainly classical music, cast recordings, and regional
British music,[4] but Martin also expanded the reach into novelty and comedy
records. A notable example was The Best of Sellers, a collection of sketches and
comic songs by Peter Sellers undertaken in the guise of a variety of comic characters.[5] It reached
number three in the UK Albums Chart in 1958. Musicians signed to the label included Humphrey
Lyttelton and the Vipers Skiffle Group.[6]

A consistently successful act for Parlophone was teen idol Adam Faith, who was signed to the label
in 1959.[7] The label gained significant popularity in 1962 when Martin signed Liverpool band the
Beatles.[3] Parlophone gained more attention after signing the Hollies, Ella Fitzgerald, and Gerry
and the Pacemakers in the 1960s.[8] Martin left EMI/Parlophone to form Associated Independent
Recording (AIR) Studios in 1965.[9] Norman Smith took over as Parlophone director, though EMI
chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood unsuccessfully attempted to recruit Joe Meek for the job.[10]

Parlophone became dormant (except for Beatles reissues) in 1973 when most of EMI's heritage
labels were phased out in favour of EMI Records,[11] only to be revived in 1980.[12] During the next
decades the label signed Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Roxette, Radiohead, Supergrass, Guy
Berryman, the Chemical Brothers, Blur, Coldplay, Kylie Minogue, Damon Albarn, Conor Maynard,
Gabrielle Aplin, and Gorillaz.[13]
On 23 April 2008, Miles Leonard was confirmed as the label's president.[14]

Acquisition by Warner Music Group

On 28 September 2012, regulators approved Universal Music Group's planned acquisition of

Parlophone's parent group EMI for £1.2 billion, subject to conditions imposed by the European
Commission requiring that UMG sell off a number of labels, including Parlophone itself (aside
from the Beatles' catalogue, which was kept by UMG and moved to Universal's newly formed
Calderstone Productions), Chrysalis (aside from Robbie Williams' catalogue), Ensign, Virgin
Classics, EMI Classics, worldwide rights to Roulette Records (and its sublabels), and EMI's
operations in Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic,
Slovakia, and Poland.[15] These labels and catalogues were operated independently from Universal
as Parlophone Label Group until a buyer was found. UMG received several offers for PLG,
including those from Island founder Chris Blackwell, Simon Fuller, a Sony/BMG consortium,
Warner Music Group, and MacAndrews & Forbes.[16][17][18]

On 7 February 2013, it was confirmed that Warner Music Group would acquire Parlophone Label
Group for US$765 million. The deal was approved in May 2013 by the European Union, which saw
no concerns about the deal because of WMG's smaller reach compared to the merged UMG and
Sony. Warner Music closed the deal on 1 July. Parlophone Label Group was the old EMI Records
label that included both the Parlophone and the eponymous EMI labels. The EMI trademark was
retained by Universal (as Virgin EMI Records) while the "old" EMI Records became defunct and
was renamed "Parlophone Records Ltd."

Soon after acquiring Parlophone, WMG signed an agreement with IMPALA and the Merlin
Network (two groups which opposed the EMI/Universal deal) to divest $200 million worth of
catalogues to independent labels in order to help offset the consolidation triggered by the
merger.[19][20] In April 2016, the back catalogue of British rock band Radiohead, who had sued
Parlophone and EMI over a dispute in music royalties, was transferred to XL Recordings.[21]

WMG treats Parlophone as its third "frontline" label group alongside Atlantic and Warner.[22] In
the US, most of Parlophone's artists are now distributed under Warner Records except Dinosaur
Pile-Up, distributed by 300 Elektra Entertainment's Roadrunner Records, Coldplay and Tinie
Tempah, both distributed by Atlantic Records, and David Guetta, distributed by Atlantic's
electronic music imprint Big Beat Records.[23]

Roster
Parlophone's roster includes many popular music artists. Its contemporary HMV was more of a
classical music label and ceased issuing popular music recordings in 1967; later known as EMI
Classics, it was absorbed into Warner Classics in 2013; English Columbia was replaced by the EMI
pop label. Parlophone also operates Regal, a contemporary revival of the historic Columbia
Graphophone budget/reissue label founded in 1914. The list records those who achieved notability.

The Beatles

The Beatles' albums in the U.K. up to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band were issued on the
Parlophone label. Subsequent releases – The Beatles (also known as the "White Album"), Yellow
Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be – were issued on the Beatles' own Apple record label,
manufactured and distributed by EMI and bearing Parlophone catalogue numbers.
On 6 June 1962, producer George Martin signed the Beatles to Parlophone,[24] in turn, making the
Beatles' deal one of the cheapest by Parlophone.[25] Despite the separation of Parlophone from
EMI as a condition of EMI's acquisition by UMG, Universal was allowed to keep the Beatles'
recorded music catalogue, which is now managed by the subsidiary Calderstone Productions.[26]

Parlophone record labels

Vertinsky Parlophone Early 20th century Please Please Me by With the Beatles (side
B.23017, made in Parlophone record the Beatles (side 1) – 1) – Parlophone
Germany label of the 78rpm 1963. Parlophone yellow and black label
acoustic era gold and black label

West End Blues,

British Parlophone
record

The labels shown here include those used for 78s and LPs. The label design for 7-inch singles had
the same standard template as several other EMI labels, with the large "45" insignia to the right. In
recent years, design uniformity has relaxed from release to release.

References
1. Womack, Kenneth (30 June 2014). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=xWRyBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA711). ABC-CLIO. pp. 711–. ISBN 978-0-
313-39172-9. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
2. Garside, Juliette (7 February 2013). "Warner Music buys Parlophone label" (https://www.thegu
ardian.com/business/2013/feb/07/warnewr-music-parlophone-record-deal). The Guardian.
Retrieved 2 August 2018.
3. "BUSINESS | EMI: A brief history" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/616485.stm). BBC
News. 24 January 2000. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
4. Owsinski, Bobby (14 March 2016). "How George Martin Changed The Finances Of The Record
Business" (https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobbyowsinski/2016/03/14/how-george-martin-change
d-the-finances-of-the-record-business/). Forbes. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
5. Hall, Julian (2006). The Rough Guide to British Cult Comedy (https://books.google.com/books?
id=nfi4GcEUWtwC). London: Rough Guides. ISBN 978-1-84353-618-5.
 6. Frame, Pete (4 November 2011). The Restless Generation: How Rock Music Changed the
Face of 1950s Britain (https://books.google.com/books?id=5-SaAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT616).
Omnibus Press. pp. 616–. ISBN 978-0-85712-713-6. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
7. Thompson, Gordon (10 September 2008). Please Please Me: Sixties British Pop, Inside Out (h
ttps://books.google.com/books?id=IcFBLtl7sq8C&pg=PA291). Oxford University Press.
pp. 291–. ISBN 978-0-19-971555-8. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
8. "Ron Richards: Record producer who worked with the Beatles" (https://www.independent.co.u
k/news/obituaries/ron-richards-record-producer-who-worked-with-the-beatles-the-hollies-gerry-
and-the-pacemakers-and-1702080.html). The Independent. 11 June 2009. Archived (https://gh
ostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ron-richards-r
ecord-producer-who-worked-with-the-beatles-the-hollies-gerry-and-the-pacemakers-and-17020
80.html) from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
9. Farquhar, Peter (14 March 2016). "A photographer was in George Martin's abandoned AIR
studio the week he died" (https://www.businessinsider.com.au/pictures-an-australian-photograp
her-was-in-george-martins-abandoned-air-studio-the-week-martin-died-2016-3). Business
Insider Australia. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
10. Womack, Kenneth (4 September 2018). Sound Pictures: The Life of Beatles Producer George
Martin, The Later Years, 1966–2016 (https://books.google.com/books?id=qghODwAAQBAJ).
Chicago Review Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-912777-77-1. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
11. "EMI Label Launch Spurs Logo Plan" (https://books.google.com/books?id=NQkEAAAAMBAJ&
pg=PA53). Google Books. Billboard/Nielsen Business Media. 3 February 1973. Retrieved
1 March 2013.
12. "ATV Northern Developing Production Ties to EMI" (https://books.google.com/books?id=jiQEA
AAAMBAJ&pg=PT57). Google Books. Billboard/Nielsen Business Media. 13 September 1980.
Retrieved 1 March 2013.
13. "Warner Music Group Integrates Parlophone Roster, Including Coldplay, David Guetta and Pink
Floyd" (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/warner-music-group-integrates-parlophone-6
67019). The Hollywood Reporter. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
14. "EMI Rings Changes" (http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=10339
97). Music Week. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
15. Ingham, Tim (26 November 2012). "Universal's Capitol takes shape: Barnett in, Beatles on
roster" (http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/steve-barnett-named-chairman-of-universal-s-c
apitol-records/052695). Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
16. Sweney, Mark (21 September 2012). "Universal's £1.2bn EMI takeover approved – with
conditions" (https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/sep/21/universal-emi-takeover-approve
d). The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
17. Pakinkis, Tom (15 November 2012). "Nine groups in Parlophone race, 12 eyeing other
UMG/EMI assets" (http://www.musicweek.com/news/read/blackwell-fuller-eying-more-umg-emi
-assets-as-parlophone-interest-stacks-up-report/052557). Music Week. Retrieved 1 March
2013.
18. Negishi, Mayumi (7 January 2013). "Sony, BMG in joint bid for Parlophone, EMI labels" (https://
www.reuters.com/article/entertainment-us-emi-sonybmg-idUSBRE90600T20130107). Reuters.
Retrieved 1 March 2013.
19. Sisario, Ben (15 May 2013). "Warner Music Gains Approval to Buy Parlophone, a Last Piece of
EMI" (https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/business/media/warner-music-gains-approval-to-bu
y-parlophone-a-last-piece-of-emi.html). The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
20. Sisario, Ben (19 February 2013). "Warner Music Makes a Deal With Small Labels" (http://medi
adecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/warner-music-makes-a-deal-with-small-labels/). The
New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2013.
21. "Radiohead's Early Catalog Moves From Warner Bros. to XL" (http://www.billboard.com/article
s/news/7318964/radioheads-early-catalog-warner-bros-xl). Billboard.com. 4 April 2016.
Retrieved 5 April 2016.
22. "Warner Music Group Outlines Parlophone Integration Process, Expects $70 Million in Annual
Cost Savings" (http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/1559599/warner-music-group-outline
s-parlophone-integration-process-expects). Billboard.com. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 30 January
2014.
23. "Coldplay, David Guetta Go To Atlantic Records; Radiohead & Pink Floyd Catalogs, Kylie
Minogue, Damon Albarn To Warner Bros: WMG's US Plans for Parlophone" (https://www.billbo
ard.com/articles/business/5840082/coldplay-david-guetta-go-to-atlantic-records-radiohead-pink
-floyd). Billboard.com. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
24. Lewisohn, Mark (2010). The Complete Beatles Chronicle:The Definitive Day-By-Day Guide To
the Beatles' Entire Career (https://books.google.com/books?id=7D1mRwAACAAJ&pg=PA56).
Chicago Review Press. pp. 56–. ISBN 978-1-56976-534-0. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
25. "The Beatles Biography" (https://web.archive.org/web/20120914170117/http://www.thebiograph
ychannel.co.uk/biographies/the-beatles.html). Archived from the original (http://www.thebiograp
hychannel.co.uk/biographies/the-beatles.html) on 14 September 2012. Retrieved
29 September 2012.
26. "The Beatles, Universal, and Calderstone Productions" (https://www.thoughtco.com/the-beatles
-universal-and-calderstone-3219909). thoughtco.com. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 29 May 2017.

External links
Official website (http://www.parlophone.co.uk)
Parlophone (https://www.youtube.com/parlophonerecords) on YouTube

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Parlophone&oldid=1191351864"